Top 20 Gogglebox Scandals
#20: White Lotus
“The White Lotus” is an American dark comedy series created by HBO. This means it features some pretty controversial topics, like one episode about two brothers sharing a hotel room. It ended up being one of the creepiest scenes they’ve shown on “Gogglebox.” Many viewers refused to finish the episode they were so uncomfortable. Instantly, fans took to Twitter to express their anger. The series is widely praised, but still, it covers topics that won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. This incident shows that Channel 4 should be more careful about its choices of TV shows.
#19: Giles' Northern Hate
One of the more controversial individuals on “Gogglebox” is easily Giles Wood. He’s been a regular on the series since 2015; since then, he’s gotten himself into trouble more than once. For instance, in 2023, he and his wife were watching a show, “Tempting Fortune,” hosted by Paddy McGuinness. If you don’t know him, he’s originally from Lancashire and has the accent to go along with it. Giles, on the other hand, is from the southern county of Wiltshire. Giles didn’t hesitate to mock the northerner’s accent, which upset a ton of viewers, plus his wife. She thankfully didn’t hesitate to tell him off.
#18: The Delaney-Ellwoods
This family was introduced in 2016, but had left by 2018. As soon as they appeared, viewers began criticising them. This is because they were considered too posh by their standards. Their first conversation was about being excited to cut sourdough on a new chopping board. People on Twitter flocked to berate them for their perceived poshness. Not everyone was against them, though; a lot of people loved them, but still called them “the posh family.” It was a lot of commotion that began over a relatively menial conversation about bread, but in the months following, they didn’t manage to fix their popularity.
#17: Political Bias
It’s probably safe to assume no one tunes in to “Gogglebox” for political discussions. Still, politics affects all our lives, so it makes sense for it to leak into the series occasionally. Not everyone is happy when this happens, though. While certain rallies were taking place, personalities on the series chimed in with their opinions, leading to over 50 complaints to Ofcom. The majority of the cast opposed these rallies, which outraged the viewers who disagreed. Whatever your opinion on the issue is, the point is that Channel 4 upset viewers by discussing politics, in a show that few consider political.
#16: The Tappers
The Tapper family was one of the originals on the show, sticking around from 2013 until 2018. One of them, a young lad named Josh, left even earlier back in 2017. This is because he landed a Civil Service apprenticeship at 10 Downing Street. So, he left to pursue politics. Eventually, he was chosen as the Labour candidate for Herstmere, Hertfordshire. This turned into a bit of a controversy, since some believed making a reality TV star a politician was a bad idea. In the end, the seat was won by the Conservatives, but he still managed to come in second place, despite his background.
#15: Kate & Graham
In the mid 2010s, Reverend Kate Bottley became a star on the series. Kate and her husband left temporarily in 2016, saying they needed time off to focus on their daughter’s GCSEs. After they were finished, they never returned. This was a minor story at the time, but in 2025, she revealed the show had been far from pleasant to create. She said they paid her barely anything, plus she had to cook two nights a week for the crew. Kate said the series was highly intrusive, which she did consent to, but it still wasn’t fun for her to film. This is the true reason she left, as after two years, it became too much for her to handle.
#14: Silent Jay Vanishes
In the show’s early seasons, viewers quickly fell in love with Silent Jay. As his nickname suggests, he seldom spoke. He was the boyfriend of Eve from the Woerdenweber family. Despite how much the viewers adored him, in 2015, Eve grew less fond of him over time. She broke up with him, and he left the show for good. This was a huge hit for his fans. Supposedly, the couple argued often before breaking up. This came as a massive surprise, because people didn’t think he spoke enough to hold an argument. Ten years later, Jay seems to be doing well for himself, as he currently lives in Rotterdam and looks way more stylish than he used to.
#13: The Third Day
There have actually been a few examples of the series showing content that viewers found too dark. Aside from the previously mentioned “White Lotus” incident, another prolific example was when they watched “The Third Day.” This is a drama starring Jude Law, originally created by HBO, then broadcast on Sky in the UK. One especially dark scene showed a child attempting to take their own life. Sorrowfully, Channel 4 didn’t have the foresight to include a trigger warning. It got over 90 Ofcom complaints, with viewers believing “Gogglebox” should be a lighthearted watch. They’ve thankfully not shown any scenes like that since, so seem to have learned their lesson.
#12: Mary & Giles
We already gave the couple, Mary and Giles, a mention earlier, but they’re so scandalous that they get a second entry. Once again, Northerners were the butt of the joke, but this time it was Mary poking fun at them. While watching “Adolescence”, a dark drama that covers some serious themes, Mary called Stephen Graham “that actor who always plays short northerners.” Fans were outraged, with many calling for Mary and Giles to be cut from the show completely. They were also criticized for making a joke about President Zelensky in early 2025, which many found highly insensitive, on account of the current invasion of Ukraine.
#11: Social Distancing
During the COVID pandemic, filming anything became a challenge. Social distancing rules meant everyone had to stay far away from anyone outside their household. Despite the laws, they managed to make “Gogglebox”, claiming to adhere to government guidelines. Many viewers disagreed, saying that the stars were frequently rule-breaking. This generated over 200 complaints, as not all of the stars lived in the same homes. A few of the cast took to Twitter to defend themselves, but not all were convinced. Channel 4 responded and insisted it was all above board. Supposedly, they’d even set cameras up in everyone’s houses so no crew was necessary.
