Stacey Dooley has been announced as the presenter for This Is MY House, a new BBC One primetime entertainment show starting in 2021.
Source: Google
BBC has described This Is MY House as an “addictive guessing game” which promises to provide laugh-out-loud moments whilst simultaneously challenging our subconscious prejudices. Each episode will see four people walk into a home and say (you guessed it) “This is MY house.” The catch is that only one of the contestants is telling the truth. The other three are actors armed with convincing backstories on a mission to trick the panel of celebrity judges.
Essentially, this is a game show with just one contestant. The real homeowner wins if they successfully convince the judges of the truth. Any other result is a loss. The show draws heavily from ITV’s recent incarnation of Through The Keyhole, which was cancelled earlier this year after running for six series. Through the Keyhole relied on the general public’s natural desire to snoop in the private lives of popular celebrities. This is MY House however deals with ordinary homes owned by ordinary people. As such, it may struggle to draw the same level of enthusiasm from viewers now that the fame factor is no more.
When the show was initially announced, Stacey Dooley said: “Feel so excited to be fronting this new entertainment show! I love to see inside people’s houses so I’m made up to be involved in a gig that allows us to do that in a format that will bring some fun, humour and warmth at a time when we are all so craving escapism. Can’t wait!”
The response to the announcement has been mixed, however, with many ridiculing the format and sharing their surprise that Dooley – who is best known for her long running documentary series Stacey Dooley Investigates and for winning the sixteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2018 – is the one to present it.
Dooley has taken to Twitter to defend the show, tweeting “Reading some of the unnecessarily cruel comments re my new gig. I got the same criticism doing strictly and Glow up, I did well on strictly and Glow up went on to be a global series, that was recommissioned and Netflix took. I don’t know why this platform is so unkind.”
The six-part series is scheduled to broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in 2021.
Words by Talya Honebeek
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