Which moment embarrassed you most?

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The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A verbatim recurring question in The Guardian's Q&A series.

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Recorded Paapa Essiedu said elsewhere, not written here
In order to raise money to pay for myself to go to the National Youth Theatre, I performed a medley of my drama school speeches and some songs for my entire school. Considering I can’t sing, this was terrible. I did U Remind Me by Usher and Hey There Delilah by the Plain White T’s. They paid £2 each – basically, to laugh at me.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 November 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

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When I was 16, my dad got drunk at the Oval cricket ground and harangued Sir Garry Sobers, possibly the greatest cricketer of all time, because he didn’t agree with who he’d given as man of the match.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 February 2025 source ↗
Congratulating Dua Lipa on managing to release a single in such a tough industry, because I thought she was a struggling indie artist. I Googled her the next day and realised that she has 88 million followers.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 May 2026 source ↗
Shaznay Lewis English singer
A gazillion years ago I was in Gucci with Melanie Blatt, and I attempted to sit down on a chair that wasn’t there. I did a full-on stuntwoman backward roll, landed in a ball of the floor and laughed so hard I wet myself. Everybody in the shop moved to a different section.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 June 2024 source ↗
I was about six years old in a market square in Italy and my dad said, “Oh, those shorts would look perfect on you.” So he whipped my trousers off and I hadn’t got any knickers on.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 August 2026 source ↗

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