Georgie Thompson Interview

What attracted you to being a panellist on A League Of Their Own?
It’s a really exciting opportunity for me to do something out of my comfort zone, and I’m able to do it with the best sort of people. James Corden is brilliant fun and then Jamie and Freddie as team captains are fantastic. If you tried to pick a footballer and a cricketer, or two modern-day sporting icons, you’d have a hard task to come up with two better names than those two.

I love being Freddie’s side-kick too, we have a good giggle. And John Bishop constantly has me in stitches. If I can get a sentence out I’m really pleased with myself because I’m always laughing.

Do you think you have the best sports knowledge on the show?
I’ve been working on Sky Sports News for nine years now so I do have a wealth of useless facts stored somewhere, and sometimes I do remember things and surprise myself. My job gives me a bit of an advantage, but this show is also about how we get to the answer. It’s not a standard Q&A; we go around the houses and have some fun with it before we answer sensibly. It’s great to be able to be irreverent.

Are you competitive?
Yes, fiercely so, and always have been. I think I was competitive aged two-and-a-half. There’s always been a frustrated sports girl in me somewhere and it comes out in the quick-fire round at the end of the show. I like to have fun and mess around with the others earlier in the show, but when it comes to that final round I’m deadly serious.

Do you enjoy being the only girl?
I was a bit nervous at first. I’m representing womankind in this arena, which was quite a scary thought. But we have female guests coming on which is good for me. But it doesn’t come down to being a girl/guy thing, we’re all a big team together. It’s a great show to be part of and it’s the fun factor that I’ve been looking for. I’m loving being a part of it.

Did you play sport growing up?
My school was very sporty so I was always involved and I was captain of a few teams because I shout a lot and can be quite bossy. But I never took it any further than that because I don’t think I was capable. Most people in sports broadcasting are a little bit of  frustrated sports people.

If you could play any sport professionally, what would it be?
Probably tennis, because it was the only thing I was half decent at. I think I was 90 per cent enthusiasm, and 10 per cent ability. But I think it probably needs to be something more along the lines of 70 per cent talent and 30 per cent enthusiasm. My ratios were definitely wrong.

Do you have a favourite minority sport?
We did do stiletto heel racing once at Sky Sports News. It was brilliant. And if I had the opportunity to run against other girls in my stilettos I would definitely stand a pretty good chance of winning because I’ve been wearing heels for as long as I can remember.