Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has been "trying to get sacked" from television for years.
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen
The 'Changing Rooms' star quipped he has made every makeover he has done "more and more outlandish" in the "bitter bitter" hope he will be booted off the television.
Asked if his career has turned out how he expected, he said: "God, no ... I’ve been trying to get sacked from television for years. Each makeover has become more and more outlandish in the bitter, bitter hope that someone will go, 'No more!' "
And Laurence insists that what you see on television is himself as he is, rather than a persona.
He added: "I’ve never been anything other than who I was. I came first; what you see on television just happened. My brother always gets cross with me because he says that I’ve cheated. I’ve never had a job; I’ve only ever made money out of being who I am."
The 55-year-old homestyle consultant feels that he is one of the "biggest and hottest British exports" at the moment because he is an "opinionated middle-aged" man like Simon Cowell.
Speaking in The Guardian newspaper's G2 segment, he added: "I think one of the biggest and hottest British exports you can find is opinionated middle-aged men. I’m up there with [Gordon] Ramsay and [Jeremy] Clarkson and [Simon] Cowell. It seems to be the one thing that we’re managing to sell abroad very, very well."
Laurence rose to public prominence during his time on 'Changing Rooms', but he previously confessed the show felt "a bit like panto".
Looking back on his time on the home-improvement show, Laurence explained: "I was a real designer with a proper practice and it was a bit like panto for me. Having spent all week doing Lady Fra Fra's curtains, I was being let loose in a council flat with a ton of brightly coloured emulsion and a staple gun.
"I got that rep for being the rat king in the panto, but in more than 100 programmes there were only three where the people didn't like it. Until that point interior design was an incredibly snobby and upmarket discipline. Suddenly it was something people were watching at home after 'EastEnders', and trying out for themselves. I didn't last long in the American version. The designers were deliberately being produced to get things wrong."
'Changing Rooms' is to make a return to the small screen with Laurence and Davina McCall, but it was recently reported the reboot has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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