Lakhi gives an insight into life as a contestant on Pooch Perfect

Lakhi as Seen on TV

Lakhi has been grooming for nearly 30 years and has a salon and training school: Posh Pets Academy, Bournville, Birmingham. He is an international certified Master Groomer. He shows and competes and holds demos around the country, he recently made the finals of BBC TV’s Pooch Perfect grooming series. Lakhi shares his experiences:

As most of you know BBC recently aired a new grooming competition “Pooch Perfect” - prime time viewing at last for our profession.

It involved 16 all-round groomers including myself appeared on this new venture alongside judges, Verity Hardcastle and Colin Taylor, assisted by vet Bolu Eso and hosted by Sheridan Smith and the ever so delightful Stanley who is owned and loved by top animal trainer Laura Ingall.

The original concept of the show started in Australia where it had mixed reviews and thankfully was commissioned in the UK for BBC.

This all started back in January 2020 where researchers attended a grooming competition to canvas entrants.

I was unaware at the time, but a close friend, Michele Bicknell, put my name forward whilst I was competing in the ring.

I’ll thank her in person when I see her.

Eventually I received an email inviting me to go through the audition process.

I had to think long and hard before taking it further as it meant I’d be in the public eye and for several weeks I would have no contact with family, which concerned me.

However, I was assured we’d have full back up from 7 studios, which we certainly did.

It all started with an in-depth application form, hundreds applied and I was lucky enough to be invited to a zoom interview. I was asked to explain grooming processes on various

Lakhi at the end of one of the Pooch Perfect challenges

breeds.

We talked about my life, grooming etc and I was told I’d be contacted if I was successful and would then have to audition with a dog.

A few weeks later I received a message that I’d been successfully accepted to the next stage which was a zoom audition grooming a dog.

Nerves set in, although I’d groomed in front of hundreds of people, this was someone watching my every move, handling and how I came across.

By now it was spring and was told we’d only be contacted if successful.

I forgot about it and continued my lockdown life until a few weeks later when I received a call to say I’d been accepted to appear on the show.

Initially I felt sick and then excited.

My confidant was Michele, she pushed me to go for it which I’m glad of.

After various checks and further meetings we were given filming dates and with Covid gripping the country strict protocols were to be put in place and these were explained.

Initially we had to have an assistant for which I chose a close friend called Rae but with the distancing in place that had to be scrapped as there was a limit on how many people could be in the studio.

In the end it was decided that 16 Groomers competing in four rounds of four would work best.

Fast forward to August and I boarded the train to Manchester where everything was pre arranged for us including accommodation (the beautiful hotel Football, next to the Manchester United football club grounds).

The production company looked after our every need and I was impressed by the attention to detail and their commitment to our safety.

The day before filming started was eerily quiet; we didn’t know who else was on the show and our rooms were far apart.

I remember coming out of my hotel room where I saw a young lady on the phone by the lifts, I panicked thinking she was a cleaner and I had my vape in my mouth !!! She also jumped and put her phone away hastily.

I muttered “do you work here ?” Expecting to be evicted for vaping in my room, to which she replied no ! She in return said “are you with Pooch ?” thinking I was part of the production team.

I replied: “no, I’m Lakhi one of the contestants”

To which she replied “oh, never heard of you” to which we both laughed and a firm friendship ensued.

This young lady was Tanya Salas and later we bumped into fellow contestants for our heat: Tom Heaton-Clarke and Hannah Bowles.

We’d all been told there would be two challenges, a breed makeover which was a surprise and then our own dog walk challenge which we were provided with a brief a week or two beforehand to come up with a design. Which was showcased on the dogwalk to the owners of the dogs.

We could ask for certain breeds but it wasn’t guaranteed.

So essentially, even though we’d written our briefs and drawn our

designs, we didn’t see our dogs until the doors opened and they walked in !

We embraced this as being dog groomers we get challenges like this daily.

Stuart Simons was instrumental to this show. Coming up with the challenges and dogs - we could see him racing back and forth with headset and clipboard to ensure everything went smoothly and everyone was happy.

We started filming very early the following morning and met Sheridan who was friendly and the most downto-earth person.

Sheridan also was so calming, we had a great time with one liners, bangra dancing and stopping ourselves from giggling, much to the annoyance of the floor manager “right, do it again !”

Instantly we felt at ease as all the production team guided is through the whole process.

We saw the dog crèche and it was wonderfully laid out with handlers per dog, vet nurses, groomers and spacious pens and exercise areas. It was so tranquil.

All dogs had breaks between filming segments and were doted on.

I don’t want to give too much away as the magic of television and in case there’s people that don’t know the results or still to watch the final.

However, the set was beautifully applied, there was considerable attention to detail, and it was cool, quiet and calm.

Minimal crew were involved so as not to worry the dogs, it was quieter than my salon !

The clock on the wall was nervewracking as in any competition but all 16 Groomers handled the dogs, timings and grooming perfectly.

I’d like to congratulate them all for being so brave and stepping out of their comfort zone.

Some of the challenges were new to me as I’m more of a traditional groomer but I embraced it and actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

Everything was overseen by the welfare team and Bolu the vet and the judges were calm and professional around the dogs.

It was a lovely environment to work in.

Off set we got to know everyone better, however as the challenges continued and we lost fellow groomers to eliminations it was difficult as we’d bonded so well and the personalities we couldn’t hug made it all the more emotional.

It was hard work and long hours but I’d do it again in a heartbeat as it showed the general public that we’re all for the dog and put our hearts into our work.

Whatever your thoughts are on the show, let’s please remember that this new insight into grooming is the first of its kind and I hope it will go from strength to strength, especially as so many dedicated people put a lot of love and hard work into “Pooch Perfect.” I really do hope that the general public will start to champion groomers everywhere.

I’d like to thank everyone for their support, it’s been overwhelming, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

You can catch up with all the episodes of Pooch Perfect on BBC iPlayer

Lakhi in the finals