Gavin and Stacey star Rob Brydon has landed himself a new ITV game show which will follow a popular American format.
The Floor, which made its debut across the pond with Rob Lowe as host, will soon be making its debut for UK audiences with a Saturday night prime time slot.
Rob, 60, who recently hosted the BBC competition series Destination X after waving goodbye to the long-running comedy last Christmas, has been revealed as host.
It will mark the first time that the actor, who is best known for playing Uncle Bryn in Gavin and Stacey, has presented his own show on ITV.
The Floor tasks competitors with trying to take over as much ‘territory’ as possible across a large LED lit floor divided into a square grid.
Each of the contestants, who come prepared with their own specialist subject category to answer questions on, start by standing on just one square.
Gavin and Stacey star Rob Brydon has landed himself the role as host on new ITV game show The Floor
The actor recently hosted BBC competitions series Destination X
The goal is to win duels against neighbouring contestants to take over other squares, eliminating them from the game until one controls the floor.
They must play against each other in the chosen category of the opponent’s square.
Rob teased that the show would be ‘like no other’, as he told fans to expect something ‘big, bold and bursting with excitement’.
He added: ‘I’m thrilled to be stepping onto it and guiding the contestants through the competition. Let’s light up the floor!’
Over the ten episodes of the series, a £50,000 jackpot will be up for grabs, which 81 quiz fanatics will have a chance to battle it out for.
While the series has become well known in America, it first made its debut in the Netherlands, before being reproduced in Australia, Poland and Spain.
A TV insider told The Sun: ‘There’s nothing quite like The Floor on Rob’s CV.
‘It is a very big shiny floor show which ITV are investing a great deal in so they must have a lot of faith in Rob rising to the occasion.’
Rob is best known for playing Uncle Bryn in Gavin and Stacey, as well as starring on shows including Would I Lie To You?
The actor was the host of the BBC game show Destination X before landing the new ITV quiz format, developed from a series first launched in The Netherlands
It comes after Rob revealed why he was initially hesitant to take on the role of Bryn West in BBC sitcom Gavin and Stacey when it launched almost two decades ago.
Speaking on the Dish podcast with Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett he explained why he didn’t jump at the chance to be part of the sitcom.
Rob said: ‘It was because the thing that changed my life, work wise, was a show called Marion and Geoff. I was a Welsh taxi driver called Keith Barret.
‘He was a naive person like Bryn. He was a big-hearted person like Bryn – it’s not a million miles away-from Bryn.
‘I hadn’t started doing Would I Lie to You? So, I was thinking, oh, but I want to be this actor who, who could play any part, and if I do this part now it’s, I don’t know…
‘I think I just had a day when I woke up and I went, no, I’m just going to do the things I like. And then Would I Lie to You? came along, I thought I yeah, I want to do that.
‘Also, I’d started to have my two boys, you see, after my first marriage. So, you don’t want to then be away from them doing films and dramas. ‘It looks glamorous, but the reality is anything but.
‘You are miles from home. You’re getting up at the crack of dawn. You don’t see your family. So, I wanted things that would keep me closer to home.’
He added of who he thinks would have played the part instead: ‘Thank god I did. If I hadn’t, could you imagine? It’d be Ben Miller, wouldn’t it? It’d be Ben – I always get mistaken for Ben!’