Best known for being one half of The Chris & Rosie Ramsey Show and the duo behind the Sh**ged, Married, Annoyed podcast, Rosie Ramsey is about to break out on her own and compete to be the Taskmaster champion on series 19 of the hit game show. However, despite all the fame and success she and husband Chris have found, Rosie still considers herself a homebody and has carved out a refreshingly normal life for their sons— Robin, nine, and Rafe, four.
Did Taskmaster bring out your competitive side?
I don't see myself as a competitive person. When someone pulls out a board game, I'm like, ‘Oh, please God no.’ It's just not my cup of tea. The only time I'll be competitive, is if I'm good at something. If I'm bad at it, I'm like, ‘Oh, I'm not bothered, whatever.’
For Taskmaster you don’t have Chris by your side, how does that feel?
This one was actually quite nice, but there have been other times when I've done stuff without him and I'm texting him, ‘It's really weird.’ When we do stuff together, he actually turns into my runner, and he does everything for us. I have to get my hair and makeup done and it takes about two hours, but Chris is just sitting there, so I'm like, ‘Chris can do this?’ When he's not there, there's nobody to do it!
Your two boys are getting older, what do they think of their parents being famous— do they care?
Rafe has no idea, literally doesn’t bat an eyelid when we're on the telly. I don't know if Robin knows what fame is, but when we did Newcastle Arena, he came on stage, and he watched the beginning and the end of the show. He also calls it ‘our podcast.’ We've been walking along the street before, and people say hello, and he looks to his dad and goes, ‘Do they listen to our podcast?’ He’s very much involved in it because we've talked about them so much, and they’re such a big part of what we do. We honestly live such a normal life, I can't even tell you. We still live in the hometown that we grew up in, I go to the same cafe with my kids on a Saturday that I went to with my mam and dad. It’s just normal, and that's what I want for my kids.
You’ve talked about your dislike of awards dos— what is it about them you don’t enjoy?
Chris and I are both introverted extroverts. We're very extroverted in what we do, but I'm actually a total home bird. I like to make the kids their tea and put them to bed. I have a bath every night, with my candles and a glass of juice— so boring. We just love home life, and I think awards shows are just so out of our comfort zone. And I don't really like dressing up, it’s so intense; a full frock, hair, makeup. I like going out with the girls on a Saturday night and putting on jeans and a nice top, that’s as far as I’ll go.
Starting a podcast was your idea, do you remind Chris of that every time you have a big win— like the O2 tour?
I don't ever throw it in his face, because not a lot of people know this, but when I first met Chris, I really wanted to work on the radio and there was a position going in a local university radio station to do the breakfast show for free, and Chris helped me financially. This is before children, before marriage, before anything. He helped me so I could go part time at work and do that show, and we hadn't even been together long. He's such a kind man. But will I playfully, every now and again, say, ‘Is your bed comfy? I paid for it’? Maybe, because he didn't want to do the podcast at all. He thought it was a terrible idea. He only went along with it because he's kind of like, ‘Happy wife, happy life,’ and it’s been great!
