The Ordinary Boys’ Preston has looked back at walking-off Never Mind The Buzzcocks, saying that the joke made by host Simon Amstell was “cruel and classist”.
The frontman appeared on a 2007 episode of the BBC music and comedy panel show, and infamously abruptly walked off set during filming when Amstell repeatedly ridiculed his then-wife Chantelle Houghton – who he married shortly after meeting on the set of Celebrity Big Brother the year prior.
At one point, reading out excerpts from Houghton’s autobiography and poking fun at a section where she wrote that doing a “photoshoot for the Daily Mail made me feel really posh and upmarket” – the comedian’s comments led to the singer getting up and leaving the studio.
Speaking to NME shortly after the incident, Preston called Amstell a “snotty little posh boy”, and accused him of not writing his own jokes for the show.
Two years later, he revealed that he regretted walking out of the show – sharing that while he “wanted the floor to swallow [him] up” at the time, he would still “love to” go on the pop quiz again to “show them that I’m not a tantrum-y person.”
In 2011, he then doubled down on the comments and said that he “used to be an insufferable arsehole” and “a real dickhead” but had since changed his ways.
Now, he has looked back at the heated appearance on Never Mind The Buzzcocks nearly 20 years on and said that he now sees his exit from the show as “a proud moment”.
“It was actually cruel and classist,” he told The Guardian, referring to the quips Amstell made towards Houghton – who he divorced in 2008. “I really don’t know what other choice I had.”
He also explained that why he and Houghton married just eight months after taking part in Big Brother together – sharing that they “trauma-bonded through this intense experience” – and revealed that he “was in a weird space” and “on loads of Prozac” after leaving the reality show.
Adding that fame started to feel like a “nightmare” for him, he recalled to The Guardian what it was like to be a part of the 2018 phone-hacking scandal, and explained how his personal life was picked apart by the media. “It was that Nuts and Zoo Weekly magazine era. The way that people were talked about – ‘Preston looks fat today’ – it was just awful,” he said.
The interview comes as The Ordinary Boys are making a comeback and dropping the new ska-infused single ‘Peer Pressure’ tomorrow (Friday April 17) after being on hiatus for over a decade.
It has been 20 years since the band’s early heyday with singles like ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ and ‘Nine2Five’, and last year they confirmed that they were back in the studio when they collaborated with Olly Murs on festive single ‘Christmas Starts Tonight’.
Since then, the band played their first show in over 10 years at London’s Strongroom last month and have confirmed dates supporting Madness, as well as slots at Victorious and Together Again Festival. Visit here for tickets.
The band split in 2008, and reunited in 2011 – going on to release their latest, self-titled album in 2015. In his time away from the group, Preston has worked as a songwriter for huge names including Cher, Liam Payne, Jessie Ware and Kylie Minogue.
In the latest interview with The Guardian, Preston reflected on Liam Payne’s death in 2024, and remembered him as “a very funny, sweet, kind guy” who was “misunderstood”.
“I saw a lot of him in me, because we both suffered. I massively wish I’d been able to do more. But as for some kind of intervention, I don’t think I [had that role] in his life,” he explained.
The indie frontman also reflected on how he was told in 2017 that he may never walk again after falling off a balcony, and revealed that the incident led to him becoming addicted to OxyContin.
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