The 'Gotcha' was an award handed out by the much-maligned TV presenter, Noel Edmonds on his long-running Saturday night show, Noels' House Party. Each week Noel humiliated other celebrities with Jeremy Beadle style pranks, whilst recording them with a series of hidden cameras. Things became more and more ridiculous, and eventually he appeared in a very bad disguise to reveal that the entire series of events as a wind-up and presenting the victim with their trophy, often amidst much blue language.
The award was originally known as the 'Gotcha Oscars', and the statuette was of a hand grasping a figure looking strikingly similar to the Academy Award fella, which led to a threat of legal action, and causing the awards to become known purely as the Gotcha's.
Famous victims of the Gotchas included:
Alan Titchmarsh
Carol Smillie
Edward Woodward (twice)
Meatloaf
Ally McCoist
But tied in first place for the best ever Gotcha's are
Richard Whiteley - who was subjected to the most incompetent contestants
Countdown had ever seen.
Dave Lee Travis - his 10 minute
BBC Radio 1,
Give Us a Break, turned into an hour long marathon as nobody could answer the easiest of questions.