The Big Breakfast

He was around for the launch but wasn't really involved throughout and wasn't hosting on the final (it was Paula Yates & Mark Little in Bow, Gaby Roslin & Keith Chegwin in Telford)

Chris wasn't even on the front of the game card.

I remember Chris doing a fair bit of this too. He didn't do the final as it was on a Friday, one of his days off.

He would have done some of it as it was a daily thing, but he certainly wasn't involved as much as the others.

That's not the same thing as not really being involved, though.

I shouldn't have said 'all' the events around Housey Housey, but he wasn't really featured on the key events such as the final, and this:



He was also deliberately not included on the game card.

I wonder what Gaby's view was of this time on the show. She always speaks very fondly of Chris now, but it was reported that he was becoming a nightmare to work with around this time.

What happened to the house they built and gave away?

It's still there. The winner sold it and it's subsequently been divided up in to 3 dwellings (as the original was purpose built as).

Actually, the winner won 2/3rds of the house, with the other part (the part which wasn't usually seen on screen anyway) was sold to pay for the construction of the overall building.

I wonder how long the winner kept the decor. Would be fascinating to see inside now - I suspect the layout has changed a lot less than the real house.

And can't believe that's 20 years ago and I guess still one of the biggest prizes given away on breakfast TV. I think on The Big Breakfast itself only the prize on "Owe no you Don't" for the Millennium Show would have beaten it.

What was the third that wasn't usually shown on screen?

It was production space for most of the pre-1996 era. It was opened up with the 1996 revamp but didn't really have a use - they used it for comps for a bit and the phone room was in one corner but that was about it. I think Denise did the odd thing there during the "Dial Denise" era while Sharron was still with the show but that was about it. The space was opened up to the main living room eventually to bring the phone room into the living room, while I think the back half went pretty much off screen once again.

Upstairs was used more - that third became Vanessa's boudoir with the 1996 revamp, which moved to the middle of the house when it became Den's Den a couple of years later, with the space then used for competitions certainly through to JV's final days.

...and the stairs up to the (rarely used) attic were there, when they were added in the 2001 revamp. I guess they first started to use that third of the house when Zig and Zag got their boxroom and the phone room was done up a bit and was all yellow.