Paddy McGuinness interview for Benchmark

21 May 2015

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Explain a bit about Benchmark – what’s it all about?

It’s a really straightforward game where the questions are decided by the players in the studio. For instance, one of the questions might be “How long can you dunk a Rich Tea biscuit in a cup of tea before it breaks off?” Everyone in the game will have a guess at it and the average of their answers creates the benchmark, which might be 12 seconds. All the player who’s playing for the money has to do is decide whether the right answer is higher or lower than the benchmark.

 

In practice, the presenter quite often gets to have a go at the game. Have you done that?

I’ve not, no. They never did that with me. They must have thought I’ve not got the intellect for it. But what I make a point of is not finding out the answers. I play along myself, even though I can’t help the player. So I can’t say what I think the answer might be. But I’ll be playing in my head, while they are.

 

Broadly speaking, how do you think you do?

Yeah, I think I’d be alright at it. It’s one of those ones, sometimes a question will throw you, and sometimes you can over-think the answers, and you end up making the wrong decision. It’s fifty-fifty – you can either go with an educated guess, or just go with your gut instinct.

 

One of the key things with shows such as this is “Is it good to play along with at home?”

Yeah, that’s really important. Benchmark has got a lot of playability. You can sit with your family and friends, and you’ll all have an opinion about what the answer is. What’s amazing is when some of the answers are revealed, it creates even more discussion. Some of the answers can seem unbelievable, but they’re all taken from proper surveys.

 

You’re the host. Is it part of your job to put the contestants at ease on the show?

Yeah, it’s a bit like Take Me Out in that way – there’s people behind podiums, and I’ve got one contestant with me who I’ll chat to. And I’ll give them time to think while I’m off talking to the Benchmarkers. I try to put them at ease as much as I can, really.

 

Yeah, the physical set-up of the show is quite similar, isn’t it?

Yeah, they’ve both got banks of contestants on a slightly curved stage. I permanently walk in an arc wherever I go, now. Straight lines throw me.

 

Do you enjoy the aspect of chatting to the contestants?

Yeah, that’s exactly why I like doing Take Me Out – it’s just the chatting to people, the ad libs and all that carry on. The only thing for me is I’m going to have to get myself on a show where I can actually have a sit down for a bit. That’s my next project.

 

Do you watch game shows yourself? What have been your favourites?

You had your classics when you were growing up, like the Generation Game  but what I like about this show is although it’s going out in a teatime slot, it feels more prime time. That’s one of the reasons I agreed to do it – I love the idea of doing a show in that timeslot, but I always wanted it to feel special. I didn’t want it to reek of cheap sets and a slapdash approach. I wanted it to look proper, and I think Benchmark does.

 

Who are the best game show hosts out there?

Back in the day, you had Michael Barrymore and Bruce Forsyth, all these people whose bread-and-butter was doing game shows. They were really good at it.

 

You’ve got some celebrity specials planned for primetime as well, don’t you?

Yeah, we’ve recorded five celebrity specials. They won’t be on at teatime, they’ll be in the evening. It was great filming them. It made my job so easy, because they were all used to being on TV. They were all perfectly happy to talk. The recordings were longer, because I couldn’t shut them up. We had people like Jimmy Carr playing, and Joey Essex. We had a really good mixture of people on.

 

I bet you got some good answers out of Joey Essex?

Absolute gold. And the best thing is, when Joey Essex is on, you watch the other celebrities, when he gets nearer than them to the right answer, their faces are a picture. They can’t believe Joey Essex has worked out the answer better than they have.

 

You’ve hosted a radio show, a dating show, you’ve done sitcoms, you do stand up. What aspect of your work do you enjoy the most?

From a pure enjoyment point of view I look at what the least amount of pressure is. Therefore Acting is probably what I enjoy, not so much because it’s acting, but because it’s easier from a pressure point of view . You’re on set, you get a chance to rehearse, you can do it again if you get it wrong, there’s no live audience, you don’t feel like you have to be ‘on’ all the time. That’s probably the nicest kind of gigs to have. Stand up is the most stressful, and hosting and presenting a show has its own stresses, because you’ve got an audience which you’ve got to entertain as well as an audience at home.

When I’m acting, that’s probably what I enjoy the most, but that’s just because it’s less stressful.

 

Away from your showbiz work, what are the best and worst jobs that you’ve done?

The worst job that I ever did, I used to have a Saturday job cleaning the dough off bread-making machines for Warburtons in Bolton. That was horrendous. One of the best jobs I’ve ever had – not so much because of the job, but because of the people I was working with – was when I worked in places like Leisure Centres. You’ve got a good social scene after work. You’re all working together and getting on. Those kind of jobs I really enjoyed.

 

Benchmark begins on Monday 1st June at 4pm on Channel 4.