History Main / TheMeanBrit

Compare and Contrast EvilBrit.

->''"Anne Robinson, Simon Cowell, and now me... proving once again that the British are a bunch of'' [expletive deleted]."

* As mentioned, Cowell on ''Series/AmericanIdol'' and ''Series/BritainsGotTalent''. He's known for his "No... I won't send you home" approach, his cases of hitting his fellow judges' klaxons in ''Britain's Got Talent'' and his put-downs, usually to HopelessAuditionees. Granted, generally he's simply telling the truth, but does so in such a blunt way that it could only be taken as offensive. His curt demeanor is sometimes exaggerated into being a straight {{Jerkass}} outside the shows he appears in, but the interesting thing for being the TropeCodifier is that he often falls into a CruelToBeKind approach (he thinks it's a waste of both his time and that of the underqualified contestants he judges to entertain their false hopes), and ''will'' praise those who do have the chops. Some ''American Idol'' viewers took to saying "Paula will give you a pass if you're nice, Randy will give you a pass if you're black, but Simon will only give you a pass if you can ''actually sing.''"

** In his previous incarnation as tabloid newspaper editor, Morgan was once punched out cold - in front of his mistress - by [[Series/TopGearUK Jeremy Clarkson]], who objected to an article alleging he was being unfaithful to his wife. A Mean Brit punched by an Even Meaner Brit.

* Toby Young on ''Series/TopChef''. He started out as this trope in trumps, his comments about the contestants' food being incredibly snarky and including comparisons to [=WMDs=] and cat food. He admitted in his blog on Bravo that he had no idea what the show was about when he accepted the job, and assumed that what the producers were hiring him for was to be the Mean Brit. Once he realized that he was expected to actually critique the food, not just criticize it, he got a bit better. But not enough better to get the producers to keep him on for another season, though.

* Creator/GordonRamsay acts this way in his shows ''Series/HellsKitchen'' and ''Series/KitchenNightmares'', although it is arguable that the show's producers gave him directions to do so. At times his temper becomes too much to handle, pushing buttons and driving some contestants to lose control and lash back at him. On the other hand, any aspiring chef who makes it through his tutelage must have truly worked hard and honed their skills, and when praise and enthusiasm is deserved, Ramsay will give it.

* Absolutely all the dragons on the UK version of ''Series/DragonsDen''. Especially Peter Jones, Duncan Bannatyne and Deborah Meaden.

* UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher famously belittled everything that stood on the left side of the political spectrum; she wasn't keen on unions either. During her final years she became increasingly hostile towards initiatives of the European Union and even towards her own cabinet.

We can blame Creator/SimonCowell. After his success on ''Series/AmericanIdol'', just about every American RealityShow has seen fit to cast a British guy as the [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]], [[CausticCritic ultra-critical judge]].

[[TropeCodifier We can blame Simon Cowell for this]]. After his success on ''Series/AmericanIdol'', just about every American RealityShow has seen fit to cast a British guy as the [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]], [[CausticCritic ultra-critical judge]].

* The ''LiveActionTV/BlackMirror'' episode "Fifteen Million Credits" features a talent show judge named Hope, who is pretty much Simon Cowell if he lived in a dystopian society.

* TotalBiscuit WebVideo/TheCynicalBrit goes so far as to incorporate the trope into his screen name.

** In his previous incarnation as tabloid newspaper editor, Morgan was once punched out cold - in front of his mistress - by [[TopGear Jeremy Clarkson]], who objected to an article alleging he was being unfaithful to his wife. A Mean Brit punched by an Even Meaner Brit.

* [[Series/TopGear Jeremy Clarkson and James May]] can come across as this too at times. The former in particular was infamous enough for it that it got him airbrushed out of the history of ''Series/RobotWars'', which goes to show that even this trope has standards.

* While eschewing the middle-to-upper class tones and furious screaming of most other British game reviewers, WebVideo/GuruLarryAndWez opt instead for low-brow jabs and dark chuckles delivered in an exaggerated version of Larry's Midlands accent.

!!Other Real-Life Examples:

* Yahtzee's fellow ''Website/TheEscapist'' contributor Jim Sterling, of WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}}.

* [[MikeJ Mike Jeavons']] British Bastard is a parody of this trope, acting as the EvilCounterpart to the in-universe Mike's QuintessentialBritishGentleman character.

* [[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas The Courier]] in WebVideo/CouriersMindRiseOfNewVegas is one, being a cynical, easily annoyed JerkWithAHeartOfGold. However, unless you pay attention to his BritishEnglish vocabulary, it's [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent not immediately obvious]] since his RealLife voice actor is a Chinese immigrant to Britain.

* Video blogger WebVideo/{{Thunderf00t}}.

* David Mitchell's "incredibly posh and aristocratic" character in ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook''. He takes a number of different jobs like waiter, clothes store clerk, or vicar. He always gets contrasted to "that friendly Australian girl" who used to work in his place.
--> '''Waiter:''' ''"I saw you in here last week. I saw you drinking your soup. I saw you blowing and slurping and dunking your bread. We were watching you on the monitors in the kitchen, and we all thought you were a dick!"''
--> '''Store Clerk:''' ''"I've seen you in here before. I've seen you slouching around the place in your slip-on shoes and your motorcycle jacket, looking like a mechanic who's won the pools. I've seen your tin earring and your black marketeer swagger. We've all seen you, and we all thought you were a turd!"''
--> '''Vicar:''' ''"I saw you in here last week. I saw you reading the notices and talking about your views. and eating other peoples' biscuits. We were watching you from the vestry, and we all thought you were a bitch!"''
** Webb gets a turn as the Mean Brit in the "Hole in the Ring" sketch, parodying Anne Robinson. The problem is that he's not very good at it - his insults degenerate into calling people "gay" and flipping off the audience.

