Pop star PinkPantheress may have won a Brit award, played Glastonbury and stormed the music charts, but there’s one milestone she’s not allowed to tick off – competing on BBC One’s Pointless.
The “Illegal” singer, real name Victoria Walker, revealed at a concert in Manchester that she had made it to the last stage of applications to take part in the game show but was stopped before filming after producers realised who she was.
“It’s is my favourite trivia show, and I wanted to be on the show,” the 25-year-old told the audience.
“And I made it to before they put you on TV at the last stage. I was in Manchester, I was ready to go on TV to play Pointless. Then someone comes in, and he goes, ‘wait, hold on – we know who you are.”
Having signed up for the civilian version of the show, producers told her that she was “too famous” to take part.
“I said, ‘babes, let me be on this TV show now.’ And I never ended up on Pointless because I’m too famous’”
“I said, ‘babes, I’ll give the money to charity but let me on the show. I want to meet Alexander Armstrong!”
She added that, as she was back in Manchester, she was going to visit the BBC and convince them to “make things correct” and let her on.
Pointless has been airing on the BBC for over 17 years, with Alexander Armstrong having hosted throughout its entire run.
PINK PANTHERESS revealed at her Manchester show that she once tried to appear on POINTLESS, only to be told she was too famous for it. pic.twitter.com/Dp2y65BW6F
— Cine Archives (@cinearchivess) May 26, 2026
Walker is famously a quiz show enthusiast – with The Weakest Link viewers spotting her on an episode of the show back in February, just days after attending the Grammy Awards in the US.
She appeared alongside the likes of comedians Alex Brooker and Harriet Kemsley, choirmaster Gareth Malone and former Love Island contestant Luca Bish.
Walker’s musical career took off in 2021 after her songs went viral on TikTok. While she initially released her music anonymously, she revealed her identity in September 2021 after appearing in the music video for her track “Just For Me”.
Speaking to Covateur last year, Walker said that she initially hid her identity as she didn’t want to be “made fun of” by people from her hometown in Kent.
“I wasn’t interested in people from home knowing who I was because even though I got on with people, I still felt quite held back by my creative output at the time. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be ridiculed,” she said.
“Eventually, I started showing my face and at some point people couldn’t really say anything because it was like—well, she’s doing a good job. I took my time. I’m really happy I did it that way.”
In February, Walker made history at the Brit Awards by becoming the first woman and the youngest artist to win Producer of the Year.
