Skip to content

The question

When were you most embarrassed?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A verbatim recurring question in The Guardian's Q&A series.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

TB
Tom Burke
Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
Putting chocolate mousse in my agent’s face. Somebody had done it to me – that thing where they go, “Smell this, it smells funny”, and then they put it in your nose. A year later I was in this French restaurant with a very 1980s-style dessert trolley and, before I knew it, I had a bowl of chocolate mousse in front of me. And my agent went, “What’s that smell?”, and it felt impossible not to … I immediately felt awful and tried to apologise. He, of course, said that he found it funny. But I knew he didn’t.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 May 2026 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 122 →
Jack Whitehall English comedian, actor, presenter and writer
I was bumped as a guest on The Justin Lee Collins show for Bianca from EastEnders.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 April 2023 source ↗
Liev Schreiber American actor
When I was 19 I worked at a gay bar while I was at drama school in London. One of the guys I worked with was Glaswegian and I learned the dialect from him. The acting teacher at the school said, “Liev, you’ve got the region but you’ve missed the character entirely” because I played Jimmy Boyle in a very camp Glaswegian accent.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 September 2024 source ↗
I have a deep-rooted fear of being in trouble. I once tried to sneak into the back of a photography exhibition with my husband when one of our kids was in a pushchair. We’d arrived late and he suggested we go in through the gift shop and see the last room. As we poked our heads round the door, the security guard noticed us. I shouted, “That man’s trying to get in!”, then ran away.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 September 2024 source ↗
I was 17 and about to go on a first date with my first boyfriend. I was so desperate for my mum not to meet him that I was trying to get to the door before she did. I ran down the stairs as she opened it, and slid down the last five steps on my arse.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 July 2025 source ↗

More from Tom Burke

View profile →

More on failure & regret

Also answered this

Paul Merson, Toby Stephens, Liev Schreiber, Su Pollard, Johannes Radebe, Tom Fletcher

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

Report this answer