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The Wrong Guy
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of TV’s greatest cock-up, Guy Goma - the world’s most famous accidental interviewee - is back in the spotlight, with a new book documenting in excruciatingly hilarious detail how it all happened. The Wrong Guy, written by Emmy-winning journalist, Elliott Gotkine, in collaboration with Goma, is a never-before-told, insider’s account of how a death-defying escape from civil-war wracked Congo put Guy on the path to a job interview at the BBC - and 15 minutes of improbable fame that has endured for two decades.
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That Interview
On May 8, 2006, Congolese finance graduate Guy Goma turns up for a job interview at the BBC, when his world explodes. Mistaken for a news guest whose name was also Guy (and who was waiting in a different reception area), he’s ushered into a studio and interviewed live on TV. As he’s introduced as “Guy Kewney”, terror washes over his face like a tidal wave, before giving way to a Munch-esque silent scream. He’s peppered with questions about the Apple Computer court case. In Francophone-flecked English, he bluffs his way through the interview with answers so hilariously nonsensical that he wins over viewers — and then the world.
"Funny, compelling and compassionate, Elliott Gotkine's definitive account of one of the most memorable TV moments ever seen, shows how he (for it was him) helped turn a guy called Guy Goma into the enduring legend of The Wrong Guy."
Tim Samuels, award-winning former BBC broadcaster and best-selling author of Who Stole My Spear.
An “hilarious account…telling in fine detail the buildup and the aftermath of what became television history.”
The Daily Mail
"The Wrong Guy" in the News
About the Authors
Elliott Gotkine is an Emmy-winning journalist. In a career spanning twenty-five years and three continents, he has worked as a correspondent for CNN, Bloomberg Television and the BBC (although he left the Beeb after accidentally putting Guy Goma on air). Along the way, he’s interviewed world leaders, titans of industry… and Guy. He lives in London with his two children and his one-eyed dog, Molly.
After fleeing Congo-Brazzaville's civil war, finance graduate Guy Goma shot to fame when he was accidentally interviewed live on the BBC in TV's greatest cock-up. Twenty years on, "The Wrong Guy" remains an iconic figure, adored as much for his nostalgia value and the good humour he showed on that unforgettable day in May as for the joy he brought - and continues to bring - into people’s lives. He is married and lives in East London.