© Rex Features
Hi Raef - how are you?
"I'm good thank you, very good. I'm on a farm in a European destination - I'm filming Coach Trip. So if you hear some weird animal noises, they aren't my pets, they're farm animals."
Can you tell us where you are?
"I can't sadly, otherwise it would give some of the game away. But suffice to say I've got my lifelong heroes the Chuckle Brothers not too far away from me!
Anyway - back to Party Wars! Can you tell us a bit about the show?
"I like to say it's Come Dine With Me on steroids. It's taken the concept of the three others alongside yourself, but instead of coming to a dinner party they come to a full-blown party and they judge it. They judge you on your hosting skills, they judge you on how your friends were and they judge you on overall experience. So it's similar to the Come Dine With Me concept, except I think it's - dare I say it - I think it's bigger and has the potential to be better. But we'll have to wait and see about that."
You've taken part in Come Dine With Me yourself - how do the two shows compare for you?
"With Come Dine With Me, there was all the fun happening indoors. Without giving the game away too much, with one of the parties which I attended I wasn't expecting a night out under the stars! That's all I'll say. So when we talk parties we shouldn't necessarily assume we're talking bog standard conventional parties at a house or at a nightclub."
What can you tell us about your party?
"I think all I can say is that plans don't always come together like you want them to! My initial plan was to have an F. Scott Fitzgerald stroke James Bond 1920s, 1930s chic glamorous party. Whether or not that came to fruition is another matter entirely. It could have gone from James Bond to nothing at all, but you'll have to stay tuned and see what happens."
What was your most memorable moment from the show?
"I think the most memorable was one of the participants having their party, and I think after dinner we all headed off to a beach in the absolute freezing cold, spitting rain, where instruments were taken out and played while some of the participants' friends got sodden on drink and utterly, just completely drunk. I think they tried to recreate a bit of Dawson's Creek - youngsters getting p*ssed on a beach - which is great except I don't know if I'd still describe myself as a youngster, as in I'm not 18 or 17, and getting p*ssed when it's p*ssing down with rain and exceptionally cold isn't my idea of fun. But there we go, you've just got to grin and bear it, I guess."
What did you think of the other parties? Were you very polite about it? Were there any you really hated?
"I didn't hate any parties because I'm always up for experiences. As I'm sure you know if you've seen any of the programmes I do I'm certainly not someone who's rude, but what you've got to understand is also everyone had their own budget. The parties were paid for by ourselves. I think it would be incredibly harsh to turn up to somebody's party and in any way hypercriticise it. I mean obviously I've said things that were true so if I haven't liked something I'll say it but I've been honest as opposed to hypercritical, which I think would just be unkind."
The Apprentice is back - what do you think about Karren Brady?
"There was an old world charm, wasn't there, with the lovely Margaret [Mountford]. She was Nick Hewer's natural partner. Karren - I've got a bit of a crush on Karren, like most guys probably. She's aesthetically pleasing, very intelligent and very successful. What more could a man want, quite frankly, from a woman? But I've got a soft spot for Margaret. She was a wonderful woman, but she's gone off into the world of academia. Who knows, maybe Margaret Mountford will return to do just one more. Maybe she'll be the Apprentice equivalent of JR. Let's hope she makes a resurrection."
If you could give advice to any potential Apprentices, what would it be?
"In no way, shape or form try and blag your way through the process because by golly Lord Sugar as he's now called - which makes him sound even more menacing - he'll find you out quickly. It's very tough but you've got to get on with everyone in order for you to win. You've got to go in with the mentality that everyone has to win in your team in order for you to win. Don't make the mistake of going in and thinking it's all against all. If you do that you'll be booted because he's looking for a team player as well as someone cunning."
Party Wars airs on Mondays at 10pm on Living.
