For a new series, Amanda Holden and Alan Carr described getting their hands dirty to turn a ruined property into a luxurious Italian house but met some creepy rats.
Both Holden and Carr are travel buddies and loved the idea of renovating dilapidated properties, buying them at ‘one euro’ and making a masterpiece of a home out of it, however, it wasn’t a mess until they bought a house with “creepies crawlies” as Holden calls.
In a recent interview with Express, Holden says it didn’t feel difficult at first and she thought she could do it, however, things turned out to get very messy. “I very arrogantly just thought I could handle it, that I’d be able to do it,” says Holden.
Carr too adds saying, “I was very Sicilian. It was like, you know, I wanted to feel like I was in Sicily. You know – when in Rome, do what the Romans do, as they say. My hands were like… callus, they were callus. I know people will go, ‘Oh, I bet they didn’t do anything,’ but we genuinely did!” To which Holden adds, “We bashed walls down, we took metalwork off, we took windows out, we brick laid.”
They further go on to talk about the squatters and say, “You forget the main thing,” Alan cut in. “When we get there, there had been squatters in there..” To which Holden exclaims, “Oh God, the squatters were a nightmare! We lifted out mattresses which were rat infested. There were creepies crawlies I couldn’t even name!”
However, she claims that being a part of the show, she would do it again without a second thought. “We did because that was the thing and that’s what we wanted to do, and that’s the show. And I would always get my hands dirty anyway. And it was disgusting,” says Holden.
Amanda & Alan’s Italian Job is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
