As Gogglebox returns for its 28th series, show favourites Jenny Newby and Lee Riley have declared they will never leave, have no desire to do any other TV shows and that, after more than 30 years, their friendship is definitely real.
Speaking to the Mirror, they also laughed over how Jenny, 70, might just be becoming a gay icon. Lee, and his long-term partner Steve Mail, live in Cyprus most of the time and he returns for a few months each year to make the programme and film from his caravan in Patrington Haven, Hull.
He says he has stayed on the show for so long because he loves the banter with Jenny. “When I’m not doing the show, I miss her. I don’t see as much of her as I should do. Gogglebox keeps me in the UK for 16 weeks.
“I’ve known Jenny since I was 27 and I’m 58 now. She was our pub landlady and she took me and my partner under her wing. She’s one in a million. Over the years, people have said, ‘You two remind me of me and my mate when we watch telly’. That’s nice to hear. Some people ask if we’re really friends. I’m like, ‘What?’”