#10: Paige & Sally
Mother and daughter duo Paige and Sally Deville were popular on the show during their time, but in October 2021 Paige decided to call it quits. She left the show and caused uproar, lambasting Channel 4’s lack of proper aftercare and saying she was subject to ridicule on social media. However, she also got in a fight with her mother, though said this wasn’t anything to do with “Gogglebox”. She blamed a “serious family issue” and no more details have emerged. Sally didn’t reappear on “Gogglebox” alone after this despite Channel 4 asking her to stay on without her daughter. Whatever happened, it seems their differences are irreconcilable.
#9: Sandi & Sandra
Another duo who got into it behind the scenes, Sandi and Sandra seem to be on better terms than others who have quit the show over the years. They were best friends but eventually, their goals came into conflict. According to Sandra, Sandi wanted to grow her television career and become a celebrity, and she did indeed appear on “Celebrity Big Brother” after leaving. The two are still great friends, and the bigger scandal is Channel 4’s mercenary attitude to its former stars. According to the Brixton ladies, Channel 4 will basically blacklist anybody who’s quit “Gogglebox” and stop them taking jobs elsewhere, as well as preventing them from starring in any other shows while they’re on it.
#8: Scarlett Moffatt
Queen of the Jungle Scarlett Moffatt got her start on “Gogglebox” years ago, but it wasn’t always smooth sailing during her rise to fame. She’s a household name now, but in early 2021 came clean to the tabloids about a rift between her and her mother Betty. It was revealed that Betty had stolen fifty grand from Scarlett to put towards her gambling problem, which got significantly worse during lockdown. But far from cutting off her mum after this revelation, Scarlett got her the help she needed to overcome her habit. The family hoped that being open about the issue would encourage more people to seek treatment and talk about their problems.
#7: Chris & Stephen
They were fan-favourites from the beginning, but things started to get messy backstage. They were a couple at the start but eventually split, though they were still popular guests as they “remained friends”. However, it looks like things weren’t as they appeared, and Chris later left the show completely. He and his new husband Tony alleged that Stephen behaved atrociously behind-the-scenes and that Channel 4 did nothing at all, while Stephen remained on the show. Chris also said that they were going to leave together but that Stephen cancelled their deal with a production company without telling him. Who knows what’s true and what’s not, but they’ve both moved on with new partners.
#6: Prison Stretches
George Gilbey only briefly appeared alongside his parents Pete and Lynne McGarry before leaving to join “Celebrity Big Brother”. It wasn’t only the Big Brother House he did a stint in, however, as he went to prison for three months in 2019 for drink driving. This came a year after he’d also committed an assault for which he was given community service and fined. While in prison he asked Pete and Lynne to help him and his fellow inmates with some problems, like paying off a debt a fellow inmate had been landed with or sending in fresh boxer shorts. The couple were famously very generous, having taken in more than seventy foster kids, though Pete tragically passed away in 2021.
#5: Training Day
Back in 2016, the Siddiqui family were all over the papers for one particularly tone-deaf “joke” Raza put on Facebook. It was a picture of the boys dressed in camouflage so that they could go paintballing, but the caption joked that they were in an Islamic State training camp. Viewers were outraged and some even called the police on the Siddiquis, with people apparently missing the point. It seems some really did think not only that the Siddiqui brothers were extremists, but that they’d openly post about this on Facebook for all to see. It’s a ridiculous controversy, but the joke still shouldn’t have been made.
#4: Steph & Dom
In May 2015, “Gogglebox’s” posh couple found themselves in the papers for hosting an X-rated party at their enormous mansion. The tabloids claimed that the couple had been involved in this party, though in actual fact, the stately home was rented out for all sorts of functions prior to its sale in 2021. You could book it for a wedding or for an adults-only “masked ball”, which the event purportedly was. The couple weren’t too affected by the story and did say that they weren’t at the party because the house was just being hired out. Dom adamantly denied that he and Steph were “swingers”, and said he had no interest in a party like this.
#3: UKIP
We’ve already heard about people leaving the show because they’ve decided to go on another one, but what about people who leave to pursue a career in politics? That’s what Andrew Michael did back in 2014, when he and his family had to leave because he was standing as an MP for UKIP in Hastings & Rye. Channel 4 said that nobody who stands or serves as a Member of Parliament can be a “Gogglebox” cast member, presumably because the broadcaster is supposed to be unbiased. If they had a bloke from UKIP on, they’d need to balance it with Labour and Tory MPs as well. Michael didn’t win the election and returned to “Gogglebox”, but sadly passed away in 2021.
#2: Creator Quits
In a shocking turn of events, one of the show’s co-creators, Tania Alexander, quit during production in 2020. The sixteenth series was still underway when she made the move. She was wished luck by a Channel 4 spokesperson, but it’s not clear exactly what happened. Alexander may have simply wanted to do something else after producing so many Channel 4 hits for so long, or maybe something else happened behind the scenes? “Fresh challenges” or not, it’s still unusual for the co-creator of a show to leave midway through a series. There were only a handful of episodes left to film that year.
#1: RSPCA
In 2019, “Gogglebox” star Ellie Warner found herself embroiled in a controversy involving animal neglect. The problem was when she pushed her six-month-old greyhound Mick onto the floor from a footstool so that he wouldn’t eat her food. It was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but plenty bore witness, and no small number reported Ellie to the RSPCA. Ellie spoke out on twitter, saying that the stool was only a foot tall and that she wanted to stop Mick from eating her KFC. To be fair, KFC isn’t exactly a nutritious meal for a pet dog, but she definitely could have resolved the situation differently. Maybe put the plate somewhere he can’t reach it before fussing over spilt beans?
Were there any scandals we didn’t mention? Let us know in the comments below!