Amanda Holden has revealed how she avoided her best friend Alan Carr for a week to keep her National Television Awards performance a secret. 

The television personality, 55, gave a debrief on Heart FM on Wednesday after wowing the crowd with her tribute to the comedian, 50, of I Know Him So Well from the musical Chess. 

Alan, who was awarded the Special Recognition gong, had no idea about the performance and only realised it was honouring him when his Traitors co-star Paloma Faith popped up out of a coffin. 

Amanda told her co-host Jamie Theakston: ‘I didn’t even tell my mum. I just told my mum when to put the telly on. She thought I was getting an award. I was like, “no”. 

‘And I just said, “just watch it!” And I didn’t tell Alan. I’ve deliberately not spoken to Alan for a week, right? 

‘And I was working yesterday after, so before I went to the NTAs and I did the red carpet at like six, which I would never normally do.   

Amanda Holden has revealed how she avoided her best friend Alan Carr for a week to keep her National Television Awards performance a secret

The television personality, 55, gave a debrief on Heart FM about the lead up to walking out on stage alongside his Traitors co-star Paloma Faith to sing I Know Him So Well as a tribute

‘Me and Alan have got the biggest gobs in showbusiness and we can’t keep any secrets! And he just kept looking at me going, “I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it.” 

‘To see his little face, he was in tears, shaking. He got up onto the stage, his glasses were all steamed up. My instinct is always to take them off and clean them, which I always do whenever I’m with him, wherever we are. But I was in a black lace dress, there was nowhere for me to do it. So, I had to just leave him.’

Viewers branded the performance ‘iconic’ and ‘the greatest NTAs moment ever’, whilst one decided that Amanda and Paloma are ‘the new 2026 Xmas number 1 duo we never knew existed’.

Jamie told Amanda: ‘It was amazing. I mean, I know that you can sing, it’s no surprise to me, but there might be many people who maybe don’t know how well you sing. 

‘You were on stage with, it has to be said, some other singers, and you absolutely outperformed them. I thought you did brilliantly.’ 

Alan admitted during his acceptance speech that it was only when Paloma joined in that he realised the singing tribute was for him.

‘This is how thick I am, it was only when Paloma came out that I realised it’s me,’ he told the crowd of celebs at London’s O2 Arena (O2). ‘I should have realised when they put me in the front row, I’m usually in the back with the people from Naked Attraction.’

He was also seen playfully calling Amanda a ‘little b****’ as they left the stage arm in arm. 

‘Me and Alan have got the biggest gobs in showbusiness and we can’t keep any secrets! And he just kept looking at me going, “I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it”, Amanda said

Alan, who was awarded the Special Recognition gong, had no idea about the performance and only realised it was honouring him when Paloma popped up out of a coffin

The NTAs saw the best in British TV descend on London’s O2 for a star-studded ceremony as comedian Joel Dommett returned as host for the sixth time. 

In his 100th year, David Attenborough took home the NTA for Best Presenter, leaving Ant and Dec without the gong for the second consecutive year. 

The iconic Geordie duo held on to the accolade for a record 23 years before losing out to Gary Lineker at last year’s awards. 

And this year they were trumped by the legendary broadcaster, whose producer Mark Brownlow accepted the award on his behalf with his speech focused on the dangers of climate change. 

Elsewhere collecting the Reality Docuseries gong was Jeremy Clarkson’s Prime Video series Clarkson’s Farm. 

Lee Mack once again took home the gong for his ITV hit The 1% Club as he attended the ceremony with his three children and paid tribute to his wife in his speech. 

The Bruce Forsyth Entertainment Award was awarded to Michael McIntyre’s Big Show – after it was presented by Paris Fury and her daughter Valencia, eight. 

The cast of Mrs Brown’s Boys were ecstatic on hearing they had won Best Comedy Show, in what will be a boost to Brendan O’Carroll after he was forced to cancel this year’s festive specials after breaking his jaw.

Gogglebox, now in its 28th series, was awarded the Factual Entertainment gong, beating Stacey Solomon’s Sort Your Life Out. 

This year’s NTAs has proven to be historic even before the first winners were announced, as it features the first ever all-female shortlist for Drama Performance.

And it was Vicky McClure who came out on top, thanks to her role as volatile explosives officer Lana in Trigger Point.

I Fought the Law, led by Sheridan Smith, won this year’s New Drama gong after an impressive performance. 

This year’s Authored Documentary gong was awarded to the BBC’s special Our Girls: The Southport Families.

Completing the wins for the night was Call The Midwife, who picked up best Returning Drama, Emmerdale who won Best Serial Drama and Jeff Hordley who won in the Serial Drama Performance category.