Four in a Bed

Four in a Bed
Also known as Three in a Bed (2010–11, 2015–16)
Genre Reality
Voices of Mike Adams
Duncan Wibsey (Four in a Bed)
Stephen Mangan (Three in a Bed)
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 4 (Three in a Bed)
9 (Four in a Bed)
No. of episodes 55 (Three in a Bed)
400 (Four in a Bed)
Production
Running time 60mins (Three in a Bed)
30mins (Four in a Bed)
Production company(s) Studio Lambert
Distributor All3Media
Release
Original network Channel 4
Picture format 16:9
Audio format Stereo
Original release 21 April 2010 (2010-04-21) – present

Four in a Bed (also Three in a Bed from 2010–11 and 2015–16) is a British reality television game show that has been airing on Channel 4 since 21 April 2010. The show involves four B&B owners, who take turns to stay with one another – and pay what they consider fair for their stay. The winner is the establishment named best value for money.

Format

Each pair of B&B owners (or single owner, in some cases) visits each other's B&B. At the start of their visit, they are told how much their room is worth. The owners then inspect the room, picking up on anything untidy or out of place. Afterwards, they take turns in some sort of entertainment activity where there is usually a mini-competition. The host then takes the guests to dinner where the guests usually get to know the backstory of how the host entered into their business in the first place. Everyone then goes to bed. Upon waking up in the morning, they then have breakfast. Finally, they each fill in an anonymous form telling the owners of the B&B about each aspect of the hotel (cleanliness, etc.) before giving saying if they'd stay there again. They also pay them a disclosed amount of money based on the value of the B&B – if a host believes it wasn't worth the money, they underpay. If they do, they pay exactly. On rare occasions, however, hosts have paid each other more than the value of the B&B, particularly if they felt the establishment was very good.

After each B&B has been visited, the hosts confront each other about comments before revealing who the winner is – not based on the amount of money, but value for money, i.e. whichever team gets the highest percent of what they charged. For instance, a B&B worth £80 could win over one worth £130 if it was deemed better.

On occasion, one of the teams may drop out midway through the competition (e.g. due to illness). In such cases where they are unable to finish the competition, they will not receive their payments from other hosts (if they hosted before leaving) and vice versa (if they visited other hosts before leaving). For hosts with two members, the absence of one will allow the other to continue in the competition as normal.

Three In a Bed Differences

The format for Three in A Bed slightly differs from Four in a Bed in certain aspects. First, all three B&Bs are visited in one episode. Consequently, each episode lasts for one hour long including advertisements. The order of the entertainment and dinner (occasionally lunch) meal were interchangeable. Third, for series 1 and 2, the feedback is orally given to hosts immediately at the end of each stay. In series 3, the feedback was written in a guestbook and was more free-flowing compared to Four In A Bed's anonymous feedback forms where the rivals had to focus on several areas. Additionally, for series 1, the payments were also revealed at the end of each stay.

Transmissions

Three in a Bed

SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
121 April 201017 June 20108[1]
231 March 20112 June 201110[2]
318 March 201530 March 201510[3]

Four in a Bed

SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
122 November 201017 December 201020[4]
230 May 20112 December 201160[5]
312 March 201227 July 201260[6]
47 January 20131 March 201340[7]
530 September 201320 December 201360[8]
610 March 201430 May 201440[9]
729 September 201410 April 201560[10]
821 September 201520 November 201545[11]
94 April 201610 June 201650[12]
103 October 20169 December 201650[13]
111 May 20177 July 201750[14]

International versions

A French version of the series, called Bienvenue chez nous, began airing on France's TF1 on 30 January 2012.[15][16]

Controversies

In February 2013, business owners who participated in Four in a Bed sought legal help after receiving abuse from the public. In the most extreme case police were called in to investigate abuse that included the sending of excrement through the post and threats of physical violence. Other businesses and owners claim to have suffered abuse via the placing of alleged fake reviews on TripAdvisor, e-mails, phone calls and letters.[17]

References

  1. ↑ "all3media international". www.all3mediainternational.com.
  2. ↑ http://www.all3mediainternational.com/brand/1032/three-in-a-bed-uk--series-2
  3. ↑ http://www.all3mediainternational.com/brand/1655/three-in-a-bed-uk--series-3
  4. ↑ http://www.all3mediainternational.com/Brand/601/four-in-a-bed-series-1
  5. ↑ http://www.all3mediainternational.com/brand/1076/four-in-a-bed--series-2
  6. ↑ "all3media international". www.all3mediainternational.com.
  7. ↑ http://www.all3mediainternational.com/brand/1351/four-in-a-bed--series-4
  8. ↑ http://www.all3mediainternational.com/brand/1426/four-in-a-bed--series-5
  9. ↑ http://www.all3mediainternational.com/brand/1491/four-in-a-bed--series-6
  10. ↑ http://www.all3mediainternational.com/brand/1641/four-in-a-bed--series-7
  11. ↑ http://www.all3mediainternational.com/brand/1730/four-in-a-bed--series-8
  12. ↑ http://www.all3mediainternational.com/brand/1731/four-in-a-bed--series-9
  13. ↑ http://www.all3mediainternational.com/brand/2075/four-in-a-bed--series-10
  14. ↑ http://www.all3mediainternational.com/brand/2271/four-in-a-bed--series-11
  15. ↑ "Bienvenue chez nous de TF1 : Tout ce qu'il faut savoir". nouveautes-tele.com.
  16. ↑ ""Bienvenue chez nous" premiere". coyote.fr.
  17. ↑ Harmer, Janet (21 February 2013). "Police called in to investigate abuse aimed at participants of Channel4 programme Four in a Bed". The Caterer. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
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