INTERVIEW - Ben Solomon (Coach Trip)

Coach Trip has been an early evening hit on Channel 4 for a while now, becoming some what of a cult viewing. Each year there's the couples that come and go and then there's those that you route for and get to know as their journey progresses, this year Ben and Nick were one of those couples. We spoke to one half of the Coach Trip favourites, Ben about his and Nicks time on the show...

Have you been watching the show back each night? What’s that been like?

Yeah I’ve been watching it back, it’s been interesting. It’s nice to see what other people have got to say about you kind of behind your back, the positive and the negative points, it’s been interesting.

Has anything that’s been said shocked you?

I wouldn’t necessarily say shocked me, we kind of knew the people we got on with and the people we didn’t get on with so it was pretty simple. However actually hearing their exact words is a little bit tougher than you expect.

What’s the reaction been like from people that have watched the show?

From the twittersphere I’d say it’s been overwhelmingly positive especially for me and Nick. Some of the other guys have got a bit of stick if I’m honest, but I guess that’s all part and parcel of it. You live by the sword you die by the sword don’t you really.

What made you apply for Coach Trip?

I was out in Miami visiting my Aunt and she’d done some work with Channel 4 and they sent out an application her way to see if she knew of anyone that would be interested in doing it and to pass it on asking them to apply. So that’s exactly what I did. Got back from Miami, applied, and then got invited to interviews on my birthday, and yeah, I did really well.

Was the whole experience what you expected?

It’s a lot of filming for a very short show, very intense. I’d never actually been on camera as much as that before obviously, I’m quite happy with how we came across. Sometimes you feel a bit nervous inside but it actually doesn’t really play out too much on TV. So I can’t really complain.

Where’s the best place you visited during your time on the Coach?

I think Spain, Barcelona as it’s familiar. Visiting La Sagrada, that has to be one of the highlights for me, absolutely stunning and we got to film inside which isn’t something they do ordinarily, so we were very lucky. Also absolutely loved the bridge jump, they didn’t play a lot of it but I was probably the most scared out of everyone to do it. I had no interest, from the very start they asked me if there’s was anything I didn’t want to do and that was the only thing I did consider not doing, but I already chickened out of the maggot eating so I had to give the jump a go. I was happy I did.

What was your favourite activity?

Yeah the jump, definitely the jump by far as it’s obviously a test of bravery. I didn’t succumb to the fear unlike a lot of the others, there were only actually five of us that jumped in the end. Then obviously the ballroom dancing because we brought it home for the boys, which was quite embarrassing I must admit but it was a victory all the same.

Is there anywhere you’d have liked to have gone?

We didn’t spend long in Sardinia and I must say that it’s an absolutely beautiful island by the way, highly recommend it if anyone gets the opportunity to go there. I’d have liked to have gone probably deeper into mainland Europe, Germany, Belgium, Amsterdam sort of the historical parts of that place but I can’t complain, we went to the sunnier part of Europe which is never a bad thing.

Who did you get along best with on the Coach?

Well Nick, obviously, quite liked him. Roy and Julia, we were probably closest to them, when they arrived we felt at our most comfortable and I think we helped him transition to the coach because obviously Roy being Roy he was out of his comfort zone in that situation.

Speaking of Roy, he wanted us to ask if you’ve got a leg fetish because apparently you like to play footsie under the table?

No, tell him I like big hairy arms just like his. So no foot or leg fetish unfortunately. I’m actually scared of them now after ‘the incident’, I don’t want to get accused for anything. I felt like Jim Davidson, I had to prove my innocence to the world.

Who did you get on least with?

I couldn’t really say to be honest, there’s people you just don’t get on with in general, but there’s nobody I could pinpoint. Obviously Darren and James had something against us but day to day it seemed like our relationship wasn’t too bad, off-screen that wasn’t necessarily the case as little did we know they thought of us as ‘nice guys’. I’d rather get kicked out for them reasons than being a bit of an arse.

What’s vote time like, is it as awkward as it looks?

It’s horrible, it’s a horrible situation. Myself and Nick were just there to have fun and I like to think that came across. Literally just there to have a laugh and enjoy everyone’s company and when you generally have no good reason to vote someone it’s difficult. You spend the day with these people, they ask you to bond with these people and now we want you to stab them in the back and kick them off. Even the likes of Mandy and Margie, absolutely lovely women but you have to vote someone, they did a lot of charity work and were quite genuine believe it or not unlike some people who played up to the cameras. In hindsight it was a dog eat dog environment. I’ve never had to judge people and build relationships knowing you can’t wholly trust them, that for me was the hard bit.

What’s the day to day filming like, is it as tiring as it looks?

Completely yeah, you do your afternoon activity and then you’re filming as late as 11 o’clock after an early start, so yeah it’s really really tough and tiring but all worth it. You get to meet the likes of Brendan and do all these activities, we did 34 in X amount of days, we never would have done anything like that, we wouldn’t have been able to afford it.

We saw Nick try his luck a few times, did he get lucky in the end?

No, he never, he never gets lucky. I think in all honesty he was trying to play up to that a little bit, he’s not really like that in real life, he’s actually quite the opposite. He’s a bit of a gentleman, I’ll probably get in trouble for saying that but yeah he’s a bit of a gent. So no he didn’t get lucky, he tried, he failed.

You described yourself as a BFG, how would you describe Coach Trip in 3 words?

(after an extended thinking period) Dream-fulfilling, Educational and Testing.

Our favourite Nick and Ben moment was the banana boat, what was yours?

That’s up there, that made me giggle the most, at the time I was just thinking right lets get everyone out the water being the true gent that I am and as you saw it was a bit of a life-saving moment, but that was hilarious, I really enjoyed that.

Finally, would you do it all again?

In a heartbeat. I highly recommend it, if they do another series I hope that the applications for through the roof, it’s completely worth it. I hope that we endeared ourselves to the watching public and you never know maybe Strictly Come Dancing might give me a call one day. It’s been brilliant, no complaints.

Catch Coach Trip on Channel 4 every week day at 5pm