* [[Series/TopGear Jeremy Clarkson and James May]] can come across as this too at times.

* SaintsRow allows this in regards to voice options for Boss.

* Subverted with Colin Fassnidge of ''Series/MyKitchenRules''. Known as being very critical, the Irish judge intimidates many of the contestants, who felt like they were about to be punished when he was around. But as the show goes on, he turns out to be a pleasant guy. He gets along with the contestants alright, and even though he does frequently find flaws in the contestants' dishes, and can be rather blunt in pointing that out, he's never rude about it, his criticisms are always constructive (he points out what exactly is wrong with the dish and how it can be improved), and he is even willing to give a 10/10 for a dish that he finds really good (even though he jokingly complains that this ruins his reputation).

* [[Series/TopGear Jeremy Clarkson]] can come across as one too at times.

Expect him to appear on any show that has an AmericanTitle. Call it subtle (or not-so-subtle) nationalism, but note that these people are seen as nasty at home too. Another possible explanation is that several of these reality shows originated in Britain, such as ''American Idol'' (from ''Pop Idol''), ''{{Dancing With the Stars}}'' (from ''Series/StrictlyComeDancing''), and ''Series/AmericasGotTalent'', which was based on an unaired British pilot which would eventually become ''Series/BritainsGotTalent''.

** Ramsay's shows inspired a [[ShoddyKnockoffProduct cloned copy]] on a rival network. ''Restaurant:Impossible'' is a carbon copy presented by Robert Irvine, a British chef/entrepreneur who manages to be ten times more intimidating and meaner than Ramsey - without overly raising his voice or swearing ''once''.

* David Mitchell's "incredibly posh and aristrocratic" character in ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook''. He takes a number of different jobs like waiter, clothes store clerk, or vicar. He always gets contrasted to "that friendly australian girl" who used to work in his place.

--> '''Store Clerk:''' ''"I've seen you in here before. I've seen you slouching around the place in your slip-on shoes and your motorcycle jacket, looking like a mechanic who's won the pools. I've seen your tin earring and your black marketeer swager. We've all seen you, and we all thought you were a turd!"''

* The ''Series/{{Psych}}'' episode "American Duos" parodies ''American Idol'', with TimCurry playing the Simon Cowell role.

* {{Smash}}'s Derek Wills.

* Video game critic [[Creator/BenCroshaw Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]], of WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation fame.

* Jin Kisaragi of ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' fame was born in England and has precisely two modes: DeadpanSnarker StrawNihilist {{Jerkass}} MeanBrit [[FromBadToWorse and]] [[LaughingMad Cackling]] [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Rapey]] [[IncestSubtext Incestuous]] AxCrazy PsychoForHire EvilBrit.

* Simon Cowell as himself in the rap battle scene in ''ScaryMovie 3''.

* Begley in ''NeuroticallyYours'' is British. He's also very mean, but so is pretty much everyone else.

** For extra fun, Piers Morgan ''and'' Simon Cowell are judges on ''Britain's Got Talent'' and often seem to compete to see who can be the most cruel to the contestants (though Piers will often deliberately go against what Simon said, and praise an act Simon hated, presumably to irritate him, since plenty of these acts really are awful). Admittedly he's far less nasty on ''Britain's Got Talent'' than its American counterpart, but he's still capable of some mean put-downs.

** In his prevous incarnation as tabloid newspaper editor, Morgan was once punched out cold - in front of his mistress - by [[TopGear Jeremy Clarkson]], who objected to an article alleging he was being unfaithful to his wife. A Mean Brit punched by an Even Meaner Brit.

** Germany has Dieter Bohlen, who manages to cause the majority of ''all'' complaints filed with the broadcasting commision.

* Len Goodman on ''Series/DancingWithTheStars'' isn't really mean, but he ''is'' much more demanding and less likely to hand out fuzzy, feel-good comments like "I loved your energy!" or "You are a smoldering sex goddess!" than either Carrie Ann or Bruno, and more likely to base his comments on the actual dance. Like Simon, if Len says it was good, it was ''very'' good, and his criticisms virtually always relate to something the dancer needs to work on. On the other hand, if a performance was genuinely ''bad'' he won't pull his punches, as during the second season when he told Master P essentially 'You don't care, you aren't trying, you don't belong here, it's time for you to go home.' ''in the third week''.
** Whereas on the British equivalent ''Series/StrictlyComeDancing'', his judging style is relatively lenient compared to Craig who, in an aversion of this trope, is Australian.

** For extra fun, Piers Morgan ''and'' Simon Cowell are judges on ''Britain' s Got Talent'' and often seem to compete to see who can be the most cruel to the contestants (though Piers will often deliberately go against what Simon said, and praise an act Simon hated, presumably to irritate him, since plenty of these acts really are awful). Admittedly he's far less nasty on ''Britain's Got Talent'' than its American counterpart, but he's still capable of some mean put-downs.

* Peter Jones on ''American Inventor''.