The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 7 letter word TOP BILLING
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
T
O
P
B
I
L
L
I
N
G
More clues leading to the result TOP BILLING
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "what he expects to get" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case what he expects to get = top billing.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.