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Escape to the chateau

56 replies

ssd · 31/10/2021 21:54

Bloody lovely family.

Love watching them.

OP posts:
FoxtrotOscarFoxtrotOscar · 18/05/2023 21:29

That should have read "a f c*".😂

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 18/05/2023 21:29

Must be quite something if channel 4 have categorically stated they will not be working with them again!

KeanuKenunu · 18/05/2023 21:45

They are very successful on the TV and I can imagine you have to be prepared to step over people so its no surprise they are hard-faced. I've enjoyed the programme but I agree that she sometimes seems to be placating him to keep the peace and he can patronise her. Mind you the worst idea I ever saw was when they papered the swimming pool ceiling - bet that didn't last long!

Cowparslee · 19/05/2023 07:48

I got iffy vibes about both of them tbh

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 19/05/2023 08:00

What I always disliked about that prog. was the implied, ‘If we can do it, anyone can.’ There’s a reason chateaux seem so cheap to buy - there are a lot of them and they absolutely eat money. A relative of dh has one - by no means one of the biggest - and even several years ago he told me that the heating oil alone cost €50,000 a year, never mind the maintenance.
Luckily he has sufficiently deep pockets.

Mischance · 19/05/2023 09:02

This is all very interesting - I wondered why the programme gave me the creeps a bit. I used to worry about their son who was getting more obese by the day, but they still stuffed him full of food.

MorrisZapp · 19/05/2023 09:27

Given that Channel 4 specialise in giving tiresome, expletive loving narcissists a nationwide platform, sometimes with no clothes on at all, this pair must be truly, truly nasty for them to draw a line.

Cowparslee · 19/05/2023 09:30

Mischance · 19/05/2023 09:02

This is all very interesting - I wondered why the programme gave me the creeps a bit. I used to worry about their son who was getting more obese by the day, but they still stuffed him full of food.

Yes, I felt a bit judgy but same thoughts crossed my mind!

Cowparslee · 19/05/2023 09:30

MorrisZapp · 19/05/2023 09:27

Given that Channel 4 specialise in giving tiresome, expletive loving narcissists a nationwide platform, sometimes with no clothes on at all, this pair must be truly, truly nasty for them to draw a line.

Very true!

Diorinthecountry · 19/05/2023 10:42

Does anyone remember a few years ago there were allegations that Angel wasn't designing things it was a young guy. I remember the young guy put out a YouTube about how he signed something basically giving them the rights to his designs. He said it was him that done the homebase range and a lot of stuff in the house.

itsmylife7 · 19/05/2023 11:00

I saw it once but I couldn't cope with his moustache 😫

Cowparslee · 19/05/2023 11:05

Dh used to watch it sometimes, he was interested in the DIY aspect.

I watched a Christmas special shot somewhere in Alsace-Lorraine, they were going to different cake shops and encouraging the kids to eat loads of highly calorific treats and then went to a restaurant and had fondue. It seemed to be glorifying gluttony and made me feel a bit uncomfortable given how overweight the kids are.

EmmaEmerald · 19/05/2023 11:18

I watched a couple of these
just assumed it was all staged and paid for by the TV people?

I enjoyed it it initially, but then it got into the kids etc and I was only interested in the house. I'm surprised they stretched it out as long as they did tbh.

davegrohll · 19/05/2023 12:18

I used to be Amazed at some of the stuff Angel did, remember thinking that will never work, yet it did !! But to hear she might not have actually designed it all really pisses me off 😆

There was something about dick, I thought he was clever in the things he did but definitely had something simmering below the surface

Diorinthecountry · 19/05/2023 12:41

I've just remembered the guys name was Michael. I've watched it from the start, went to see them on tour and bought the merch so feeling a bit mugged off tbh 🤣

Also just remembered Michael said the triangle wallpaper in one of the turrets was his idea and he done it.

At the start the done a lot themselves but quickly changed to drawing a design or having a idea then getting others to do it for them.

I didn't get any vibes from Dick but Angel didn't sit right with me when she was with the children. I always got a feeling that she couldn't be bothered with them or she wasn't as close to them or the earth mother that she made herself out to be.

Agree with above posters about the kids weight. Also Dick and Angels weight has always increased over the years. I've always thought. They have massive amounts of land, pools etc but still all get bigger. Saying that they love big portions of heavy rich foods and booze.

It was such a lovely programme to watch and relax to. Now the bubble has burst 😪

Chchchchchangesss · 19/05/2023 12:46

That's a shame, we loved watching this during covid.

RaininSummer · 19/05/2023 12:47

They always seemed like opportunistic narcissists to me. Some pretties to watch but they were just so irritating.

halfsiesonapotnoodle · 19/05/2023 13:08

Cowparslee · 19/05/2023 11:05

Dh used to watch it sometimes, he was interested in the DIY aspect.

I watched a Christmas special shot somewhere in Alsace-Lorraine, they were going to different cake shops and encouraging the kids to eat loads of highly calorific treats and then went to a restaurant and had fondue. It seemed to be glorifying gluttony and made me feel a bit uncomfortable given how overweight the kids are.

Oh for goodness sake 🙄 It was a Christmas day out!

SaladRooney · 19/05/2023 13:16

This thread is a bit silly surely no one who ever watches TV in 2023 is deluded enough to think that this kind of show isn't based around 'characters', 'scripts' 'plots' and 'settings' almost as much as a drama, even when it's 'two mildly eccentric real people buy a chateau, renovate it, and run it as a business'? Look at the way the producers always 'script' in some artificial source of tension to give it some pace like having to finish the initial renovation in time to host their own wedding, which was only 'necessary' for the 'plot', when in fact people who had been together for years and had two children and were busy could easily have left it another month, or another year.

Dick Strawbridge, far from being some ordinary guy who just lurched into TV via buying a chateau, has a huge amount of varied TV experience, including several previous 'reality TV' stints with family, and even Angel, who doesn't, has a consciously-crafted wacky-vintage persona which suggests a certain savviness about popular appeal and being in the public eye, and a previous business that relied on selling a quite ordinary service by putting a particular vintage 'spin' on it.

Both are 'acting' to an extent onscreen -- he's wacky-moustached Colonel DIY, she's flame-haired kimono-clad designer. It's perfectly possible that in non-filming periods when they're home alone, Angel has a brown flicky blowdry and dresses in Next.

Perhaps they are difficult to work with. Perhaps the producers didn't like the fact that the 'actors' flexed their muscles beyond the project, and felt able to make demands for more money, more power etc. Who knows?

Lottapianos · 19/05/2023 13:24

'I saw it once but I couldn't cope with his moustache 😫'

It really is horrifying, and I say that as a massive beard lover

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 19/05/2023 13:25

For those talking about weight, Angel has lost a lot recently.

SaladRooney · 19/05/2023 13:26

Lottapianos · 19/05/2023 13:24

'I saw it once but I couldn't cope with his moustache 😫'

It really is horrifying, and I say that as a massive beard lover

It is pretty much the protagonist, all by itself.

Maybe it's a requirement (for continuity/recognisability purposes?) in all his contracts?

Cowparslee · 19/05/2023 13:38

halfsiesonapotnoodle · 19/05/2023 13:08

Oh for goodness sake 🙄 It was a Christmas day out!

I know, but the child was very obese, it seemed really strange that he was being basically encouraged to overeat on TV.

Cowparslee · 19/05/2023 13:40

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 19/05/2023 13:25

For those talking about weight, Angel has lost a lot recently.

She may have, but the children are very large - there was a new picture on the Escape to the Chateau Instagram just yesterday

Cam22 · 19/05/2023 13:47

Angel is a ludicrous name. Suits her. Ugh