When Amanda Holden and Alan Carr join heat’s Zoom call to promote the third series of their property renovation show, they’re not alone. Both presenters are joined by their respective rescue dogs, Minnie (full name Miss Minnie the Moocher Fou Fou Hughes) and Rita. Cue ten minutes of gushing and multiple jokes about the pair’s next joint project being Crufts.
And the similarities between Amanda, 53, and Alan, 48, don’t stop there. As well as their rescue dogs and near-identical cackling laughs, which punctuate their anecdotes and numerous interruptions of each other as we talk, the pair also share a love of interior design. After delighting BBC viewers with two series of Amanda & Alan’s Italian Job, which saw them breathe new life into properties in Italy, they’re now heading to Andalusia for their first Spanish renovation job.
After two years of purchasing derelict venues as part of the €1 Houses Project that runs within certain European towns and villages, then demolishing, re-designing and rebuilding them for charity, the pair have set themselves their biggest challenge yet. For the third series – now called Amanda & Alan’s Spanish Job – they’ll be transforming a run-down, three-storey townhouse into a boutique Bed & Breakfast. And as much hard work as that entails, there’s still plenty of time for laughs, libation, and Les Miserables, as they reveal to heat…
As well as swapping Aperol Spritz in Italy for Sangria in Spain, you’re swapping doing up a house to doing up a B&B. Did this series feel different?
Amanda: Yes, because of the size of it. We bought the house, then decided to make it into a B&B – that decision meant there was way more to do, but in the same amount of time we've always been given.
Alan: We still face all the same problems in Spain as we did in Italy, but we wanted to give ourselves a new challenge – something bigger and better – because we’ve done it for a few years now. Roof terraces were mentioned…
Amanda: And plunge pools were discussed!
Can either of you speak Spanish?
Amanda: No, we're pretty rubbish. We would learn a couple of words each day, but we’re like Dory from Finding Nemo, and by the next day, we'd forgotten everything. The funniest thing was when we went to the Spanish equivalent of Homebase and had to ask for things I’m not sure even the most fluent Spanish speakers would know.
Alan: Some of the hand gestures got quite X-rated, especially for words like screw and hammer.
Did you get recognised when you were in Spain?
Amanda: We did, actually. Probably because there are lots of expats out there and I assume Britain’s Got Talent and some of Alan’s shows must reach them. It’s such a lovely moment when it happens, although it does sometimes depend where sometimes. It was a bit weird when it happened in the Turkish Baths because we're sat there semi-naked with towels around us.
Alan: Getting recognised while we were roller skating was pretty funny.
Amanda: And at karaoke!
What are your go-to karaoke songs?
Amanda: Madonna’s Like A Virgin for the irony! We like a bit of Sonny and Cher, as well, don't we?
Alan: We’ve done karaoke quite a few times together now, We love On My Own by Patti LaBelle – that's a good one – or a bit of Grease’s You're The One That I Want.
Amanda: We did a bit of Les Miserables, as well, and the locals weren’t quite sure what to make of that.
Alan: Because of my high voice, I can also do Wuthering Heights or Staying Alive.
Amanda: Yes, you can! You’re like one of the lost Bee Gees.
What does an Amanda and Alan night out look like?
Alan: Well, I'm a nightmare.
Amanda: This isn’t therapy, Alan, you don't have to give it away!
Alan: Amanda becomes a mum with me. One minute, she’s my party sister and then she's finding me a glass of water or making me a nice cup of tea. She looks after me.
Amanda: We had three big nights out before Christmas, and I feel like we match each other drink for drink and on the dance floor, but then I'll then head off while Alan will have made friends with everyone in the bar and will decide to stay. I’ll then get a call from some random place in the morning.
Alan: A skip usually.
Amanda: Or you come home with me. I’ve put you to bed in my house before.
Alan: Oh yeah! I woke up and there was Solpadeine and a massive bottle of water. I thought I might get some tea and toast, but she very quickly booked me an Uber home.
You obviously have a lot of fun working together – have you ever had an argument while filming the series?
Alan: It’s usually over interior design. When we go to a place like Spain, I think we need to make it look a bit Spanish as a nod to the environment, whereas she wants to make it looked like Liberace’s downstairs toilets. Maybe that’s just because I do like a doily and a figurine, which seems to be the Spanish style.
