In October 2012 C4 broadcast 5 episodes of a show, called Hotel GB, from October 1st to 5th. Its currently available to watch on Amazon Prime video.
The stars of this show were:
- Paddy McGuinness / Host
- Mary Portas / Co-general Manager
- Gordon Ramsay / Co-general Manager
- Jimmy Carr / Events Manager (Episode 2)
- Dr Christian Jessen / Health & fitness
- Hilary Devey / Hotel Shop Manager
- Kirsty Allsop / Concierge
- Phil Spencer / Maitre d’
- Gok Wan / Bar Manager
- Kim Woodburn / Housekeeping
- Katie Piper / Spa Manager
- Sara Cox / Social Media Champion
- Tim Lovejoy / Social Media Champion
- Jonathan Ross / Self
- Jamie Oliver / Self
Ramsay and Portas had to work, in competition with each other, to “run a hotel, with 14 unemployed people taken on as their staff”. Guests have the option of paying their bill, not paying and/or leaving a tip. Money raised was ear marked to go to employment charities.
Although IMDB lists Jimmy as being in all 5 episodes this blog post says that he appeared first in episode 2, running a “doggy fashion show”. Having skimmed through I can confirm – he was only in Episode 2.
In 2013 Digital Spy reported that the show would not return for a 2nd series, due to poor ratings. Barb estimated that it ranged from 1.36 to 1.9m viewers.
Available on Amazon Prime (here)
Episode 2, Day 2: Doggy Fashion Show
These Alamy pictures show a sharp-suited Jimmy arriving to film, on October 1st 2012. His first “scene” is walking up to the Hotel, which is what some of this collection shows.
He’s on “Team Gordon” and heads off to meet him in the kitchen, where Ramsey informs him “it’s going to be taxing”.
He’s in about 20 minutes of the episode and has the tricky task of having 50 people (I think it was 50) and their dogs turning up. Bizarrely the fashion show was held in a carpeted room – so you can imagine what happened when deposits started to appear.
Jimmy has a team of 2, to assist him, and decides that he likes being in charge of people. He was the perfect choice for this role as he loves dogs, is charming with their owners and then has the skills to compere the dog show. While his team deliver champagne and food to the guests (mostly eaten by the dogs, apparently).
The dogs have to be walked up and down a carpet “cat walk” and, as one well endowed breed walks away from camera, he quips “that was the dogs bollocks…literally”.
A pile on the floor means he has to call in Kim, for a clean up. Then he has to schmooze the two “organisers” of the competition, to get them to pay the bill, and they say they were so impressed that they were going to double the £500 fee.
He goes to give Gordon the good news and agrees that he’s had a great time and would “come back another day” (although he didn’t). He also delivers high praise for his team and suggests that they should be given a job.
Below is a promo for the show (doesn’t feature Jimmy).
Leave a Reply