Emmak2005
27-06-2006, 14:07
Here's the face behind the voice of Big Brother: - Interview underneath pic
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a5/Marcussbentley.jpg/180px-Marcussbentley.jpg
Chances are that you have, at some point, adopted your finest Geordie accent and rolled out one of the key Big Brother catchphrases ("Day three in the Big Brother house", "Nikki comes to the diary room" or "Who goes? You decide"). The subject of such an impersonation has become synonymous with the show and, like Davina, Dermot and the diary room, is now a firm fixture that Big Brother wouldn't be Big Brother without.
Here DS:BB chats with the unmistakable voice of Big Brother, Marcus Bentley, about working on the show, this year's series and the new Big Brother DVD game.
First of all could you just give us a quick rundown of how your day at Big Brother would work?
"Well I arrive about… if I’ve got a Diary Room Uncut to do I arrive at 12:30, say hello to everybody, collect my script, have a quick little glance through and then it's rocking straight away. That’ll take five or ten minutes to do because we’ve usually got an hour show. And then finally the script for the main show’s ready and we do that and that takes about ten minutes. I sit around, drink lots of coffee, eat a bit of cake, and then I finally watch the final edit of the show, which is all finely-tuned and sent to Channel 4, who record it on a tape at their end. Then it’s finally aired out and I’m usually on my way home by then."
Once you’re done working on it for the day, how much of a fan are you in your outside hours? Do you watch the live stream or read the chat boards on the internet?
"I read the chat lines stuff basically to gauge people’s opinions which is often very similar to mine because I’m a great Big Brother fan. I have my favourites and people I love to hate, people I love to love and I do that. I don’t watch so much live streaming these days, I think that’s just a habit that I’ve got into. I watch Little Brother and I watch Big Mouth and I watch my own show – I watch it once at work, get home and I watch again. So I watch a hell of a lot of Big Brother."
What are your thoughts on the current series? Who are you loving to hate and loving to love?
"You know what? I’m not allowed to say because people get irate. If I say who I like or dislike, people get, you know, people tell me off and they get letters into Channel 4, so they don’t like me to say. But I think this is my favourite series so far… the last two Big Brothers and then Big Brother 3, but this is definitely jostling for position at the moment and we’ve got seven or eight weeks to go."
We won’t say “favourite”, but have you got a most memorable moment of all the series?
"Oh there are loads, like Makosi last year, turning to the cameras and going “I think I’m pregnant” – that made me laugh. Jade on the sofa with her kebab… that was one of them. Kate Lawler trying to put her trousers on when she was drunk and falling over, that was another one. The Big Brother 1 housemates in the first week ripping all their clothes off, smearing themselves with clay and throwing themselves against the wall. People say that Big Brother used to be so innocent, it’s not like it anymore. In the first week of Big Brother 1, they all took their clothes off, stark bollock naked and threw themselves against the wall and had showers together – I’m sorry! And then Nasty Nick is probably why we’re all here today... because of Nasty Nick’s Nastiness. He was probably one of the greatest housemates of all time – love him or hate him, he was a fantastic housemate."
Did you realise back in the first series how big Big Brother would become?
"Only probably at that moment. People suddenly became fascinated, especially by him and his deviousness… and people couldn’t believe it. And people like Chris Moyles on the radio were having campaigns – fifty ways to knock him off. And then the press were ringing me up wanting to know who’s this guy with the Geordie voice narrating Big Brother."
As you say you are quite well-known for being the voice of Big Brother because of your accent. Do you ever find that you have to adopt other voices in public to get away from your working life?
"Well I live in Canterbury so I’m quite a rarity, but then I go back home and blend in. Whenever I’m buying something either in person, or on the phone or if I’m paying a bill, and I’ve got to read out my credit card number and my name ('cos my name’s on the show so people know my name), they’ll start giggling. One time I had a blocked toilet and I had to get a plumber round so I called up and they said “You sound like just that Big Brother guy”. Like a fool I said “It is me” [so they shouted] ”The guy from Big Brother’s bog’s blocked!”"
