Baffled tourists have shared what about the UK most confuses them – with one mentioning the prevalence of one TV presenter in particular. A Reddit thread asking ‘What’s something really normal in the UK that visitors find completely baffling?’ got thousands of replies from tourists and Brits.
One touched amusingly on the prevalence of themed slot machines in pubs and arcades. A user said: “It’s quite strange that for the past 10 years every traditional style fruit machine in arcades, pubs and kebab houses throughout Britain is Deal or No Deal themed. Even long after the show left Channel 4, the fruit machines are a constant, each with a slew of themes depicting Noel Edmonds in various scenarios.
“To the British they just blend into the background but any foreign visitor must assume Noel Edmonds is some UK gambling overlord such is the frequency of which his face can be seen on these machines. Even in his semi-retirement Edmonds still somehow has a stranglehold on some parts of British culture.”
Deal or No Deal was originally presented by Noel Edmonds on Channel 4 from 2005 to 2016. In each episode, a contestant chooses one of 22 boxes, each containing a cash amount.
A contestant’s winning is determined by luck – cash amounts are randomly allocated to each of the boxes, and contestants are required to open a specific number of boxes per round of the game to eliminate cash amounts their box does not contain, which in turn affects how much is offered by the Banker.
The show prompted a series of merchandise, including video games, tabletop games, apps and the aforementioned fruit machines.
Reddit users also mentioned visitors being confused about people in the UK drinking in public, such as standing outside a pub with a pint or drinking in a park.
One said: “Apparently still a big social no-no in the US or Australia, where if you drink alcohol in public for any reason, someone will probably tell you off and/or call the police.”
Another user said an American colleague was shocked by the size of houses: “He thought I was “pranking” him when I pulled up to my very “normal” looking house.
“I told him a terraced 3 bedroom house of this size was very average for a house in the UK. He was shocked that it was so small and said my driveway was a quarter of the size of his regular suburban American driveway.”
Multiple users said visitors had been surprised (and frightened) by the narrowness and speed limits of winding country roads: “I picked some friends from the US up from the airport and was driving them to our house.
“At the start it was very jolly, then they got a bit quiet, I then realised something was up and turned to ask what was up. They were all white faced clutching the handholds.
“None of them had ever experienced one of our country lanes before, they were utterly terrified and appalled that doing 40 odd down a single track road was even possible let alone normal. I was a bit shocked as this was far from the narrowest road we could have taken.”