Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer tell Graham Norton about Love It or List It

Virgin Radio

10 Jan 2021, 13:30

The property pros joined the Graham Norton Radio Show today to talk about their 20 year relationship, the state of the housing market and the surprising place where Phil met his wife.

Graham asked them how they chose their roles in Love It or List It. Phil told him: “Kirstie’s very good at space and helping people through those housing practical dilemmas and I love going out house hunting, showing people houses and trying to do deals.

“It's quite amusing, it's a really fun show for us to work on. It's quite entertaining going out house hunting for one half of the couple who really wants me to succeed and find them a lovely house that they can move to, and the other half of the couple desperately hoping that I muck it up and don't find anything at all.”

The infamous property pair have been working together for over two decades now. Phil said: “It's still good fun, we still enjoy it and it's a real pleasure and a privilege to travel around and help people. It's never easy moving house or making these big decisions."

How does the internet serve or hinder house hunting? Kirstie said: “I've been saying for a long time that I think house hunting on the internet is overrated in that you can you can achieve a lot in terms of finding out about the local area, get those brilliant aerial shots but it's a very physical, auditory see, smell, taste, touch type thing."

Phil added: “I don't know how many people we've had on Location, Location… that have actually ended up buying a house that they had previously dismissed. It’s dozens.”

Is it a good time to buy or sell? Phil explained: “The housing market is still open and... it's surprisingly busy and surprisingly buoyant given the housing market is generally driven by sentiment you would have thought sentiment would be dragging along the floor at the moment but there's an awful lot of people trying to do an awful lot of deals.”

Will the capital soon be empty with everyone heading off to the country? Kirstie said: “I think people have realised that if they're not commuting anymore why would they bother to pay to live in such an expensive area. At some point that is going to impact areas not just in London. 

“If you didn't love your house before the March lockdown, you're not going to love it now.”

So how do they get on when the cameras are off? Phil said: “We've spent a large part of the last 20 years travelling around and working together and we spend a lot of time together. People have watched us get to know each other - and we met on the screen.

“We were both working as home finders and were pretty much the only ones in the country so we were, in some degree, in competition with one another.

“We genuinely care that we're giving good advice and we're finding the right homes for our couples, that's the priority… But we obviously have a bit of fun and competition along the way between ourselves.”

Kirstie went on to tell Graham a fascinating fact about Phil’s love life. She said: “Phil met his wife in the Ministry of Sound and I used to say to people, 'Phil met his wife on the dance floor in the Ministry of Sound', and one day Phil hissed at me, ‘There's not a dance floor, the whole thing is about dancing’.

"Phil's quite keen on the boogie.” 

Listen to 

The Graham Norton Radio Show

 every Saturday AND Sunday from 9:30am on Virgin Radio.

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