An entire episode of ‘Grand Designs’ – the Channel 4 architecture and design show – was “deliberately designed to get people as drunk as possible”.
The show’s host Kevin McCloud has said he wrote an episode of the show with the explicit aim of getting viewers drunk when he heard that fans had invented a drinking game based on the show, called 'Grand Designs Bingo'.
McCloud, who has been the show’s presenter for over 15 years, said that once he realised there was a drinking game, he began plotting an episode with a hidden aim: “We even actually wrote an entire programme around the drinking and it’s covert so one of the programmes is deliberately designed to get people as drunk as possible," the Guardian reports.
#Granddesignsbingo
The show features families designing and building their dream homes, and there are almost always moments of disaster and drama along the road to a happy home. It was these moments that became the fuel for the #granddesignsbingo drinking game. When these moments happen on the show, viewers at home have to take a drink.
These moments ranged from the small to the large, including owners running out of money to continue building, to someone quitting their job to manage the project, owners ignoring planning permission or the windows not fitting.
And the drinking got more complex, as McCloud explains: “There are all kinds of rules like every time I used the word ‘bespoke’, it’s a double shot, the wife gets pregnant half way through - that's a treble.”
Caravan rules
There’s even an entire subsection dedicated to caravan living, and incidents occurring during caravan living.
“The owners end up living in a caravan during the build to save money/because they have run out of money.
“Bonus points (or an extra drink) if they are in the caravan over Christmas. Bonus points (or an extra drink) if the owners are expect a baby while living in a caravan. Extra bonus points (or finish the drink) if they are still living in a caravan when the baby is born.”
Channel 4 have denied the claim, saying McCloud was speaking in jest.
“It is not true that an episode of Grand Designs was made with a drinking game in mind. Kevin made these comments in jest,” the station said in a statement reported by the Daily Telegraph.
