Before They Were Famous

Introduction

Fame. It's a fickle mistress. One minute you're the host of a popular ITV game show and the next you're doing panto in Godalming. But this Good Game Guide takes a view of the opposite side of the mountain. The North Face. The way up. For many wannabees, being a contestant on a high profile game show is a chance to be noticed by an agent, the newspapers or just have an extra 15 minutes of fame.

So we bring you our guide to celebrities who were on game shows before they were famous:

Actors/Presenters/Broadcasters

Stephen Fry was on University Challenge.

Michael Underwood appeared as a contestant on the children's version of The Crystal Maze. Strangely, he began a full-blown TV career by winning a BBC contract on Whatever You Want.

Actress Miriam Margolyes appeared on an early series of University Challenge and claims to have been the first person to say the f-word on British telly, after getting a starter question wrong.

Nicholas Crane, travel writer and the BBC's face of popular geography, was on the Oxford University team in the 1982 series of Now Get Out of That. He also once turned up to do a demonstration for the contestants on Survival Challenge which, not coincidentally, was hosted by his cousin Richard.

Documentary presenter Monty Halls (of Five's Great Ocean Adventures and BBC Two's Great Escape) won the 2004 one-off, Superhuman.

Amanda Holden (centre)

Amanda Holden (actress and former wife of Les Dennis) appeared on Blind Date, as did future GMTV reporter and Only Fools On Horses champion Jenni Falconer.

Model and later It's a Knockout scorer Nell McAndrew was a hostess on the original Man O Man.

Before her acting career took off, Dame Maggie Smith was a hostess on Double Your Money.

Kieron Elliott (actor and one-time Challenge link man) was a contestant on Prickly Heat, as was star of S4C and The One Show, Alex Jones.

Crimewatch presenter Rav Wilding lasted ten weeks as a contestant on 2002 reality flop Eden.

David Spinx (EastEnders' Keith Miller) was a contestant on One to Win in 2000.

Not forgetting Janice Long who first appeared on 3-2-1 with her husband in 1978, later becoming a DJ for Radio 1.

Sam Nixon rose to fame on Pop Idol, but his first TV appearance was as a contestant on Fun House in 1998.

Lt.Col. Dick Strawbridge got his break as a team captain on Scrapheap Challenge, back when it was just Scrapheap and he was still just a Major.

He turned up on all sorts of things before graduating to actual presenting work, but we reckon one of Jem Stansfield's (Bang Goes the Theory, Planet Mechanics) earliest TV appearances, if not his very first, was as a technical expert on Scrapheap Challenge.

At the tender age of 14, Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman sung 'Venus' on Grampian TV's New Faces copycat The Big Break in 1989. She didn't win her heat (coming joint fourth - a pianist won) but seventeen years later, ended up winning the Comic Relief version of Fame Academy.

Comedians

Michael "Johnny Vegas" Pennington was a MOTP on Win, Lose or Draw.

Arguably Steve Coogan came to fame partly due to his Krypton Factor observation round comedy skits.

Perrier-nominated comedian Daniel Kitson was a contestant on Blockbusters.

Stephen Merchant (Extras) was also on Aspel-era Blockbusters. He didn't win. Watch the clip

Junior Simpson (In the Dark) appeared with his clan on Family Fortunes back in 1991.

Tim Key (We Need Answers) won a car on Britain's Worst Driver.

Fellow We Need Answers star Alex Horne won three episodes of Countdown in 2008.

Rob Deering (Totally Top Trumps) was a contestant on Crack It at the age of 12, and also appeared on Fifteen-to-One (listed as a Theatre Director from Teisworth, Oxfordshire) [1].

Simon Amstell from Never Mind the Buzzcocks and the Popworld Golden Age was a contestant on both Gamesmaster and Family Catchphrase. Andrew O' Connor could see him making it big!

Sports stars

Chris Rawlinson, top sprint-hurdler, made it to the last eight in the 1995 series of Gladiators.

Kelly Holmes, double-gold Olympian and last line of Britain's war defences, was scheduled to be a con-ten-derrrr a year before. However, due to a sporting commitment, she had to pull out.

And rugby league professional Andy Farrell was given leave of absence by Wigan to appear in the 1996 series of Gladiators, where he progressed to the Northern final.

Knight-to-be Bobby Moore won the £1000 Treasure Trail on Double Your Money.

Music

Folk singer June Tabor captained the St. Hugh's College, Oxford team on University Challenge in 1968.

Jon Marsh, mainman of 90s pop-dance combo The Beloved ("The Sun Rising", "Sweet Harmony" - featuring Tess Daly in the video) was a Countdown octochamp in 1987 and made it to the semifinals where he lost to the eventual series champion.

Simon Cowell won £20 worth of kitchen utensils on Sky One's version of Sale of the Century in 1990.

Top Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer wrote the theme music for Going for Gold.

Politics/News/Writers

Moira Stuart, the BBC newsreader who was originally an actor, was an Argond on The Adventure Game.

Conservative front-bencher David Lidington captained the winning 1978 Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge team on University Challenge and returned 24 years later to lead them to another victory on the University Challenge Reunited series.

Sebastian Faulks

Other University Challenge alumni include Clive James, Sebastian Faulks, politicians David Mellor and Malcolm Rifkind, historians Simon Schaffer (captain of the victorious Trinity College, Cambridge team in 1975) and Dr. David Starkey, and journalist John Simpson.

Kwasi Kwarteng won University Challenge in 1995 as part of the Trinity College, Cambridge side. He was elected to parliament as the Conservative MP for Spelthorne in 2010.

Andrew Collins (pundit and 6 Music DJ) appeared with his family on Telly Addicts.

The late newspaper columnist and presenter John Diamond was a contestant on Countdown in 1986, winning two games.

Columnist and Nuts editor Pete Cashmore was also on Countdown. He was champion of series 38 in 1997, and later sold his 20-volume OED for £1000 on eBay.

Members of the public

Monica Rose became a household name thanks to her appearances on Double Your Money and The Sky's the Limit.

Teenager Janice Nichols became something of a phenomenon thanks to her catchphrase "Oi'll give it five", delivered in a broad Brummie accent, on Thank Your Lucky Stars.

Before appearing as a Housemate on Big Brother 4 and becoming one of Sky's Brainiac team, Jon Tickle appeared on Blockbusters.

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