The lanyard we never had… but absolutely wore in our hearts. 🎟️✨
Okay, hands up — who else genuinely thought they were going to win a CBBC Backstage Pass one day? 🙋♀️
It always started the same way. You’re watching Xchange, Smile, or The Basil Brush Show, half-finished bowl of Frosties beside you, when a presenter suddenly yells:
“Do YOU want to meet your favourite stars? Then enter now for your chance to win a CBBC Backstage Pass!”
Cue montage of excitable children sprinting down studio corridors like they’ve just been told they’re the next Blue Peter presenter. The voiceover promised a “money-can’t-buy experience,” and for us 00s kids — that was the lottery.
✉️ We All Thought We’d Win
We rehearsed our acceptance speech like, “Thank you, CBBC, I’ve been watching since BROOM Cupboard era.”
You’d send an email, maybe even a postcard (because yes, we were that era), or later text 84046 from your mum’s Nokia when she wasn’t looking. Every time the phone rang, a tiny voice whispered, “It’s the BBC. They’ve picked you.”
🎤 The Prizes of Dreams
- Meeting Busted backstage (2003 peak cultural moment).
- Going behind the scenes of The Basil Brush Show (I would’ve died).
- Visiting the Smile set with Fearne and Jake.
- Watching a live taping of Xchange like an absolute legend.
Forget Coachella. This was CBBC-chella.
🎁 The Goody Bag Fantasy
Tell me you didn’t imagine walking away with a CBBC hoodie, a lanyard, and a bag of exclusive merch? You know the goody bag dream lived rent-free in all our heads.
In reality, it was probably a signed photo, a badge, and a warm Capri-Sun — but the fantasy? Delicious.
🧢 Whatever Happened to the Winners?
Where are those kids now? Do they still have the backstage photo on their wall? Do they casually drop, “Yeah, met Basil Brush once actually,” at dinner parties? Or were they sworn to eternal CBBC secrecy like some kind of presenter protection program? 🤣
If that was you — please, for the love of nostalgia, come forward. The nation needs closure.
💬 The True Prize Was the Hope
Here’s the thing — the magic was never about actually winning. It was about the hope.
For a few sparkly minutes after school, you truly believed you could be chosen. Before likes, before follows, before algorithm nonsense — we had pure, fizzy, kid-power hope.
So here’s to the CBBC competitions, the kids who believed, and the dreams we sent off to 84046. We might never have stepped backstage, but in our hearts? We totally had the lanyard. 💫
Were you one of the mythical winners? Drop your story in the comments — we’re dying to know! #CBBC #00sKids #BackstagePass #BasilBrush #Xchange #Smile
Asten Does Nostalgia 
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