When heading to a bingo hall you're expecting a good natter with some friends, a few drinks and hopefully some big wins, unless you're there on a special night when the crowd might seem busier with people wearing specially-printed t-shirts. There might even be a few giddy ladies bouncing around the room. If this is the case, you've possibly walked into a bingo event where there is a celebrity caller.
Bingo callers can either be super dull and boring or bring a lot of humour and excitement to an event. These special celebrity Bingo Games tend to be big hits with the regulars. Some celebrities have been bingo callers, either before their fame or after their fame. So, who are some of the famous people calling 'Two Little Ducks' at the weekend?
Soap Stars
Thousands of people tune in on weekday nights to watch the various classic British soaps that are on TV, namely EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale. The stars become a part of our lives as we watch them grow up but also as we watch them grow old. Two particular stars that we love have in fact been Bingo callers in their time.
The first being Shane Richie, also known as EastEnders ex-pub landlord, Alfie Moon. Richie actually started his career in his local bingo hall before he became a bluecoat at Pontins. Perhaps it was standing up in front of a crowd at the weekends that allowed him to be so confident when in front of camera. Richie is still known to partake in some bingo and is often spotted at halls with his wife on the weekends.
Another soap star is Anthony Cotton who is famous for playing Sean Tully in Coronation Street. The actor was famed for playing a bingo caller in the soap and since then has been on high demand from bingo halls up and down the country.
Global Megastars
It's somewhat humbling to hear about big megastars playing bingo, showing that they're just like us regular folk during their downtime, but hearing about them calling the bingo often draws in huge crowds.
Gary Barlow OBE, who is best known as lead singer in Take That, has written music for megastars as well as touring the globe himself. Barlow has also taken part in TV shows such as The X Factor UK and appeared as a guest on many chat shows including The Graham Norton Show. Something you might not have known about our Gary Barlow though, is that he used to be a bingo caller. He has hosted many bingo nights whilst on tour, as well as incorporating the game into his 10th wedding anniversary celebrations.
Another big name is Australian actor Russel Crowe. Having featured in global hits such as Gladiator and Robin Hood, Crowe has an extremely long list of amazing career roles but one of the first was being a bingo caller. He has talked on numerous occasions about being a bingo caller in his youth but being fired from the role for shouting inappropriate rhymes down the microphone. We bet the bingo hall that fired him would do anything for a moonlight appearance now!
As well as these famous bingo callers, there are others such as Stephen and Chris from Channels 4's show Gogglebox. The Chuckle Brothers Paul and Barry who are known for their fun and crazy antics managed to sell out a charity bingo event in Cardiff. Yet one of the most surprising famous bingo callers of all is Ed Miliband. The politician used bingo calling as an asset to his local campaign a few years back, he called many bingo games which all turned out to be huge hits – even though he did receive a few heckles from the opposition in the crowd!