Can you ever see anyone else voicing the show? How long are you contracted for?
"I sign a new contract every year and I would hate to think that anyone else would do it. I will do it as long as I can, and hopefully that will be a long time."
Can you tell us a bit about the Big Brother DVD game that’s coming out?
"It’s out on Monday 26th. It’s very involved – you choose to be, I think its about six... from the last six series you can choose to be either Jade, Nadia, John Tickle, etc, and it's got trivia questions, clips from the actual show, and some of it is really intriguing, things I didn’t know. I’ve looked at all the quizzes in the paper and they’re quite tame comparatively – this is very involved. And the idea is you get as many votes as you can to escape eviction from the Big Brother house and it’s just like a real Big Brother - last man standing is the winner of Big Brother. So yeah, I’ve looked at some of the questions and they are intriguing. It’s fully interactive."
Have you actually played the game itself?
"There’s one on its way to me. As I say, it gets launched on Monday and there’s one on its way to me now… and I can’t wait!"
I imagine you should be pretty good at it by now.
"I should, I’ve had a lot of practice."
Aside from Big Brother and your continuity work, is there anything else coming up that you’re looking forward to doing?
"I’m looking forward to having a break! Big Brother is [all summer] and what with Channel 4, I’ve got the next 18 months solid. It’s great."
[FONT=Arial Narrow][SIZE=3]Big Brother: The Game is out in all good retailers now.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bd/Bb7nikki.jpg/250px-Bb7aisleyne.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bd/Bb7nikki.jpg/250px-Bb7glyn.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bd/Bb7nikki.jpg/250px-Bb7mikey.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bd/Bb7nikki.jpg/250px-Bb7imogen.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bd/Bb7nikki.jpg/250px-Bb7lea.jpg[/IMG] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bd/Bb7nikki.jpg/250px-Bb7nikki.jpg[/IMG] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bd/Bb7nikki.jpg/250px-Bb7pete.jpg [IMG]
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a5/Marcussbentley.jpg/180px-Marcussbentley.jpg
Chances are that you have, at some point, adopted your finest Geordie accent and rolled out one of the key Big Brother catchphrases ("Day three in the Big Brother house", "Nikki comes to the diary room" or "Who goes? You decide"). The subject of such an impersonation has become synonymous with the show and, like Davina, Dermot and the diary room, is now a firm fixture that Big Brother wouldn't be Big Brother without.
Here DS:BB chats with the unmistakable voice of Big Brother, Marcus Bentley, about working on the show, this year's series and the new Big Brother DVD game.
First of all could you just give us a quick rundown of how your day at Big Brother would work?
"Well I arrive about… if I’ve got a Diary Room Uncut to do I arrive at 12:30, say hello to everybody, collect my script, have a quick little glance through and then it's rocking straight away. That’ll take five or ten minutes to do because we’ve usually got an hour show. And then finally the script for the main show’s ready and we do that and that takes about ten minutes. I sit around, drink lots of coffee, eat a bit of cake, and then I finally watch the final edit of the show, which is all finely-tuned and sent to Channel 4, who record it on a tape at their end. Then it’s finally aired out and I’m usually on my way home by then."
Once you’re done working on it for the day, how much of a fan are you in your outside hours? Do you watch the live stream or read the chat boards on the internet?
"I read the chat lines stuff basically to gauge people’s opinions which is often very similar to mine because I’m a great Big Brother fan. I have my favourites and people I love to hate, people I love to love and I do that. I don’t watch so much live streaming these days, I think that’s just a habit that I’ve got into. I watch Little Brother and I watch Big Mouth and I watch my own show – I watch it once at work, get home and I watch again. So I watch a hell of a lot of Big Brother."
What are your thoughts on the current series? Who are you loving to hate and loving to love?
