WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO EMILY AND IRISH PRESENTER LAURA JOINING THE SHOW?
I remember when we had the first meeting about new team captains, and I drew a picture of the three of us. I said, ‘That’s all I can think’. And then I wasn’t supposed to phone either of the girls, but I did anyway. I said, ‘What do you think to this?’ and they both said lovely things and here we are.
WHAT DO YOU TAKE THE MICKEY OUT OF THE TEAM CAPTAINS FOR – OR ARE YOU GOING EASY ON THEM?
I don’t think I go hard on anyone anyway. As I’ve got older, I’ve got softer I think. Emily texted me after the first record saying there was genuine love in the studio. And I was like, ‘Aww!’ We’re so warm to each other, I’m like, ‘Love you’.
I don’t plan what I’m gonna say to people really. You gauge it, if someone’s fun and you’re taking the mickey out of each other, you have a bit of fun with it. Juice is a happy place. It’s not a place of malice at all.
HOLLY WILLOUGHBY HAS LEFT THE SHOW – DO YOU MISS HER?
Well, I know Holly in real life anyway, so I don’t miss her in that way. It’s just the end of a chapter, start of a new chapter. But I was so excited that Laura and Emily were so excited about doing it. I just thought, ‘We’re gonna be all right, they really want to do it, I wanna do it with them, it’s just going to be a different Juice’.
Horrible people online, they try and say, ‘Oh it won’t be the same’; of course it won’t be the same! It’s going to be different, and that’s why it’s going to be magical. You don’t want to try and replicate what’s happened.
WHAT IS THE SECRET TO THE SUCCESS OF CELEBRITY JUICE?
I think it is the chemistry between everyone, that’s why we got Whitmore and Atack, because we already have chemistry. We’re mates in real life, just like it was with Holly and Fearne.
So, yeah, the secret is chemistry, and it’s real fun. It’s not laboured fun, we’re really having fun. It’s anarchic, we rarely know what’s gonna happen!
HOW WEIRD HAS IT BEEN FILMING WITH COVID-19 REGULATIONS?
I think people now are just used to staying two metres away from people. You just do it without thinking, and you go, ‘Sorry, I’m not being rude’ – because you feel a little bit rude at first, not hugging people. But people do it automatically, I guess.
HOW HAVE YOU FOUND LOCKDOWN?
I like people spreading optimism, but if we’re honest, it’s just diabolical. But at least we’re all healthy, I guess.
Someone said to me, ‘How are you coping Keith?’ I said, ‘I’m taking joy out of the simple things in life’, such as having a remote control that doesn’t have a wire leading to the TV, like we used to have when I lived at home with my mum.
DID YOU PICK UP NEW SKILLS IN LOCKDOWN?
I did! I’ve just had a box of clay turn up; I’ve learned sculpting and sewing, and you can see all these treats on my YouTube channel, Keith Lemon’s Doings, in which I sit in my office and create things.
:: Celebrity Juice returns to ITV2 on Thursday October 22.
