Skip to content

Comedian ditches TV quizzes for grandad's sake

Eleanor MaslinEast Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
Mark Allan/BBC Lucy Beaumont - a woman with long wavy blonde hair wearing a flowery yellow headband - is smiling into the camera and leaning against a wall by a window. She is wearing a black and white tailored jacket with a red top.Mark Allan/BBC
Comedian Lucy Beaumont, originally from Hull, says she is going to stop appearing on TV quiz shows

Comedian Lucy Beaumont says she has given up competing on TV quizzes because she keeps embarrassing her grandad.

The stand-up comic, who is originally from Hull, has appeared on several game shows including Celebrity Mastermind, The Weakest Link and Michael McIntrye's The Wheel, where she lost contestants large amounts of money several times.

Beaumont said while she describes herself as "an intelligent person", she "just can't retain knowledge".

She said her grandfather's neighbours, in South Cave, East Yorkshire, "watch everything I do" and she felt like she was "letting down" the village.

Jonathan Birch/BBC Lucy Beaumont - a woman with long blonde hair and a yellow headband - is leaning against a wall and smiling. She is wearing a white and black striped jumper.Jonathan Birch/BBC
Lucy Beaumont said she felt like she was letting South Cave down, the village where her grandad lives

Beaumont told BBC Breakfast: "Bake Off went so bad that I got an ADHD diagnosis off the back of it.

"It would have been nice to find out privately rather than national TV.

"On The Weakest Link, I spent longer saying goodbye to everyone afterwards than I did playing the actual game."

She added: "I'm gonna stop now. It's embarrassing my grandad. He lives in a cul-de-sac and he can't get away from the neighbours.

"They all watch everything I do and I'm letting South Cave down."

Lucy Beaumont says she is "letting South Cave down"

A Mastermind clip of Beaumont attempting to answer questions about the late comedian Les Dawson was also played on BBC Breakfast.

Beaumont said she had tried to read a biography about Dawson the night before the show, but thinks she "froze" in the iconic black chair, answering "pass" to most questions.

She said: "I'm hanging up my quiz book. That's it. I've retired."

The former teacher, previously married to fellow comedian Jon Richardson, has also appeared on comedy panel shows including Would I Lie To You?, The Last Leg and Have I Got News For You.

She is going on tour across the UK from September with her new theatre show inspired by her experience on quiz shows, called Bad At Quiz Shows, Good With Weirdos.

Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North.

Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices

More on this story
Related internet links