Chris Tarrant: 'I had the worst holiday at THIS popular destination'
TV presenter Chris Tarrant is most famous for hosting Who Wants to be a Millionaire? on ITV from 1998 to 2014.
His latest projects are Channel 5’s Chris Tarrant: Extreme Railways and Chris Tarrant Goes Fishing.
Chris, 71, lives with his partner, Jane, in Berkshire, and has six children.
WHAT IS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE HOLIDAY?
This January, as it was so dull and grey here, we went to Florida shortly after New Year.
We had eight days of sunshine before joining a Seabourn cruise to the Caribbean. Bequia was really beautiful and laid-back, with just one shack on the beach serving rum.
We also went to Grenada . We did some of the Virgin Islands and ended with a week in Barbados. We then fl ew on to Los Angeles and stayed in Beverly Hills, as Jane hadn’t been before and we were going to a friend’s wedding in Las Vegas.
They were married by an Elvis Presley impersonator in a tacky chapel – very Vegas.
AND YOUR WORST?
About five years ago in March we went to Cuba.
We were served the most dreadful food.
At one point I ordered “surprise chicken” and they literally served me a rather grey, raw, chicken leg, dripping with blood.
The weather was bad as well.
BEST SOUVENEIR?
A model of the biggest salmon I’ve ever caught.
That was achieved in the extreme north of Russia, about 500 miles north of Murmansk earlier this summer.
It weighed 47lbs and as a congratulation the guides sent me a model of it.
BEST HOLIDAY READ?
A book called Daniel, My Son by David Thomas, which is about a father with a son battling cancer.
It’s a harrowing but brilliant read.
I read that as well as listening to audio books about José Mourinho and Harry Redknapp while filming in Israel.
HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR TIME ON HOLIDAY?
I like reading, eating out at restaurants and trying out the local bars. I love fishing but not so much sea fishing.
We went to Venice in the spring, which was gorgeous.
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WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO REVISIT?
Israel. I loved Tel Aviv and thought it was such a vibrant, youthful, buzzy city.
We also went to Jerusalem, which was disappointingly touristy.
People were taking selfies at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which seemed so wrong.
WHERE NEXT?
South Africa early next year with Jane.
We are going to travel on the Blue Train from Cape Town to Pretoria, then explore the north of the country, then go on safari.
I love safaris and have to go on one every year. Then we’ll end up on a beach in Mauritius.
Chris Tarrant: Extreme Railway Journeys is on Monday nights, 9pm, on Channel 5.