Quiz show host and author Richard Osman and his wife have responded to a poll for The Independent which showed he had been mistaken for Andy Burnham.
Mr Osman posted a screen shot on social media of a story in The Independent published last week which was headlined: “Brits mistake Andy Burnham for Richard Osman and Mel Gibson.”
The JL Partners survey indicated that 18 million Britons (38 per cent of voters) could not identify the new prime minister from a photograph.
In a light hearted riposte on Instagram, Mr Osman, 55, referred to his BBC programme Richard Osman's House Of Games with the caption: “Richard Osman's House Of Commons”.
The jokey response by Mr Osman, renowned for his love of snooker, was echoed by wife Ingrid Oliver, who wrote: “Running on a platform of devolution of power away from Westminster towards the World Snooker Federation.”
The Independent story which prompted their interventions described how the poll of 1,500 voters carried out earlier this month found that some voters confused Mr Burnham with well known figures ranging from Mr Osman to Hollywood star Mel Gibson and billionaire Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.]
The report drew shocked reactions from the public on social media including: “Who the fook is confusing Andy Burnham with Richard Osman? Mr Magoo?... Richard Osman looks nothing like Andy Burnham.”
“Apparently 38 per cent of people asked to Identify Andy Burnham in a survey this week failed! Some people chose a picture of Richard Osman!”
“Would have thought 60 per cent knowing (who Burnham is) was quite high.”
Mr Burnham was the subject of a conversation last month on Mr Osman’s podcast, The Rest Is Entertainment, which he co hosts with journalist Marina Hyde.
They debated whether Mr Burnham was “actually cool” in a podcast billed as “Richard discusses the former Manchester Mayor's ‘indie-kid’ credentials with a rifle through his record collection.”
In 2024 Mr Osman said he was opposed to celebrities getting involved in politics.
He said: “I genuinely think this is every single election over here and in America...
“Showbusiness does get involved and we hear the opinions of celebrities and we hear about the importance of their views on the records of different candidates and their views on the direction of the country they live in...
“Nobody has ever given the first toss about anything anyone from the entertainment industry has ever said about any political issue...
“There's a load of little things that happen in this country and you can send a tweet and people go, ‘Oh yeah, that was an interesting take on that.’”
Political elections were “way beyond the entertainment industry,” he said. “You can have all the opinions you want, you can spout whatever you want to do on whatever forum you want to...
“You can talk on whatever chat show you want to, nobody is listening to you. Because in elections, people are thinking about their house, their neighbors, their school, their town, their infrastructure, their safety...
“That’s all they’re thinking about and every single time somebody in show business gives an opinion on an election, it does the exact opposite thing of what it’s supposed to do, and yet they still do it.”
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