Binged Last One Laughing? You need to watch Katherine Ryan’s new show next

The new game show Silence is Golden has a hilarious premise (Picture: U&Dave)

After Last One Laughing UK left viewers in stitches watching comedians try to crack each other up, another similar show will have you in tears.

The new gameshow Silence Is Golden is hosted by Dermot O’Leary, with team captain positions filled by Katherine Ryan, Seann Walsh and Fatiha El-Ghorri, who lead an array of other comics as they take to the stage.

It might sound similar to Last One Laughing, the series that stormed the charts on Amazon Prime Video and has been hailed by fans.

But rather than the show being a competition between comedians like it is in Last One Laughing, this time, they’re going up against the audience.

With £250,000 on the line, the performers are tasked with trying to make the audience make any sound, while those assembled do their best to stay silent in order to keep the prize pool from dwindling.

Ahead of the show hitting screens, Metro spoke to several of the stars about the new series and why it stands out.

It features Fatiha El-Ghorri, Seann Walsh and Katherine Ryan (Picture: U&Dave)

What is Silence Is Golden and how does it work?

Silence Is Golden is a new gameshow with a simple premise – the audience can’t make a sound, including talking, laughing or gasping.

They have to do this while watching comedians perform on stage, with the line-up boasting some of the best comedic talent in the UK.

But they have a strong motivation to keep quiet – if they do so, they can split a £250,000 cash prize between them.

The audience might also be tempted by the offer of individual prizes from Dermot, which will result in the entire group seeing their cash prize docked.

If the money in the jackpot goes all the way down to £0, then it’ll instead go to charity.

Why starring in Silence Is Golden left Katherine Ryan ‘spiralling’

As it turns out, performing for a crowd of unamused onlookers is something of a nightmare for comedians, as Katherine and Seann revealed to us.

‘Anything you prepare for on this show doesn’t work, and we went into it thinking we are competent stand-up comedians,’ 8 Out of 10 Cats star Katherine said of the experience.

‘But when they weren’t reacting I was absolutely spiralling and that’s why we were just trying whatever we could.’

Despite her spending years on the comedy circuit, she said that she and the other comedians felt ‘incredibly destabilised’ by the ‘unnatural’ reaction the audience had to their sets.

‘We were doing and saying things that we wouldn’t normally say. We’re usually very prepared doing standup, but we could not prepare for this and had to be adaptable,’ she stated.

This Morning host Dermot O’Leary fronts the show (Picture: U&Dave) Katherine admitted failing to get people to laugh left her spiralling (Picture: Getty Images)

She added that while their job was to stop the audience from winning money, it was nice to see them ‘really celebrating’ when they were victorious.

‘I felt like I worked for an insurance company, and I knew that I was on the side of evil,’ she shared.

Former I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! star Seann felt similarly perturbed by the stoic spectators, explaining that failing to make them laugh was still painful, even though they knew that it was the aim of the game.

‘Even though you’re aware that they are being paid £250,000 to not laugh at you, you think that might take off some of the sting when you’re there, and it doesn’t,’ he said.

‘They’re just staring at you and the money doesn’t matter. It feels as awful as it would if they weren’t being paid at all. Yeah, it’s absolutely horrific. But it’s great to watch the other comics struggle.’

Host Dermot O’Leary reveals moment audience ‘turned on each other’

Dermot joked there were concerns they’d send the channel broke (Picture: Ken McKay/ ITV/ Rex/ Shutterstock)

This Morning star Dermot, 51, joked that the TV network U, where Silence Is Golden is airing, told them that they ‘didn’t have £250,000 to give away’, quipping light-heartedly: ‘The channel’s going down if they failed.’

What made the show even more interesting was that it wasn’t just the audience versus the comedians… as members of the crowd started to turn on each other if they laughed.

‘We thought that the interval was a chance for them to relax and unwind, and what we didn’t know is they were going to start turning on each other. And shouting! It’s a great piece of television,’ Dermot revealed.

Being the host, the former X Factor presenter had the chance to introduce some twists into the game, including trying to bribe the audience with individual prizes, which would then result in the entire group losing money.

Of course, it was only human for people to consider the chance of winning money or special prizes for themselves. And Katherine found the ‘desperation’ that was fraught on Silence Is Golden made it a more ‘authentic’ show.

‘You get to see people’s natural reactions when it comes to greed and then when it comes to desperation, like everyone is at their most authentic because we don’t know what to do and we just have to win,’ she said.

‘So, it’s a real fight or flight series and then we were forced to throw the most unimaginable, surprising acts at the audience. It’s not like anything else you’ll see and is such a fun concept.’

Katherine went on to share that the ‘desperation’ on show in Silence is Golden also resulted in a ‘authentic’ series unlike any other game show seen before.

‘It’s a real fight or flight series and then we were forced to throw the most unimaginable, surprising acts at the audience. It’s not like anything else you’ll see and is such a fun concept.’

When is Silence Is Golden on and how to watch?

Silence is Golden starts on Monday May 5 on U and U&Dave at 9pm.

Silence is Golden is now streaming on U and U&Dave.

A version of this article was originally published on April 29, 2025.

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