Charlie Parsons is the Emmy-winning television producer and creator of The Word and The Big Breakfast. He’s also a pioneer of the reality show format, having created Survivor (the format is huge in the US and is now in its tenth year).

Today, he heads Charlie Parsons Creative, a personal private investment company which specialises in developing ideas and people in media and entertainment.

He will be at The Space – Brighton’s regular arts and media get-together – talking about his career on Monday at Komedia. Alan Parker, director of Bugsy Malone and Midnight Express, also appears. Call 0845 2938480.

Is there anyone who made you think “I want to do that?” in your formative years?

I was so arrogant I didn’t really think “I want to do that” about anyone. It’s only recently that I’ve started to be jealous or in awe of people’s talent. I love Baz Luhrmann, who made Moulin Rouge. I think Cameron Mackintosh is a genius – everything he does in theatre is truly theatrical.

Do you remember the first record you bought?

I lived in the country, so the nearest record shop was the Spinning Disc in Sevenoaks – five miles away. I hate to admit it but I suspect it was I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing [by The New Seekers]. I was never sophisticated musically! Give me a pop song any day.

Tell us about any guilty pleasures lurking in your CD or film collections – something you know is a bit naff but you can’t help yourself.

My CD and film collection is filled with guilty pleasures, but they are probably mostly singles.

I have We Are The World, and a selection by Keith Chegwin that includes all-time greats like Grandad and Ernie The Fastest Milkman In The West.

Do you have a favourite film?

I’ve always loved If… , Lindsay Anderson’s great film about a rebellion at a private school.

It somehow captures my take on the world – that ideas and institutions need to be challenged all the time.

Is there a TV programme you couldn’t live without?

I couldn’t live without Survivor – its success abroad pays the majority of my bills! My favourites (and there are many) are The World’s Strictest Parents and Mary Queen of Shops.

In both, the participants go on brilliant transforming journeys – when the teenagers in Strictest Parents realise how horrible they are, I always cry! And I am really enjoying Shane Meadows’s This is England 86.

It brings it all back.

Is there a song or individual piece of music you always come back to?

Somehow, Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive.

I first heard it in Oxford’s only gay club The Stage Club (you couldn’t make it up) more than 20 years ago. Now if you go to a club you hear it again. It’s a disco classic!

How about a live music or theatre experience that stays in your memory?

I recently went to a private party where Lady Gaga did a duet with Elton John. That’s quite glamorous isn’t it? They were probably 20 yards from me. What’s the point in going if you don’t boast about it?

There are few people of a certain age who didn’t experience the illicit thrill of tuning in to The Word and talking about it in school the following week. Do people often tell you about the impact the show had on them?

Lots of people tell me this. I’m always amazed, because in some cases they must have been ten or 11 and in bed when they watched it. I’m pleased, though, because the intention was to open a window on a glamorous, shocking and fun world that doesn’t exist in ordinary suburban Britain. The idea that teenagers would watch it from their bedrooms is still exciting.

You’re credited with kick-starting reality TV with Survivor – do you think these formats are starting to run out of steam?

To my amazement they aren’t. I think now, given that Survivor has been on for ten years, reality TV is here to stay. And given that I couldn’t get any interest when I was trying to get it on TV in the 1990s, I never expected this. The essential ingredient is that they put ordinary people in a controlled situation, so the programmes can continually reinvent themselves if the canvas is interesting.

Do you get more time to yourself these days?

I don’t get much more time to myself, but I do have a social life. Now I can do coffee at Caffé Nero and meet with friends. The company I started to make The Word was called 24 Hour Productions because I thought we’d be working 24 hours a day. Now, I’m pleased to say, no one would do that – especially me.