The question we get asked most
"Has anyone famous ever done your programme?" It comes up more than almost any other question we get, usually followed immediately by a request for names. The answer to the first half is yes, plenty of times, across the media, entertainment, legal, sporting and even medical worlds. The answer to the second half is always the same: we don't discuss our guests, ever, regardless of who's asking.
We mean it
A television crew once wanted to feature us in a piece about the Algarve, and pushed hard for at least one well-known name before they'd include us. We said no, and we weren't included. On another occasion, a national broadcaster's crew turned up unannounced hoping to film, we offered to accommodate them properly, with notice, so guests could be told in advance and choose whether they wanted to be filmed at all. Once it stopped being a surprise, it stopped being of interest to them, and that was fine by us.
What actually matters here
Guests are on first-name terms only, by design. The person next to you at the juicing table might be a well-known face, a heart surgeon, or someone on a well-earned week off from an entirely ordinary job, you'll only find out if they choose to tell you. One guest, who's returned to us four times over the years, once explained why simply: because she feels safe here. That's really the whole answer.
Why we don't lean on it
We could make a lot more noise about who's stayed with us. We don't, because the programme has never needed it to work, and because the trust guests place in us the moment they arrive matters a great deal more than any name we could drop to sell a few more places. It's a small thing, in a way, but it's one of the things we're proudest of.
