Rob Rinder is giving up the gavel and the white courtroom jabot for some Amazing Hotels – and he doesn’t mind pitching in as long as he’s exempted from shovelling ‘donkey s**t’.
Following Giles Coren’s departure, the 45-year-old former TV judge revealed he will be joining Monica Galetti as co-host of BBC Two’s Life Beyond The Lobby series.
Despite globetrotting and gallivanting around opulent places, the actor confessed he was eager to get his hands dirty and learn what it required to keep things running in the hoteliers’ world.
Rob described his new position as a “gift” and stressed his desire to “bring [his] obsessional attention to detail” to the much-loved returning fixture.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk, he explained: ‘I really hope that in addition to everything else, one of the things that we’re able to talk about is elevating the human stories, the people who make up these hotels.’
He went on to guarantee viewers that they would watch him get his hands dirty and roll up his sleeves as he researched the sector.
‘If you ask any of my friends what my Chanel no. 5 would be, it would be bleach! The things that I think other people might find rather challenging – changing dirty beds and so on – I really loved.
‘I love the muscle of it all and learning just how difficult it is. I think sometimes, we can go through life under-appreciating the range and depth of humankind that make our lives cleaner and better and how difficult that work is.
‘It’s so easy to take it all for granted.’
However there was one task he wasn’t quite so fond of: ‘What job did I not enjoy? Oh, I wasn’t that good at mucking out donkeys.
‘I feel like I would enjoy it, but there’s actually a kind of art in it and I just don’t think I have the necessary skills to clean up donkey s**t.’
The celebrity pondered on his broadcasting origins and offered his funniest Judge Rinder series recollections ahead of his upcoming television endeavour.
The eight-season run of the small claims courtroom reality programme attracted spectators with its odd situations and eccentric personalities.
One instance in particular drew the judge’s attention in recent months after the children of his friends saw it had gone popular on TikTok.
He shared: ‘What’s delightful is this new young generation who have picked up the show and cut and clipped it on TikTok.
‘There was one case and I remember at the time, Michelle [Hassan, court usher] and I thought it was so funny and we never thought about it again until my friends’ kids’ came up to me and said, “Licky. Licky”.
‘And I said, “What on earth is that?” And then they showed me the TikTok clip and I remember at the time thinking it was really funny, so did the litigant in the case.
‘So that just sort of came out of nowhere, didn’t it?’
Looking back on his days in court, the barrister realised he seen some strange events that would linger with him for years to come.
‘There’ll be the odd case where it’s just funny. In a situation where somebody’s suing somebody over a lost opportunity for winning a band competition and the reason for that is because the 80-year-old street dancer had a wardrobe malfunction and ended up showing his, well, bits to the world so they were disqualified. ‘
Rob confessed that despite growing to popularity and living a life in the public eye, there was one aspect of notoriety that he adored and loved.
The new BBC presenter revealed: ‘One of the lovely things that I’m able to do is meet people who are always lovely and let’s say they want to photograph.
‘It’s so nice you get to improve the chemistry of someone’s day by doing b***er all apart from meeting them, finding something out about them – and to leave somebody happier than when you found them is just one of the nicest things in the world, by doing b***er all.’
Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby starts Sunday 6th August at 8pm on BBC Two and iPlayer
