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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Four In A Bed secrets

176 replies

LostInShoebiz · 01/08/2018 18:21

Sort of a thread about a thread but I’m loving the Come Dine With Me thread on AIBU.

So, AIBU to want to know if anyone has been on Four In A Bed or knows anyone who has?

I have to confess, if money was no object, I’d buy a B&B and go on the show.

OP posts:
JovialNickname · 01/08/2018 21:03

I love FIAB, all the more because everything about it is so inherently unfair (I will deduct 50% for my £40 yurt as it does not have an ensuite; I will only pay you £30 for your boutique hotel as I feel it is the same standard as my campsite, etc) Love it

JovialNickname · 01/08/2018 21:05

Oh KC that is really horrible, I guess we do forget this is people's livelihood sometimes x

Hygge · 01/08/2018 21:06

@SneakyGremlins - I am on my way to the Coach Trip thread right now Grin

OllyBJolly · 01/08/2018 21:08

I love it but it has put me off staying in b&bs

Me too! I travel a lot with work and I'd usually choose to stay in B&Bs rather than faceless hotel chains. I'm genuinely quite laid back but now I know of the unwashed cushions and throws on the bed, the hairs on the mattress, where to spot dirt in a bathroom - I'm not enjoying it so much.

Some people are totally unreasonable, though. I feel it's dreadful to "punish" people by reducing the money for things outwith their control : views, heat, street noise, etc. I have no idea how many of them make it pay as a business. I guess it's because they're not paying themselves anything and just covering costs.

JovialNickname · 01/08/2018 21:09

Also, I think that if I ever stayed in a B & B that had the Winner - Four in a Bed award, I wouldn't think it was necessarily a top value for money B&B, I'd just think the owners were probably manipulative so and so's that would stop at nothing to win

QueenAnchoret · 01/08/2018 21:12

Guilty pleasure here also. I remember a particularly obnoxious man who couldn't fault the cleanliness or the room so said that the guest house owner herself smelled of sweat.

Everyoneiswingingit · 01/08/2018 21:12

I hate it when they underpay because a B&B is in a busy high st. So unfair because if you booked that as a customer, you know where it is and are happy to pay that price. You can't compare a rural B&B with a busy high st one! I also hate it when they try to catch the cook out at breakfast by ordering off menu. Who doe that in real life and who would mark down if they were unable to meet their special request?

Everyoneiswingingit · 01/08/2018 21:14

Also I wouldn't dream of pulling beds apart to check mattresses-I don't want to know!!! So long as it looks and smells clean and the bathroom is spotless, fine with me.

ellenanora5 · 01/08/2018 21:17

Ooh great thread, FIAB is my favourite thing, I'm always recording old ones and looking for ones I missed, I remember a lot of what has been mentioned but does anyone remember the one with a lady from Bishops Dairy I think it was called.

She was perfectly pleasant but one couple were absolutely vile to her, especially the husband, he called her all sorts and wouldn't stop insulting, it was bloody awful.

And the other couple were as boring, didn't like anything and looked like they'd rather be anywhere else, they harped on about it being just business, then threw a massive strop when they were underpaid.

Apparently the guy who painted the shower tiles was asked to leave over an incident and that's why he wasn't at the last table meeting.

I'll probably be back with more I remember Grin

TootDeLaFroot · 01/08/2018 21:39

I like to call it "Come Sleep With Me". However I also like to call "WDYTYA" , "Who the Fuck Are You?" I have far too much time on my hands 😂

LuluJakey1 · 01/08/2018 21:43

What about the man who washed his face in the toilet because it was so clean. Ewww!

Urbanbeetler · 01/08/2018 22:00

We stayed at Dom and Steph’s Tres Poshe b&b in Sandwich for a special birthday trip. The rooms were huge and very luxurious. Hardly a b&b really, with a fully staffed kitchen and dining room in the morning.

They left carafes of sherry in the bedrooms and invited everyone staying for drinks in the evening in the room they filmed gogglebox in - elegant drawing room, much bigger than it looks on the tv.

They really are very nice people although Dom seemed a bit bewildered by common people in a blufferingly harmless way. Their manners were impeccable although Dom was a tad sexist. Steph is very smart and funny, and very warm.

They both drank copious amounts but were very generous to their guests too. Their anecdotes were mainly drinking ones.

GabsAlot · 01/08/2018 22:00

eww lulu really how gross

im glad im not the only one not liking the new coach trip sad they think all we want to see is plastic 20 year olds

JuniLoolaPalooza · 01/08/2018 22:04

There was one on, I think the Isle of Wight, where the wife was Dutch? Anyway, guests have to remove their shoes when they go in and everyone got very pissy about it etc. My parents have stayed there. I asked them about the shoe removal and they were like, yes, we had to, but it's no big deal.

flumpybear · 01/08/2018 22:22

Do you remember that Scottish bloke called Brock - he was very annoying and petty when people didn't like his place - was seriously bitter ! .... I had a dream about him the other night Confused

Original poster
LostInShoebiz · 01/08/2018 22:30

I think I’ve only seen two I wouldn’t stay in for a night: an Italian restaurant that had singers impersonating big stars with rooms above and a house in the north of Scotland that had ghosts and literally was just like someone had let out a spare room without even tidying up.

