Amazing show - one thing bothers me, though. I just cannot accept that Channel 4 bosses would allow there to be any possibility of a man actually blowing his brains out live on television. How did you convince them, and how can you convince me that the "game" was for real? Kieran Blackburn, Leicester

Having a brief [and standard – the show was broadcast “as live”] time delay meant that C4 would go to black [blank screen] before anything horrific would be broadcast. Also, I explained to them that I wouldn’t do it unless I was 100 per cent confident, and they tend to believe what I tell them. As for convincing anyone that it was real, that’s what the show is and sets out to do. But I think that not knowing quite what to make of it is a more useful and interesting reaction than just accepting it or dismissing it blindly. It’s certainly the reaction that I’m happiest with – one that provokes questions.

Why, if the show was broadcast live, was there no reference made as to the exact time and date that the show was being filmed at? For example, a brief summary of the latest news stories or even the day’s football scores would have been enough to constrain the doubt in my mind that what we were seeing was live. Chris Gruba, Aberdeen

Never felt a need to prove it. We couldn’t have said it was live if it wasn’t – that’s just not allowed.

At the start of the show we saw you play a cup game with a guy on the street. The guy put the bracelet under cup 1… Were you looking for someone of similar characteristics to this guy? Luke Thomas, Newcastle Upon Tyne

No, not particularly, although he had a brilliantly open and malleable personality. But not right to handle the gun – someone quieter and less demonstrative was preferable.

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