Comedian has slammed for being heavily "produced" and claimed it was worse than his dire stand-up show on the Isle of Man.
The comedian, 67, whose career spans decades, appeared on the show as part of a fortnight ago, along with . Before filming, Frank said he thought the format would simply be him sat watching television and commenting on scenes that interested him - but in fact it was the complete opposite, as producers directed their every move.
During an episode of his podcast Frank Off The Radio: The Podcast, he even went as far as to liken his experience to that of tortured monkeys. Speaking to his co-hosts Emily Dean and Pier Novellie about his Isle of Man disaster and the TV show, he said: "You know when I said I didn't enjoy doing the gig on the Isle of Man, well it was a glorious pleasure compared to filming Gogglebox."
He continued: "There's a place in Wareham in Dorset called Monkey World, and it's beautiful because they're often monkeys that have been rescued from unkindness on the continent, and a lot of Spanish, in particular, there's a thing of having your photo taken with a monkey." He added: "The way to make them behave - and you can see this when you get close - is they've got cigarette burns on their skin that they use to make them do what they want them to do. And doing Gogglebox was a very similar experience."
When asked if he was exaggerating, he was adamant his claims were true as the show was heavily "produced." He explained: "No. I thought me and Dave sitting watching the telly together - we've been doing that for years - we've always had such a laugh doing it. But what happens, it's very, very produced. So you sit in a room - you only watch like ten minutes of a programme."
Exposing the behind the scenes process further, he went on to say: "We're sitting watching the telly and we start talking, and a voice says 'Say something about his jacket'. Then it would stop, and they'd say 'Can you not go into digressions, it's funny if you keep it close to what's actually happening'. And pretty soon I'm thinking 'just please make this stop'. And when I left - I'd made it pretty clear in a politer way - I said 'Sorry, I thought this was going to be like enjoyable'."
His experience has left such a bitter taste in his mouth to the point where he didn't watch the edited version of the show. But he said he was aware that the format was geared more towards the non-celebrity stars in order to get the best out of them. He said: "But to be fair to them, they know how to make it - they've been making it for years. The producer was a really nice guy, they were nice people, they got me fish and chips.
He admitted: "But they've been working with a lot of non-professionals on Gogglebox, who probably need a lot of guidance. Why change a winning formula? I think it's quite helpful as you get older and you've got less time, to within a couple of weeks discover two things that you know you'll never do again."
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