OP posts:
JamesBlonde1 · 01/08/2018 22:45

Bloody love it. Was off work after an operation once and just gorged on them.

Stayed at one of the B&Bs a few years ago and was spot on. Big hearty breakfast Grin

I remember one episode where the B&B was horrid. A lad called Ray if I recall. He’d taken it over from his Dad and had tarted up the reception and restaurant (not my taste) but done fuck all to the bedrooms.

One couple got a king size bed but with a double mattress and the scuzzy lot (the cleaner got the blame) shoved a filthy, uriney quilt to fill the gap. Poor couple had to go buy a mattress cover or something. They couple were very gracious about it. I’d have screeched, “Oy, dirty bastards, get me booked into another establishment sharpish!”

The other rooms were filthy too.

Why on earth didn’t Ray check all rooms meticulously? Unless he thinks it was normal.....

TheSmallClangerWhistlesAgain · 01/08/2018 22:57

There's a very early episode (possibly from when it was 3IAB) which DD and I are a bit obsessed with. The winner was an older guy who ran a gay retreat/B&B. One of the other contestants was a chippy "salt of the earth" homophobe and there was also a couple who ran a vv posh B&B, where the woman was about twice the age of her husband, who we find out was originally a "friend" of her daughter's.

Age gap couple have definitely been on something else and I think they were part of a "mum steals boyfriend" story in one of the tabloids or Take A Break.

Gay retreat owner had one of his spirituality sessions as the activity. You could tell he was winding the other bloke up and thoroughly enjoying himself. The session involved self-hypnosis and sex noises.

FishingIsNotASport · 01/08/2018 23:20

I too love FIAB. There was one a while ago with a young couple (she was white British, he was Indian I think) who had taken over his parents' huge place in south Wales. The older couples had patronised them all week due to their youth, and when they all arrived at their amazing place the jealousy was palpable and they all marked them down for pathetic reasons. A grotty place in Hollyhead won that I would have paid to not stay at. I was so indignant on their behalf that I messaged them on Facebook and received a lovely reply. Still winds me up just thinking about it.

TellMeItsNotTrue · 01/08/2018 23:27

Fan since three in a bed, actually made us consider b&bs whereas we wouldn't have before as had the outdated view that it was just like living in someone's spare room, when actually most are nothing like that. Obviously it's shown us to make sure we choose well, but that's the case for hotels as well

I think it's unfair that they are worlds apart from each other in terms of price (mainly but also country v city etc) as it does cause an issue of "well it's no more than we offer and we only charge £XX so I'm not paying them £XXX, although there have been a few (very few and far between) when the more expensive places have massively overpaid the cheap ones and it's actually been a huge boost to them and mostly ends in tears!

Sweetpea15 · 02/08/2018 00:26

I know a couple who were on there and they said they didn’t get to pick their activity - they were told by filming. Also the horrible comments etc they were told to say some f that/it was cut to look harsher than it was. Every time their episode gets re-played the woman gets some weird fan mail, they’ve had to report it to the police because it’s all sexual and one even contained a porn dvd! They said Four in a bed was a laugh but that they wouldn’t do it again.

nellyolsenscurl · 02/08/2018 01:01

Oh Brock! When I read threads about narc men I always think about him. When he got negative feedback he went seriously dark and twisted.
There was a great upper class father and son duo (the two Jonny's) who had a very expensive major style place but you had to microwave your own eggs in the morning. They were really funny.
I was on the the FB page for a while and Raj (the joker, paint the bathroom tiles) apparently punched another of the contestants and was in a cell, hence he couldn't continue on the show.

MissionItsPossible · 02/08/2018 07:39

Does anyone remember the guy who mysteriously left the competition half way through and it wasn’t revealed or explained why? Would love to know the reason.

Can someone share the FaceBook link please?

woolythoughts · 02/08/2018 07:52

What I don't like is when someone who runs a B&B in blackpool underpays someone with a gaff in Brighton because "the standard is the same as mine but costs twice as much" without taking into account that Brighton is ££££££ more expensive than blackpool.

Or when they put them up in a £100+ place and someone refuses to pay the full amount because "I'd never pay that much for a night in a hotel" without considering is it worth the money rather than just being too expensive for them!

BigSandyBalls2015 · 02/08/2018 07:58

I stayed in a cottage and thought I vaguely recognised the owner. Googled her and found out she'd been on FIAB. We were watching the prog on my laptop when she knocked on the door with a query Grin. She was a bit of a nutter!