When I arrived at Escape To The Chateau couple Dick and Angel's Forever Home show, the last thing I expected to see was my fellow audience members dashing onto the stage for a DIY session. Yet that's exactly what happened at Monday night's London Palladium show. Angel and Dick Strawbridge were determined for four fans to experience a re-enactment of all the challenges that had faced them while renovating their formerly dilapidated 152-year-old chateau.
One lady danced her way onto the stage in a sparkly sequined dress, looking more like a Strictly contestant than a DIYer - but no mercy was shown in light of her glamorous get-up, as Angel handed her an apron and invited her to get to work. The four hopefuls had ten minutes to give a portable section of wall a makeover - priming it, tiling it, adding a decorative wreath and even wiring the electrics the old-fashioned way. The couple then revealed another surprise: the winner would be decided via a clapometer, which would register the audience's applause and give a verdict on whose DIY efforts were the most popular.
At first, I assumed watching an entire ten minutes of wall tiling might be dull, but I was wrong - it was absolutely hilarious. That was especially true when the DIYers' efforts went horribly wrong. One man slathered on so much primer that it looked as if he was painting a wall with triple the usual amount of paint, and there were unsightly gaps between each tile.
His wreath kept tumbling down as his attempts slowly .
