Behind The Scenes of Channel 4’s Three in a Bed – The Contestants’ Stories

With the series coming to an end this week, I asked former contestants about their experience filming and what affect the show had on their businesses

Reality TV tends to divide opinions. Some (like me) think it is the best thing since the Vuvuzela Silencer (please someone make this!) Others believe it’s the devil’s work - an artificially constructed reality, designed to ruin the reputations of those taking part, in aid of cheap audience titillation.

I was concerned about asking the contestants if they found it a positive experience. Worried they might swear at me because the show had ruined their lives. TV is still a very powerful medium and can make or break businesses. 

The first owner who agreed to talk was Andrew from The Lodge in Avebury. Cast your mind back to Episode Two and Andrew charged £250 a night and an extra £75 for a tour around the stone circle, which the B&B looks over.

Even though the owners (including the former S&M prostitute… now you remember!) paid well under the room rate and gave the place a bit of a thrashing, Andrew still enjoyed the experience.

“I have been repeatedly recognized in the street since the show,” he said. “99% of approaches have been kind and friendly. There was just one woman who wasn’t nice. She called me a Wan*er for saying that a megalithic stone was symbolic of a clitoris. She evidently lacked any sense of humour.”

Andrew had a good response from his family and despite the B&Bs negative feedback in the show bookings are up. “I had the best May ever and far more show related bookings than I had ever expected.”

Ray and Julie Bright from the Ashleigh Hotel in Bournemouth (Episode Six) also didn’t win but have a positive story. (You may remember it was a very commercial operation and the breakfast was served in trays) “Our site had an extra 96,000 hits that night and an extra 170,000 for the end of May - better than we could have ever hoped for. We had many bookings from the show and moved up the Google rankings.”

Arthouse B&B in Canterbury (Episode Four) also had a worthwhile experience, even though the owners who visited weren’t anywhere near their target market and criticized their DIY breakfasts.

“We have been much busier and have been recognised lots in the street which is fun. We’ve been inundated with very positive and supportive e mails which is fantastic.”

No doubt some owners will regret taking part. Like the lady who took her own sausages for breakfast and then embarrassingly mistook the hosts sausages for her own. Or the woeful ghost hunting experience in Scotland, that went down like a haggis at a vegan convention.

But these people failed to answer my emails or phone calls. I emailed every B&B that took part throughout the series and no one replied with any negative comments. Maybe the ones that did have a bad experience just didn’t want to talk about it. I have no obligation to Channel 4 and I'm sure readers would have been empathetic towards them if they said the show had forced them to improve their practices which they have done, or that they were harshly edited. 

In the email I wrote, ‘This is your chance to have your say. If you didn’t like the way your business was portrayed in the show, then please say so.’ Their silence speaks volumes. It says to me that they have no excuse for their silly behaviour and bad business practices, and can’t blame anyone but themselves. 

Veronica and James Ritchie from Hanover House, Cheltenham (Episode 7/8, the one where Veronica got upset and asked to stop filming) were very helpful and sent me so much information I can’t fit it all in here.

“Filming was extremely enjoyable and we were looked after very well. The young team was friendly and we got on with them very well indeed. Even after filming was complete we kept in regular touch with Studio Lambert and they frequently emailed us to find out how we were and to keep us in touch with progress. The experience as a whole was very good, and the organization and administration by Studio Lambert in arranging travel, accommodation etc was first class.

 “They did a very good job overall, depicting us as fairly as possible. At one point at the end, when we had been paid considerably less than we thought we were worth, but conscious of the ‘tactical voting’ by the couple determined to win, Veronica was overcome by emotion and asked the team to stop filming. When it came to the editing, the team thought that that particular scene was quite touching and emailed to ask if they could include it anyway, to which we agreed. They could have included it nonetheless if they had so chosen as we had signed away our rights to stop it in the contract, but they had the decency to ask us if we would object.

 “In the weeks since transmission, we have been deluged by supportive emails, some from previous guests but surprisingly a number from other B&B owners around the country who thought we had been unfairly treated and thought us the best. “However B&Bs are a matter of personal taste, and no doubt the other owners would have received similar supportive emails.

“Many of the supportive emails said that they’d definitely stay with us if and when they came to Cheltenham, but were not definite bookings. We have had a number of bookings as a direct result of the programme too.

“In summary we have no regrets at all in taking part. We had an interesting and amusing time, which was very enjoyable. We were flown to Durham and stayed in other good precursor B&Bs and all at no cost to ourselves.”

 

If you would like to appear in the show contact Emily Hudson at Studio Lambert on threeinabed@studiolambert.com or 0207 534 2030.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/three-in-a-bed

Last Night's Three in a Bed - Reviewed by Emma from 4Homes

Emma is the Senior Writer for Channel 4’s 4Homes website, but opinions expressed in this post are her own and not those of Channel 4. 

I have to admit that, of all the programmes we cover at 4Homes, Three In A Bed has become a personal favourite.

Perhaps I shouldn't admit to a favourite - after all, a parent shouldn't admit to a favourite child - but I just love the personality clashes that the programme-makers put together.

This week's was no different, pitching the flamboyant Susie - whose 'little touches' for her guests include chocolate on the pillows, feathers on the breakfasts and petals everywhere, including the loo - against practical, outdoorsy Nikki and Steve, and unashamedly money-minded Ray and Julie.

