TOTP: How good are you at coping with embarrassing situations?
Shayne: Very good indeed. I try to turn my back on the other person straightaway.
TOTP: Do you blush a lot?
Shayne: I blush a lot. I go very red! It is quite embarrassing, but I always get round it.

TOTP: Has anyone ever embarrassed you with a practical joke?
Shayne: Yes, all the time. [With fake sarcasm] The guy who looks after me, what's his name? Paul Higgins, sat right there! [Just to TOTP's left, if you're trying to picture it.] Always playing practical jokes on me, and like I say, let the games begin! [Laughs.]

TOTP: Did you ever call one of your teachers 'Mum' or 'Dad' when you were at school?
Shayne: [still laughing] Teachers? No, definitely not. They were nice to me, but no.

TOTP: Have you ever fallen asleep in a public place, and was there sleep-talking and/or drool involved?
Shayne: In a public place? Yeah, well, obviously on a bus. There was drooling and there was snoring. I was with me mum, and it was kind of one of those - do you know when you snore and you wake up from the snore? [Demonstrates.] I just looked at her, and she went "you were snoring really loud then." I go, "Was I?" and she said "Yeah, everyone was looking at you!" I said "Nah, you're just joking" and she went "No, look at all those people there!" and they kept turning round! It wasn't recently, it was when I was a kid. But it was all right.

TOTP: Do you have any embarrassing childhood photos that get pulled out when your friends come round?
Shayne: Yeah, kind of, but then again I don't mind them, to be honest. I did a lot of shows during school in Performing Arts, so there'd be a lot of me in costume, in tights, and stuff like that. Which isn't a great look. But it was good for the time.

TOTP: If you were asked to endorse something vaguely embarrassing - e.g. spot cream or pile cream - for a large sum of money, would you do it?
Shayne: [without hesitation] Yes I would. As long as I'm helping the community, definitely! [Laughs.]

TOTP: You are on stage halfway through a song and you realise your flies are undone. How do you cover it up?
Shayne: You don't, you just leave it. Add to the excitement of the crowd! [Laughs.] Hopefully.

TOTP: You're being quizzed about other pop stars in an interview and not everything you say is entirely complimentary. Shortly afterwards, at an awards do, you bump into one of the people you were talking about outside the toilets. What do you do?
Shayne: I'd just be myself, and I'll say I was asked a lot of questions and be very honest with them. [Pause.] Or start a fight.
TOTP: Because you'll win?
Shayne: Of course.

TOTP: Have you ever sent a text or an e-mail to the wrong person?
Shayne: All the time, yeah. Just recently, I had a virus on my old mobile phone and it was sending everybody messages with the word 'porn' on it, sender: Shayne. Obviously you couldn't open it because it wasn't me sending it, but if you did try to open it or connect to the internet and download whatever it was, you'd get a virus. So obviously there was a lot of people that I sent that to, and that was embarrassing as well.
TOTP: All these people saying "why are you sending us porn?"
Shayne: That's what it was! But the funny thing was, most of the people that it went to, they were sending it back saying, "sorry Shayne, I can't open it. I'm gutted!" [Laughs.]

TOTP: Now we're moving onto the Shayne Ward Shame Awards - see what we did there? A quick rundown of your most embarrassing moments. What's the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you since becoming famous?
Shayne: I kind of got a bit of a blonde moment in the car. I tried opening the car door by the car window button. It's an honest mistake! Isn't it? But then again, Paul again [pointing], don't even go there because he tried to open a door by a light switch! So far it's not as embarrassing as that.
TOTP: Were there lots of people watching when that happened?
Shayne: No. Paul said to me, "Shayne, can you just check if we can go through that entrance?" because we were going to a hotel, checking in - this was during the X Factor tour. I said, "okay" and I was shutting the window, but he thought I was trying to open the door! But I'll be honest, I did go like that a few times [demonstrates trying to open door in vain] and I didn't even realise what I was doing. He was laughing at me!

TOTP: The most embarrassment you've caused to someone else - either accidentally or on purpose?
Shayne: We did a prank on a guy who works here [at Shayne's record label] called Dan Parker. I pretend that I couldn't hack - [suddenly yelps] Ow! Bloody hell, my leg went then! [Rubs his leg] - that I couldn't hack what was happening to me, fame was getting a bit too much, so I decided that I wanted to get a job back in a shoe shop. So we blagged him and he believed it, and it was just great. I actually turned round and said "Dan, I just can't take it no more." [Tearfully] "I just want to sell shoes!" And it was just the funniest thing - he was distraught.

TOTP: The thing that was so embarrassing you'd go back and erase it from history if you had a time machine?
Shayne: [thinks about it for a while] Good question! I've got to think about that one. Erm, just a lot of arguments. A lot of arguments from the past. Exes... [Grins sheepishly.]

TOTP: Most embarrassing hairdo you've ever had?
Shayne: So far so good, it's been all right. I always used to have short-back-and-sides, and obviously this [his current 'do] - it was actually the women who wanted this done, during The X Factor - all the researchers going "Get it off! Get your hair cut!" But before - I've got very curly hair when it grows. So far so good, no disasters yet.

TOTP: Most embarrassing outfit you've had to wear?
Shayne: I think it was a sailor's outfit during performing at school. And a blue wig. It just wasn't a good look.

TOTP: Most embarrassing injury you've ever sustained?
Shayne: I've got a bit of a scar there [on the inside of his arm] - not a scar, but it's like a burn. Isn't it strange, when you're doing ironing, you leave your arm there [alongside the iron] long enough for it to get burnt and then when it's burning you go [delayed reaction] "AH!" It's very embarrassing, because people say "how did you do it?" and you say "well, I left me arm on the iron."
TOTP: The good thing is that females across the country are now swooning at the thought that you do your own ironing on top of everything else...
Shayne: [amused] D'you know what I mean? I like to iron.