Amanda: We call it ‘tut’ in my house. I don't like tut for no reason, whereas Alan loves tut! But I feel like this year we were pretty much on the same page when it came to the decor. There was only one room that we really let loose in, and we let loose together. Something that does cause us to have a bit of a bicker sometimes are Alan’s tea breaks. They got so bad last series, that we gave him a flask this year, so we didn't have to keep waiting for the kettle to boil in the middle of nowhere on a gas stove. We told him the flask had to last at least until lunchtime.
What’s the secret to your friendship?
Amanda: I'd say give and take – mostly from Alan!
Alan: ‘Long Suffering Alan’ they call me! I think it's respect, really. We have the same sense of humour, same laugh, we like the same things, but there’s also that undercurrent of respect. Amanda doesn’t moan. She gets on with it and she gets things done. She’s like a superwoman.
Amanda: I feel the same way about Alan. We both don't have an ego, and you can't with this job. I mean, Alan's held up an umbrella in car parks all over Europe for me to wee behind because there's no loo. I don't know any other person in the world that would put up with this job because there's absolutely no glamour to it. It’s really hard work, but it’s made manageable with loads of laughs and lots of wine.
We’ve watched the first episode of Spanish Job and couldn’t help but notice that there’s a bar right next door. Was that dangerous?
Alan: Amanda dug through the walls of our B&B with a spoon like in Shawshank Redemption! It was actually torture because we would be up at 8am working hard and we’d hear people like laughing next door. It was hell – we were banging on the windows!
Alan, we also need to talk about your Matador suit, which appears in the very first ep…
Alan: I said, ‘I want couture. I want to look Spanish.’ Amanda was seething with jealousy when she saw it. But you look fabulous all the time, Amanda.
Amanda: I look like a F1 Pit Stop Tyre Changer in my boiler suit.
Alan: I've never seen you look so drab. But my outfit backfired a bit because when we went to the Homebase, I was dressed like an overweight Matador who looks like he's probably sat on the bull to kill it. And Matadors are revered over there.
Amanda: Also, it got filthy. And Alan couldn’t wash it, so it was very stinky.
Speaking of outfits, you always look super-glam on BGT – where do you get your inspiration from?
Alan: Is that question for me or Amanda?
Amanda: I do think Alan has a great sense of style, at least he’s never boring. Personally, I look to people I love in Hollywood who are age-defying like, J.Lo, Jennifer Aniston… or Demi Moore at the Golden Globes last week. They're all older than me and they do what they want and dress how they feel. It's just brilliant.
Have you kept up with the two properties in Italy from series one and two since you sold them?
Amanda: Funnily enough, a friend of mine sat next to somebody at a dinner who bought the Sicilian property! And then a lovely American couple bought the Tuscany property without even going to view it. They saw the show online and bought it for above the asking price. And all the money made from the property sales go to Children in Need and Comic Relief, so that was unbelievable.
Alan: The show has such far-reaching impacts. After filming series two, we were sitting at the airport in Pisa and a family came over to us and said they’d been inspired to buy their own place and do it up. That was a very special moment.
You’ve done Italy and Spain, where would you like to go next?
Alan: We love Greece – Amanda and I holidayed there together last year. I mean, they should have filmed that.
Amanda: Maybe next series we’ll just do Wish You Were Here. I'll be Judith Chalmers.
Alan: And I’ll be the cameraman.
Amanda: Greece would be amazing. Or maybe closer to home would be good. Depopulation is happening everywhere. The €1 Houses Project – where you can buy a property for only €1 - only exists in a few areas, but if there was a scheme in any remote villages in Wales or Scotland, maybe they would be on the cards.
Can you tease any 2025 projects that you both have coming up?
Amanda: Alan’s show Changing Ends has been recomissioned for series three and four!
Alan: And the nation’s favourite teatime quiz Picture Slam is back.
Amanda: I've got my Netflix project coming out, and then another possible show for another channel. Together, we have something else possibly. It’s in very early stages, but if it happens, it’ll be amazing. It's going to have a lot of impact.
Alan: It’s Celebrity Naked Attraction!
Amanda & Alan’s Spanish Job will air Friday 24th January on BBC One