Miriam Margolyes leaves The Project’s Waleed Aly speechless on-air: ‘What are you?’

Miriam Margolyes left the entire audience of The Project gasping over a bizarre question aimed at Waleed Aly.

The Project star Waleed Aly was left in shock on Thursday’s show after a wildly unexpected question from a celebrity guest.

Miriam Margolyes appeared on the Channel 10 show to chat about her latest projects and share her thoughts on current events.

Waleed Aly couldn't hide his shocked reaction after Margolyes' line of questioning. Picture from Twitter.

However, the conversation took a shocking turn during a discussion about the conflict in Gaza.

Margolyes, who is Jewish, shared that she was now firmly of the stance that a “ceasefire” needs to happen immediately.

“Ceasefire now,” she insisted, before receiving applause from the audience members.

“Whether you’re black or white, it doesn’t matter,” she continued before turning and looking directly at Aly and asking: “What are you by the way? You're sort of brown.”

The audience then erupted into a mix of gasps and laughter, while Aly held his head down toward the desk and began cackling.

“This is a really interesting question actually,” laughed the presenter. “I’ve thought about this a lot. I’m not joking about that … I’m Egyptian.”

“Oh really,” replied an inquisitive Margolyes.

The British actress is known for her outlandish remarks during interviews. Picture from Twitter.

“Which is in Africa,” continued Aly. “So what do you want to call that?”

“Well, lucky I think,” the actress said earnestly, sparking more laughing from the audience. “Because I like the Egyptian people. I’m on the side of the Palestinians. I have to tell you that now. Being Jewish, we always have to say what we are. Are we for Israel or are we against Israel. I’m only for humanity. Ceasefire,” she said. “Ceasefire.”

As the applause from the audience died down, Aly turned to the camera and poked fun at the unexpected exchange, telling viewers: “Well I think it’s safe to say that conversation did not go as predicted!”

“Who the hell cares,’ shouted Margolyes in response. “It’s important!”

Meanwhile, in a revealing interview late last year, Margolyes let rip at one of the world’s most famous actors, describing him as a “c**t” who was “rather horrid” to work with.

She revealed the “vile experience” she had acting alongside Steve Martin in the 1986 film, Little Shop of Horrors. Speaking in more detail about the incident to news.com.au, Margolyes explained: “Steve was and is brilliant, this is not about his talent, just about his kindness at that time in his life.”

One particular scene in the film required Martin to punch Margolyes in the face and pretend to knock her out, and according to Margolyes, the scene took several attempts to get right.

“He was an artist and all he was interested in was getting the comic moment right, and he was correct to do that, but he should have included me,” Margolyes said.

“I would have included the person I was working with. He wasn’t interested in that.”

“I just thought he was rather horrid,” the 82-year old added. “He was a c**t, that’s all I can tell you.”

Originally published as Miriam Margolyes leaves The Project’s Waleed Aly speechless on-air: ‘What are you?’