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.
Do you have 10 pages? Once, I was dancing in a costume that was like a corset. During a move, the corset ripped and exploded, and I had to carry on doing the number practically in my jockstrap.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 April 2023 source ↗
I am in a public profession, so take your pick. It’s all embarrassing.
After the 2012 Olympics I hosted the parade. I had on a little skirt and when the prime minister came on everyone cheered. I thought: “Oh my God, they love David Cameron,” but they were cheering because my skirt had blown up, and I’d flashed my knickers at him.
When I was a teenager, I laughed at a joke I didn’t understand. Whoever told the joke turned to me and said, “What are you laughing at?” Of course I didn’t know and he obviously knew I didn’t know. It was excruciating.
At school, I got my head stuck in a balustrade on the stairs at lunchtime. I had pupils laughing at me, parents laughing at me, teachers laughing at me and eventually, at the end of the day, the fire brigade laughing at me.
I don’t think anyone should deplore anything about themselves. You can always improve things, but by deploring you’re putting yourself on a losing streak.
I bought a Mercedes convertible brand new in 2016 and I’ve only done 4,000 miles. I love cars – if I’m going to blow it, it’ll be on a sports car. I already have my eyes on the next one – I’ll get Simon Cowell to buy it.
Follow your dream and never give up, because it’s not over until the fat lady sings. Ride the adventure!
Meanness and lying.
Oprah Winfrey. Considering the cards she was dealt at birth, what she has achieved is quite something.
Growing up as a gay boy in a small town, you get used to people saying bad things pretty quickly.
Brandi Carlile, Paul McKenna, Michael Ball, Alison Steadman, Pauline McLynn, Sam Ryder
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