A contestant who won Pointless with no preparation at all has revealed what it’s like behind the scenes of the popular BBC show.

Sophia Butler, 43, and her husband Nick appeared on the trivia competition back in June 2022.

The couple applied together during the pandemic and featured on the show when Richard Osman, 54, was still hosting it with Alexander Armstrong, also 54.

Sophia runs a mobile tea room business and described how the filming process was ‘very slick’ and left ‘not much time’ to chat with the television presenters off camera.

Now hosted by just Alexander, Pointless first aired in 2009 and sees contestants answer general knowledge questions in an attempt to win a cash prize.

Despite winning, the Londoner also revealed to MailOnline how they both ‘didn’t practice at all’ and just went on to enjoy themselves after being big fans of the show.

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Sophia Butler, 43, and her husband Nick (pictured) appeared on the trivia competition back in June 2022

Sophia runs a mobile tea room business and described how the filming process was ‘very slick’ and left ‘not much time’ to chat with the television presenters off camera

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The couple applied together during the pandemic and featured on the show when Richard Osman, right, was still hosting it with Alexander Armstrong, left

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When asked if the couple prepared for the show with practice questions, Sophia said: ‘You know, we didn’t. Just to go on was like so fun for us because, like I said, we really both love the show.

‘So we were just like, let’s just go and have a good time. So we didn’t practice at all or even like watch any episodes before we went on or anything.

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‘We just went and just enjoyed it really.’

Sophia also revealed that the jokes Alexander and Richard made were ‘not scripted’ but she didn’t get to interact with them much off camera.

‘It’s a very quick turnaround between episodes. Not much time to chat with them at all,’ she explained. ‘But they are just like they are on TV really, exactly the same, like making jokes and yeah, all that stuff they do that themselves.’

The 43-year-old added: ‘It’s not scripted, that part. Which is quite cute to see.’

She described it as a ‘very slick operation’ and explained, ‘they’ve been doing it for a long time. So it runs very smoothly, the whole process on the day’.

Sophia and her husband featured on two episodes that were filmed over two days and managed to win £1,700.

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Despite winning, the Londoner also revealed to MailOnline how they both ‘didn’t practice at all’ and just went on to enjoy themselves after being big fans of the show

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View gallery

Sophia also revealed that the jokes Alexander and Richard made were ‘not scripted’ but she didn’t get to interact with them much off camera

After winning, the couple headed back to their dressing room and found an epic surprise waiting for them.

‘We won and as soon as we went back to the dressing room, our trophies were there. The Pointless trophy, it was there waiting for us on our little table and then we left,’ Sophia explained.

On many game shows, trophies simply serve as props for the cameras and contestants don’t get to keep them, but this isn’t the case on Pointless and contestants are allowed to take them home as souvenirs.

Sophia and her husband put their winnings to good use and spent it on a holiday and redecorated their kitchen.

‘We kind of used it for a holiday. But then we also, as we said on the program, that we would use it for a kitchen, to redecorate our kitchen,’ Sophia said.

‘And we did actually redecorate the kitchen. We stuck to what we said.’

Sophia applied to the show via an online form and was eventually invited to a video call where she ‘basically just played Pointless over Zoom’.

‘It was kind of like a mock up of how a show would run,’ she explained.

Sophia and Nick were then invited to the studio, ‘We just had to wait and then we eventually got a call or an email just saying are you available on these dates, and we were, and then we just went to the studio and that was it.’

Contestants are given a dressing room to wait in during the production while they wait for their turn to be filmed.

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Sophia and her husband put their winnings to good use and spent it on a holiday and redecorated their kitchen

‘And then when it is your turn, they come and get you. Go downstairs, you have a tiny bit of makeup on, microphone put on, and then that’s it. You basically get told to stand and it just begins recording straight away,’ Sophia explained.

The experience of being filmed was ‘nerve-wracking at first’ but as the couple were in two episodes Sophia described how ‘then you kind of get into it as the program goes on’.

As for her tips for those wanting to apply for the show Sophia thinks they are looking for ‘bubbly’ people, ‘not too over the top’ and those who interact well with their partners.

Pointless airs on BBC One and is available to stream on iPlayer.