At Clayton Wickham, Mike and Susie's pretty farmhouse in Sussex, the guests - notwithstanding the petal penchant - seemed to be enjoying themselves. It only started to go sour the next morning, when they eschewed Susie's extravagant fruit salad, complete with rosemary sprigs and, yes, more petals, in favour of good old toast.

And payment? Perhaps sensibly, given that they were yet to be judged themselves, both sets of guests paid exactly 100 per cent of their bill.

Next up was Nikki and Steve's Arbor Low, in the Peak District. The weather had turned a bit drizzly and it was obvious from the moment she saw the brochure that Susie wasn't going to love it. Or the weather. "God forbid I get the hair wet," she declared in the car, before she'd even arrived. "And I hope to God we're not going on a mammoth walk this afternoon..."

Three guesses what activity Nikki had lined up for the group.

Despite a breakfast where guests had to make their own tea and toast, Ray and Julie overpaid by more than 33 per cent. We all knew this was more to do with a lack of petals than an abundance of anything else, but Nikki and Steve were happy and of course, it took them into the lead.

Thirdly, to the Ashleigh Hotel in Bournemouth, where Mike and Susie managed to describe Julie and Ray's fairly plain, but modern, black and white decor as 'gaudy' - an irony obviously lost on a woman who puts feathers in her grilled tomatoes.

As ever, the best part of the programme was saved until last, because Ray - whose knee injury precluded any kind of exercise - had organised the perfect activity for the remaining bunch. Surfing. As they traipsed out in their wetsuits, I had to laugh (and it got me wondering how far in advance of filming each set of contributors chooses their activity. I suddenly imagined Ray, having originally picked something far more innocuous to do on 'his' afternoon, meeting Susie for the first time, then sneaking off to the production team to desperately beg a swap).

Next morning, Ray and Julie’s commercial-hotel-style breakfast 'troughs' didn't go down too well with either couple, but by now it was obvious how the marking would go. Susie and Mike underpaid, whilst Nikki and Steve overpaid... but not by enough to give away the top spot.

And Ray, in response, managed to sum up the whole series: "It's useful to hear what you think, but as we all know, our audiences are completely different." He might as well have said, "as we all know, we're only here because it makes great telly." And you know what? He’d be right. I don’t really care who wins each week, because it is just great telly.

Finally, Paul has mentioned before on this blog that the B&B owners on Three In A Bed always seem to go to bed with clothes on. It had been troubling me, too. But this week, I'm not sure whether or not I'm happy to report that Mike and Susie bared all (or, at least, as much of them as was visible above the covers). An image, quite frankly, that I could have done without.

 

If you haven't seen it yet (or want to see it again!) watch last night's show here

Twitter @4homes

Last Night's Three in a Bed - The Birth of Sausage Snobbery

From the first show it’s been obvious that Three in a Bed’s agenda is to highlight class differences.

Never was that objective more clearly met than last night.

Surveyor Derek and former actress Anita Evans began by flying the flag for the Upper Middle-Class, with their stunning mock regency home in Suffolk.

No doubt it was a beautiful residence, but I for one would be scared to stay there. Imagine if you left a door slightly ajar. Anita would turn into Anne Robinson, “Get out of my house you common peasent, you repulse me!”

Anita was an extremely particular, somewhat scary lady, who (for reasons that will soon become apparent) I have named ‘The Sausage Snob’. 

The owners gave Gainsborough House a thumbs-up and if it wasn’t for the dodgy plumbing in Anne and John’s bathroom they would have got full marks. They came in at £2 under.  A good score.

Next up was former cleaner Jayne and builder Keith from Whitby. Representing the working class, Jayne proudly paraded her pig collection and Keith’s accent failed to be understood by The Sausage Snob.

“I have brought some of our Newmarket Sausages for breakfast” said The Sausage Snob.

What! You’re bringing your own food to a B&B! How insulting!

To Jayne’s credit she took it very well and though appeared a little shocked she then went for the idea.

Over breakfast TSS then said, “These Newmarket sausages are far more superior than the other ones don’t you think?”

“Have we had both kinds of sausages?” said John.

Jayne then appeared, “ We haven’t had your sausages yet, we are saving them for tomorrow.”

I haven’t laughed so hard in a very long time. 

Jayne and Keith’s Overdale was a decent, well-presented B&B and perfect for it’s target market, but did seem a little pricey at £76. No bathroom shelving, a poor quality bed and light coming through the windows saw them only being paid 91% of the bill.

I personally disliked the shoe baskets. To be told to take off your shoes when you walk into a semi public place is just not right. 

Acting for liberal England were Anne and John with their Art House B&B in Canterbury, a converted old fire station full of contemporary pieces made by themselves and their friends.

Though the owners didn’t like their day out, which consisted of wandering around someone’s house full of ‘weird and scary” art works, the killer blow was breakfast. Or lack of it.

The owners disliked their DIY, 'Make-Your-Own-Toast' breakfast intensely and felt that when they go away they should be looked after. "This is not a B&B, this is self-catering.”

Agreed. 

 

PS. What's with the owners getting into bed fully clothed to do their bits to camera?!