"You know what? I’m not allowed to say because people get irate. If I say who I like or dislike, people get, you know, people tell me off and they get letters into Channel 4, so they don’t like me to say. But I think this is my favourite series so far… the last two Big Brothers and then Big Brother 3, but this is definitely jostling for position at the moment and we’ve got seven or eight weeks to go."
We won’t say “favourite”, but have you got a most memorable moment of all the series?
"Oh there are loads, like Makosi last year, turning to the cameras and going “I think I’m pregnant” – that made me laugh. Jade on the sofa with her kebab… that was one of them. Kate Lawler trying to put her trousers on when she was drunk and falling over, that was another one. The Big Brother 1 housemates in the first week ripping all their clothes off, smearing themselves with clay and throwing themselves against the wall. People say that Big Brother used to be so innocent, it’s not like it anymore. In the first week of Big Brother 1, they all took their clothes off, stark bollock naked and threw themselves against the wall and had showers together – I’m sorry! And then Nasty Nick is probably why we’re all here today... because of Nasty Nick’s Nastiness. He was probably one of the greatest housemates of all time – love him or hate him, he was a fantastic housemate."
Did you realise back in the first series how big Big Brother would become?
"Only probably at that moment. People suddenly became fascinated, especially by him and his deviousness… and people couldn’t believe it. And people like Chris Moyles on the radio were having campaigns – fifty ways to knock him off. And then the press were ringing me up wanting to know who’s this guy with the Geordie voice narrating Big Brother."
As you say you are quite well-known for being the voice of Big Brother because of your accent. Do you ever find that you have to adopt other voices in public to get away from your working life?
"Well I live in Canterbury so I’m quite a rarity, but then I go back home and blend in. Whenever I’m buying something either in person, or on the phone or if I’m paying a bill, and I’ve got to read out my credit card number and my name ('cos my name’s on the show so people know my name), they’ll start giggling. One time I had a blocked toilet and I had to get a plumber round so I called up and they said “You sound like just that Big Brother guy”. Like a fool I said “It is me” [so they shouted] ”The guy from Big Brother’s bog’s blocked!”"
Can you ever see anyone else voicing the show? How long are you contracted for?
"I sign a new contract every year and I would hate to think that anyone else would do it. I will do it as long as I can, and hopefully that will be a long time."
Can you tell us a bit about the Big Brother DVD game that’s coming out?
"It’s out on Monday 26th. It’s very involved – you choose to be, I think its about six... from the last six series you can choose to be either Jade, Nadia, John Tickle, etc, and it's got trivia questions, clips from the actual show, and some of it is really intriguing, things I didn’t know. I’ve looked at all the quizzes in the paper and they’re quite tame comparatively – this is very involved. And the idea is you get as many votes as you can to escape eviction from the Big Brother house and it’s just like a real Big Brother - last man standing is the winner of Big Brother. So yeah, I’ve looked at some of the questions and they are intriguing. It’s fully interactive."
Have you actually played the game itself?
"There’s one on its way to me. As I say, it gets launched on Monday and there’s one on its way to me now… and I can’t wait!"
I imagine you should be pretty good at it by now.
"I should, I’ve had a lot of practice."
Aside from Big Brother and your continuity work, is there anything else coming up that you’re looking forward to doing?
"I’m looking forward to having a break! Big Brother is [all summer] and what with Channel 4, I’ve got the next 18 months solid. It’s great."
[FONT=Arial Narrow][SIZE=3]Big Brother: The Game is out in all good retailers now.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bd/Bb7nikki.jpg/250px-Bb7aisleyne.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bd/Bb7nikki.jpg/250px-Bb7glyn.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bd/Bb7nikki.jpg/250px-Bb7mikey.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bd/Bb7nikki.jpg/250px-Bb7imogen.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bd/Bb7nikki.jpg/250px-Bb7lea.jpg[/IMG] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bd/Bb7nikki.jpg/250px-Bb7nikki.jpg[/IMG] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bd/Bb7nikki.jpg/250px-Bb7pete.jpg [IMG]