Amanda Holden has revealed how she avoided her best friend Alan Carr for a week to keep her performance at the National Television Awards a secret.
The television personality, 55, gave a debriefing on Heart FM on Wednesday after surprising the audience with her tribute to the comedian, 50, from I Know Him So Well from the musical Chess.
Alan, who received the Special Recognition gong, had no idea about the performance and only realized it was a tribute to him when his Traitors co-star Paloma Faith emerged from a coffin.
Amanda told her co-host Jamie Theakston: ‘I didn’t even tell my mum. I just told my mother when to turn on the television. She thought I was getting an award. I thought, “no.”
‘And I just said, “Look!” And I didn’t tell Alan. I deliberately haven’t spoken to Alan in a week, right?
‘And yesterday I was at work, so before that I went to the NTAs and did the red carpet at six o’clock, which I would never normally do.
Amanda Holden has revealed how she avoided her best friend Alan Carr for a week to keep her appearance at the National Television Awards a secret
The television personality, 55, debriefed on Heart FM about the build-up to appearing on stage alongside his Traitors co-star Paloma Faith to sing I Know Him So Well in tribute.
‘Me and Alan are having the most fun in show business and we can’t keep any secrets! And he just kept looking at me and said, “I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it.”
“When he saw his little face, he was in tears and trembling. He stood on stage, his glasses completely steamed up. My instinct is always to take them off and clean them, which I always do when I’m with him, wherever we are. But I was wearing a black lace dress, there was nowhere to do it. So I just had to leave him behind.”
Viewers labeled the performance ‘iconic’ and ‘the biggest NTA moment ever’, while one decided Amanda and Paloma are ‘the new Christmas number 1 duo of 2026 that we never knew existed’.
Jamie told Amanda: ‘It was amazing. I mean, I know you can sing, that’s no surprise to me, but there might be a lot of people who might not know how well you sing.
“You were on stage with, it has to be said, a number of other singers, and you definitely outperformed them. I thought you did brilliantly.’
Alan admitted during his acceptance speech that it wasn’t until Paloma joined in that he realized the singing tribute was for him.
‘This is how fat I am. It wasn’t until Paloma came out that I realized it was me,” he told the crowd of celebrities at London’s O2 Arena (O2). “I should have realized that when they put me in the front row, I usually sit in the back with the Naked Attraction people.”
He was also seen playfully calling Amanda a ‘little b****’ as they left the stage arm in arm.
‘Me and Alan are having the most fun in show business and we can’t keep any secrets! And he just kept looking at me and saying, “I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it,” Amanda said
Alan, who received the special recognition gong, had no idea about the performance and only realized it was a tribute to him when Paloma emerged from a coffin.
The NTAs saw the best of British television descend on London’s O2 for a star-studded ceremony as comedian Joel Dommett returned as presenter for the sixth time.
In his 100th year, David Attenborough took home the NTA for Best Presenter, leaving Ant and Dec without a gong for the second year in a row.
The iconic Geordie duo held the accolade for 23 years before losing out to Gary Lineker at last year’s awards.
And this year they were surpassed by the legendary broadcaster, whose producer Mark Brownlow accepted the award on his behalf with his speech focused on the dangers of climate change.
Elsewhere to collect the Reality Docuseries gong was Jeremy Clarkson’s Prime Video series Clarkson’s Farm.
Lee Mack once again took home the gong for his ITV hit The 1% Club, as he attended the ceremony with his three children and paid tribute to his wife in his speech.
The Bruce Forsyth Entertainment Award was presented to Michael McIntyre’s Big Show after it was presented by Paris Fury and her eight-year-old daughter Valencia.
The cast of Mrs Brown’s Boys were ecstatic to hear they had won Best Comedy Show, which will be a boost for Brendan O’Carroll after he had to cancel this year’s festive specials after breaking his jaw.
Gogglebox, now in its 28th series, was awarded the Factual Entertainment gong, beating Stacey Solomon’s Sort Your Life Out.
This year’s NTAs have proven to be historic, even before the first winners were announced, as they feature the first ever all-female Drama Performance shortlist.
And it was Vicky McClure who came out on top, thanks to her role as fugitive bomb officer Lana in Trigger Point.
I Fought the Law, led by Sheridan Smith, won this year’s New Drama gong after an impressive performance.
This year’s Authored Documentary gong was awarded to the BBC special Our Girls: The Southport Families.
The wins for the evening came from Call The Midwife who won Best Recurring Drama, Emmerdale who won Best Serial Drama and Jeff Hordley who won in the Serial Drama Performance category.
