Les Dennis quit 'Family Fortunes' because ITV were planning to slash his pay by 98 per cent.
'They offered an insultingly 98 per cent pay cut': Les Dennis reveals why he really quit Family Fortunes
The 69-year-old actor and presenter hosted the game show from 1987 to 2002 but quit after the "insulting" offer by TV bosses.
Speaking to presenter Kate Thornton on her podcast 'White Wine Question Time', he explained: "I'd just come out of the 'Big Brother' house and the phone wasn't, you know (ringing). I went in thinking that I was going to get a reboot, everybody says they're going to the 'Big Brother' house or a show like that for charity or whatever, and certainly at that time there was no fee when we were doing those... there was no fee.
"You say, 'oh, I'm going in for charity', but I was going in to try and kick start again because 'Family Fortunes' had ended. I'd decided to leave it because it had gone to a daytime slot. I left it because of money, to be honest. They offered an insultingly 98 per cent pay cut.
"You go in for a reboot because the phone wasn’t ringing. But it certainly wasn’t ringing after!"
However, Les revealed his ill-advised stint on 'Big Brother' did lead to a career resurgence as Ricky Gervais spotted him and cast him in 'Extras'.
He said: "If I hadn’t done Big Brother then Ricky Gervais wouldn’t have called me and invited me on to Extras. Playing, as he called it, a twisted, demented version of myself. I even added my own stuff. I smashed that Les Miserables image."
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