This is what it was really like to go on CBBC’s Best Of Friends, by people who were on it

Best Of Friends was an absolutely iconic CBBC show, and when you watched you were definitely so jealous of everyone who got to go on it and put their friendship to the test. All you ever wanted was to find out what the blue sweets tasted like, and of course you could only ever DREAM of passing all the tasks and getting the final treat.

Beth went on Best Of Friends in 2006, when she was 10. She’s now made a TikTok about her experience on the show, saying she went on it with a group of four other girls from her school. She says they “were all really good friends at the time” – so they actually were, ahem, best of friends.

She had a great experience going on the show, saying: “We had a great time doing it, it was really fun, we passed all the tasks so it was great.”

This is what it was actually like to go on CBBC show Best Of Friends:

Producers auditioned groups of friends at primary schools

Alice was also on Best Of Friends, and made a TikTok about her experience. She says the show’s producers came to her primary school, and several groups of friends from the school had to audition to go on.

Beth says another girl from her class wrote in to apply to be on the show. They then told her they’d audition five groups of five friends at the primary school.

She says obviously, everyone wanted to be on the show, so her teachers held “in-class auditions” for 60 of them. She says they all got in to their own groups of five, and then “had an afternoon in class where our teachers auditioned us and decided who was good enough friends to go through”. Beth remembers her teachers made them do “a little dance routine or a sketch”.

You had to be ‘super enthusiastic’ to get on the show

After the in-class auditions, Beth says her teachers chose the five groups to go through to the actual auditions with producers, who came to the primary school.

She says: “I remember doing a lot of little team building games and activities and stuff. I guess they just wanted to see if you were actually friends. We were super enthusiastic. We were friends, we were just making sure they knew how good friends we were.”

You could taste when you got a blue sweet

Before the tasks, the hosts give each contestant a sweet and shout “Youuuuu suck”. Some of the sweets turn your tongue blue, and those with the blue tongues then have to do the task.

Apparently, the blue sweets taste like blue raspberry, so you could tell straight away if you actually had one, and then had to act like you didn’t know you’d be doing the task.

You really did have to do the tasks to get the treat

For every task, there’s also a treat for the lucky people who didn’t get a blue sweet – like being able to throw things at your head master while the whole primary school watched. Absolute scenes.

Then, if the team passes all three tasks, there’s a final treat at the end for everyone to enjoy. Beth says you really did have to complete the final task to get the treat at the end.

Are they still the Best Of Friends?

Of the four girls Beth was on the CBBC show with, she’s still friends with two of them. She said: “I think 50 per cent is pretty good going seeing as it was 15 years ago.”

However, Alice says there’s “no bad blood” but she doesn’t know the people she was on Best Of Friends with any more.

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• This is what it was actually like to go on CBBC’s Trapped, by someone who was on it

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