Michael Barrymore has insisted ‘Strike It Lucky’ was “a terrible game”.
Michael Barrymore says Strike It Lucky was a bad format
The ex ‘Barrymore’ star thinks the classic game show - which ran for 13 seasons between 1986 and 1999 - “doesn’t work” and that the reason it was a success was because of his charisma and patter with the contestants.
The 71-year-old broadcaster told the Daily Star newspaper: "The format of 'Strike It' Lucky is s***. It’s c***. It's a terrible game. It doesn’t work.
"’Strike It Lucky’ wasn’t about the game - that was just a vehicle for me to do all the nonsense.
"We sold the format to all these other countries based on my recordings. But they didn’t make it work because it wasn’t about the format."
Despite his blunt assessment, Michael expressed his concern about how the industry was “never” going to produce such a hit again.
He said: "You’re never going to have shows like ‘Strike It Lucky’ again. They require investment, a bit of talent and being brave.
"If you’re going to tick boxes when making art like they do now, it’s never going to be great."
The former ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ contestant - who was axed from ITV after Stuart Lubbock was found dead in his swimming pool at his Essex home in 2001 - Michael recently admitted that it has “taken” him more than two decades to “build up” his confidence since he left television. having never faced any changes.
He told the same newspaper last month: “The amount of confidence you need to work the way I did at my peak was phenomenal and that took years to build up. When everything went my confidence was completely smashed. It has taken me 22 years to get that back.”
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