Comedian Josh Widdicombe, who is one of the new Strictly Come Dancing hosts, has recounted some mid-flight drama which saw him ‘whacked in the back’ by a fellow plane passenger
Josh Widdicombe was involved in some mid-flight drama which saw him “whacked in the back” (Image: Matt Crossick/PA Media Assignments)
Josh Widdicombe has recounted how he accidentally upset a fellow passenger on a flight back to the UK from Greece, with the drama seeing him “whacked in the back.”
The comedian, who was announced earlier this year as one of the the three new Strictly Come Dancing hosts, revealed how he unexpectedly created some drama mid-flight after he put his foot on an empty seat to tie his shoelace while waiting for the toilet. However, the person in the next seat hit out at Josh, saying that the empty seat belonged to her husband.
Josh, 43, said that despite admitting his mistake and making an apology, the awkward confrontation continued, as he explained on his and Rob Beckett’s Parenting Hell podcast. He said: “It was on the plane back from Greece I went up to the toilet at the front of the queue and you know the front seats, there was someone at the window seat and then there were two empty seats so I perched on the arm of the end empty seat and I looked down and my shoe was undone so I put it up on the corner of the seat, fine, I made a mistake.
“The woman at the end said, ‘Excuse me, that’s my husband’s seat.’ So I was like, fine, sorry I’ve made my mistake, put my foot down. She doesn’t expect the apology, she tries to continue telling me off. So I kind of turned back and queued up.”
Josh went on to claim: “The guy comes out of the loo. He sits down, and then he goes past me and whacks me in the back as he goes past me. You know like Richard Ashcroft in that Urban Hymns video, like a footballer off the ball, and then he goes past me and goes, ‘Did you put your foot on my seat?'”
He said that the man used “napkins to wipe down his seat”, as he continued: “I could only apologise what else could I do. He sits down, and the air steward has to check he’s alright, and he comes back and is like, ‘There’s one on every flight, isn’t there?’
“The air steward starts to confide me in, so I start to dig into this and start laughing away with the air steward, I really go for it with the charming chat with the air stewards. At that point, a woman comes up and says she’s a fan of me, and I think, ‘This is glorious.’
“Then later on the flight, I go to the toilet again, and the woman is still staring at me, even as I walk down the aisle, she cranes her neck to evil me, I’ve said sorry by this point.
“An hour later, I hear the stewards saying, ‘He’s still cleaning the seat with his napkin,’ it’s been an hour! He might be germaphobic, I suppose.” He concluded: “Honestly, at the end I was worried he was going to confront me, it was weird.”
