My first year as a reality TV star on Gogglebox

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/dec/22/my-first-year-reality-tv-star-gogglebox

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Baasit (30): Someone I used to work with recommended us for the show. She said: "I remember you were a bit of a numpty and had a weird sense of humour." At first, I laughed it off. My wife said it was ridiculous. I casually mentioned it to my dad and my brothers, and they were up for it straight away."

Sid (68): Being on television is a big thing, though. My wife wasn't well at the time so she doesn't appear, and one of my daughters said: "You're not really doing that, are you, Dad?" But on Gogglebox, we're just being ourselves, watching television and making dry comments, which is what we do anyway. The only difference is that now we're on Channel 4.

Umar (35): The only thing like it we'd done before was a bit of amateur dramatics. Prior to that, I don't think we'd have pratted around as much.

Baasit: They film us for a few hours a week. Everything in the house has to be the same every time.

Sid: They take a photo and say: "Can you wear what you wore last week?"

Umar: Our bird ornaments have become more famous than we are. We were thinking of getting them little Christmas hats.

Baasit: There's two cameras, one taking a shot of the group of us and one taking close-ups. You know when it's on you because it turns and looks at you. At first, you're very aware, but then you get so engrossed you forget they're there. Watching ourselves was weird at first. I didn't know I used my hands so much. When they first had us watching Sex Box, I thought: "There's no way I'd normally sit down and watch this sort of thing with my dad!"

Sid: We're massive Coronation Street fans, but Gogglebox has made us more aware of the strange stuff.

Umar: The documentaries are good, and the cookery programmes.

Baasit: We watched a good one about psychopaths. A documentary, I mean. Not a cookery programme with psychopaths.

Sid: Up All Night: Nightclub Toilet was a weird one. It's the voyeuristic nature of humans that makes you want to see how other people react to things. There have been sad scenes too. In 999: What's Your Emergency? a woman died on TV. You can't help but convey emotions, and people are mad for that.

Baasit: We realised it was becoming huge in the second series, when Twitter went crazy. We haven't had much negativity. One guy tweeted that we are idiots, but we are! We laugh at ourselves, and people warm to that.

Sid: It's satire, but you can say things that are comical and do have a message of some sort, such as on immigration. Even though it's a multicultural society, I think there is a perception that all Indians and Pakistanis are Qur'an-bashing. The majority are like us, but people don't know that because cameras don't normally go into their living rooms.

Baasit: This older Asian chap stopped us and said: "It's really refreshing to see a group of Asians doing something this massively down to Earth."

Sid: Although it's surreal being recognised. The first time it happened to me, I was in the car park struggling to find change for the meter, and this guy said: "You're from Gogglebox! We love it!" He offered to pay for the meter.

Baasit: I forgot to tell you, Dad. I saw him on Twitter. He said: "I saw the Siddiqui dad. I tried to get his autograph."

Sid: Neither of us had a pen. He was running around the car park trying to get one. It was so funny.

Baasit: I got dragged into a restaurant by a tipsy hen party going: "Gogglebox! Gogglebox!" which was uncomfortable. My claim to fame now is that Alan Carr quoted a crap comment I made about Sex Box – "That box must stink!"

Umar: The most surreal moment for me was seeing a comment I made about Crufts ["The British do love their dogs, like no other nation. I mean the Chinese like dogs as well, but not in the same way"] in print. I do regret that line, because I have Chinese friends. It was tongue-in-cheek, because we're so relaxed with each other. We'd never want anyone to be offended.

Sid: Sometimes you blurt something out and regret it. They're very good about editing bits out. The camera's not on you all the time, like Big Brother. That would be weirder.

Baasit: Gogglebox jumps into your life and then it jumps out. I'm a teacher; the kids found out and went: "Sir, you're on Gogglebox!" But it hasn't changed us.

Sid: We're not celebrities. We just watch TV.

Baasit (to Umar): You got asked to switch some Christmas lights on, didn't you?

Umar: Yeah, but only at work. They were 3ft long.

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