You can see how well Bobby and his Celebrity Hunted partner, YouTuber Saffron Barker, did by tuning into the series on Channel 4 from March 28.
Why not improve your own number skills on a range of every day maths concepts, by trying the National Numeracy Challenge?
Try the Challenge
Bobby’s TV show ambition…
Bobby also stars alongside actors Su Pollard and Rita Simmons, Boyzone’s Shane Lynch, comedian Nabil Abdulrashid, Paralympian Millie Knight and reality TV star Vicky Pattison in BBC2 series Pilgrimage, which begins on April 7 and sees the group journey along the Fatima Way in Portugal, before a poignant finale in which Bobby takes part in a festival of lights.
He also features in the new series of Indian Matchmaking on Netflix from April 21.
Having appeared in numerous TV shows including of course, University Challenge, on which he made his name, are there any other programmes on his wish-list?
“With Katya being an ambassador for National Numeracy, it would have to be Strictly Come Dancing!” laughs Bobby.
“I know I’m not a natural dancer – I’ve tried dancing [Bobby starred in The Real Dirty Dancing on E4 last year] and I definitely dance more like those enthusiastic uncles at a wedding! But I know from my maths teaching that everyone can improve with their maths. They can learn to feel much more confident and comfortable, and while they’re not going to become world-class mathematicians, they can have that everyday confidence and I think it’s the same with dancing.”
“People are not going to come to the West End to see me dance ever, but I reckon with the right training I could be a competent and reasonably confident dancer, so that show would really put me out of my comfort zone. I always think a lot of people don’t try to do maths and numeracy because they feel as if their comfort zone is that they can’t do maths, that they’re not a ‘maths person’. But I’d love to try something where I get to feel like I’m in that position.”
“I’m not a ‘dancing person,’ but I reckon with the right training, the right application and the right coaches I can learn to be more comfortable with it. Also, imagine if I was paired up with Katya! We know each other quite well, so that would be a funny partnership.”
Looking forward to National Numeracy Day 2023
Meanwhile, Bobby is excited about the sixth National Numeracy Day on 17 May, when he’ll be teaming up with Katya and West Ham United football stars for a livestreamed Number Fun quiz for kids, as well as encouraging children to take part in the Number Heroes Competition.
Bobby says: “When people say they ‘can’t do maths’ or they’re not a ‘maths person’, I think that’s wrong. I think it’s just that they’ve had negative experiences at school or in their life that’s made them think they can’t do it.
“By trying more maths in daily life you can learn to feel more confident with it, so I think it’s a skill we can all learn. There’s such excitement in the run-up to National Numeracy Day, it’s such a great event to be involved with.”
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Photo credit: Channel 4
