“It was an amazing hotel, for sure, but we didn’t see much of the life beyond the lobby, beyond exactly what the hotel wanted us to see.”
“Given the rapidly degenerating socioculturogeopolitical climate we find ourselves in, it feels even more fiddling-while-Rome-burns than the first season did, but what, really, else are you going to do? It was an amazing hotel, for sure, but we didn’t see much of the life beyond the lobby, beyond exactly what the hotel wanted us to see.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian
“Villas at the Brando cost up to £11,000 a night, so while the programme was a welcome eyebath of tropical, white-sand loveliness, I’m not sure I wasn’t left simply depressed knowing that I’ll never be able to afford to visit the place.”
James Jackson, The Times
“Giles Coren is surely the most annoying man on television. From the opening shot of Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby, on board a plane, he was rubbing me up the wrong way — filming the island paradise of Tetiaroa on his smartphone, as they came in to land. You’re not a teenager, man: why not just enjoy the view?”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail
“Try as he might, Coren couldn’t fail to look like a bloke having a blooming great time. His ‘work experience’ at The Brando reached farcical levels, with him being allowed to push a button on a crane, twiddle a wheel on a pumping system and pretend to scale a ladder in search of coconuts.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express
“With a regime of detox and exercise, the nutritionists and medics at the spa promise to shave a total of 100 years off the celebrities’ ages. It’s not really scientific, but it’s all the excuse we need to watch famous (and not-so- famous) folk being punished for their own good.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail
“If The Real Marigold Hotel, Gone to Pot: American Road Trip and their ilk have taught us anything, it’s that celebrity disinhibition equals TV gold. The participants must be recognisable enough to the common couch potato, but not have a shred of vanity. Which is why 91-year-old June Brown off EastEnders stole the show.”
James Jackson, The Times
“Secrets of The National Trust With Alan Titchmarsh was light on secrets but there are secrets to be revealed about this institution, such as the staggering amount of revenue from pots of tea. Despite the lack of revelations, it was no less a joy to be led by around a national treasure by another national treasure that is Alan Titchmarsh.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express
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