Tom Allen: ‘People think I’m snooty – they’re often quite horrified’

Tom Allen is nothing like some people expect him to be (Picture: Gettty) Tom Allen is surprisingly passionate about brunch – passionately against it. ‘Brunch is a lie,’ he tells me. ‘They don’t want you to know this but brunch is just an early lunch with an egg on it.’ ‘It’s this idea that maybe you’ll meet your friends for brunch, sit down at 11, but in reality, you’re talking, as the waiters well know, you end up eating at about 12, which is lunchtime. People need to wise up and realise brunch is just lunch – get over it.’ I’m speaking to Allen ahead of the return of his star-studded ITV reality series Cooking With The Stars, and his comic timing rarely slips. He’s consistently wise, punchy, funny and affable throughout, which, according to Allen, often comes as a surprise to strangers. ‘People think I’m going to be aloof or snooty, but if people ever say hello to me at a petrol station or something, they’re often quite surprised, quite horrified even at how much I will stand there talking to you.’ Get personalised updates on Strictly Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro’s TV Newsletter. Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we’ll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you. Tom Allen presents Cooking With The Stars alongside Emma Willis (Picture: ITV) But it’s his charm that made the transition from comedy to television so successful, even if he’s had a relatively steady climb to get to presenting a primetime ITV show with TV’s top dog Emma Willis. In 2005, he won the UK comedy award So You Think You’re Funny when he was still in the embryonic stages of his comedy career. Allen trained as an actor at the National Youth Theatre but fell into comedy when his friends encouraged him to do stand-up on a whim. He recalls thinking of his first stand-up show as more of a ‘stunt’ than anything, but it went surprisingly well. Supporting the likes of Sarah Millican, Michael McIntyre and Romesh Ranganathan brought him firmly into the mainstream and he was swiftly snapped up for television, climbing the traditional comedy ranks through 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown and Live At The Apollo. We’re talking during the biggest week of the year for television. The Great British Bake Off is back, with Nigella Lawson’s arrival marking a new chapter for the show, but Allen’s Extra Slice has been replaced by Seocnd Helpings with new hosts Jon Richardson and Judi Love. And three nights earlier, his Cooking With The Stars co-host made her Strictly debut as host alongside comic Josh Widdecombe and Johannes Radebe. I ask if he was ever in the running to join her instead. At one point, he was tipped as the front-runner to take over from Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman. Allne presented Bake Off: Extra Slice with Jo Brand until it was replaced this year (Picture: Channel 4) ‘No, I know other people were like talking about their auditions, but I wasn’t [approached],’ he says. ‘But I was so proud of Emma, it was like she was born to do it. I thought she was just so comfortable there, she’s so brilliant with people. I’m very lucky to have her in my life, she’s a great friend.’ Together, they present Cooking With The Stars, which returns tomorrow night. For its sixth series, the show has made some big changes – the line-up is bigger than before, and the episodes are cut down to 30 minutes. ‘The celebrities are being put through their paces more quickly, and they have to remember what they’ve been taught in a more rapid-fire way.’ And it’s an impressively eclectic line-up, with the likes of Caroline Quentin, Joey Essex and Happy Mondays’ maraca shaker Bez battling out in the kitchen with the help of some of the world’s most esteemed chefs. In the opening episode, there are even tears from Men Behaving Badly star Quentin. ‘Caroline is used to working under pressure but it just got the better of her,’ says Allen. ‘Sometimes you try and try, but it just doesn’t work out – it’s just that wall of frustration. But it was surprising because I think I’ve always seen her as somebody who knows what she’s doing, and we’re all taken aback by how emotional she was, but it’s just because she cared.’ Of course, I’m desperate to know how celebrity wrecking ball Bez, the man who hospitalised himself by drinking tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda, fared in the kitchen. ‘I would say he’s a little chaotic, but no more chaotic than anybody else,’ Allen assures, diplomatically. ‘I think everyone assumed because he’s from the music scene and the parties that go with that, he wouldn’t be able to connect with the show, but he absolutely did, and surprised everybody.’ Allen slipped into comedy and became one of its most successful acts (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock) In his autobiography No Shame, Allen opens with the line: ‘My name is Tom Allen and I have always been 46 years old.’ Even as a child, he felt like a middle-aged man, an outsider among his peers. I can’t imagine a single gay man who wouldn’t see themselves in his book of growing up in suburban Britain during the early ’90s, even his unusual, and by his own admission misguided tactic, of wearing Victorian clothing to distract from his sexuality. ‘The more I talk about my eccentricities and my weirdness, you find other weird people to connect with, and then you realise actually there’s more of us than not,’ he says. Now he’s actually reaching the age he felt as a child, he’s still not content. ‘I’m actually now an 87-year-old little old lady that wants everyone to calm down and be quiet. ‘I’m basically always feeling not quite right but I’ve learned there’s lots of us who feel like that, so you should just embrace it.’ Deals of the Day Kurt Geiger's new Notting Hill collection is a love letter to London's chaotic weather I’ve found the Hoover gadget that could make cleaning your floors so much easier I tried L'Oréal Paris's new PDRN serum and my skin looked glossier after one use This new Cricut gadget turns your favourite photos into stickers in minutes From kitchen hatches to burgundy walls – the biggest home trends for 2027 Cooking With The Stars returns Monday at 7.30pm on ITV. 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