"That was wet fruit cake" - Sam Tarly lifts the lid on *that* disgusting Game of Thrones season 7 scene

Poor Sam Tarly. He often gets thrown up shit creek without a paddle and – as the Game of Thrones season 7 premiere proved – he got to get elbow deep in literal faecal matter too. Lovely. John Bradley, the actor who plays the rotund wannabe maester, has opened up about filming *that* filthy, filthy scene. And it’s about as unpleasant as you’d expect.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Bradley revealed his predicament wasn’t quite as bad as Sam’s – but it wasn’t far off: “It was quite a long time shooting it. It was shot over a period of about five full days. We're talking about 50 or 60 hours of shooting all of that. It was quite an experience, really. For the first time in my career on the show, I was completely alone.”

Five days picking up fake poop. That’s why actors are dying to get on Thrones, right?

Talking of fake poop… it was fake, thankfully, “That was wet fruit cake. It smelled fine, but shooting under lights for 13 hours or so, it can get a little nasty. I was reminded last night that while I was shooting that scene, everybody else on the cast was at the Emmys.”

Yep, you read that correctly. John Bradley missed one of the biggest nights of his career so he could mop up wet fruit cake for over half a day. Talk about a shitshow…

Image: HBO

Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.