This may well be more indicative of me rather than the housemates of the latest Celebrity Big Brother, but when I look at the list, am I not the only one who says...
"Who the hell are all these people?"
Other years when I've caught this show, I've at least recognised about 90% of them. This time probably the reverse is true. What's going on? Is this a sign of a show in its final death-throes? Well... quite probably. Now we know everything there is to know about the workings of Big Brother, what popular Celebrity would ever want to go on? Tis madness!
The Housemates this time round are, Vinnie Jones, Stephen Baldwin, Stephanie Beacham, Sisqo, Nicola T, Lady Soverign, Katia Ivanova, Jonas Altberg, Heidi Fleiss, Dane Bowers and Alex Reid.
Yes... the solid claims to celebrity fame range from dating model Katie Price to having short affairs with random footballers.
Hmmm, not sure what actress Stephanie Beacham is doing in there. Maybe she was supposed to be auditioning for something and walked into the wrong room.
Well... the show is back again. I'm a Celebrity, Get me Out of Here 2009! Excuse me why I prevent myself from yawning.
While the show may have once been new and fresh on our television screens, this is now the Ninth series of, what is essentially, exactly the same show. The format is starting to look very tired indeed.
You pretty much know what to expect now. There are no surprises at all as the B-List celebs compete in various tasks (that you've already seen countless times before) in order for food and treats. You know the sort... some one will be covered in bugs, some one will have to eat bugs, some one will have to swim in some snake lake, some one will have to go and find Reward Stars in the Dark or overcome their fear of heights and on and on...
Yes, the show was good initially, but just like Big Brother, it doesn't have much more, if anything to offer the viewing public. I hope in Series 9, that I am wrong.
The reported Celebrities going into the Jungle this time are,
Lucy Benjamin - Former EastEnders Actress George Hamilton Camilla Dallerup - Dancer Gino D'Acampo - TV Chef Samantha Fox - Former Model Russ Owen - Actor Colin McAllister Justin Ryan Sabrina Washington - Singer Jimmy White - Snooker Player Kim Woodburn - From Kim & Aggie, How Clean is your House
Admittedly, some of these, I have never heard of, but that's pretty consistent with every year. No Celebrity has yet to be eaten by a giant genetically modified Crocodile so perhaps that could be the twist.
I've noticed a rather macabre trend perhaps starting to develop on the micro-blogging network, Twitter. This is the trend for fake reporting of Celebrity deaths. It is somewhat disturbing.
When Michael Jackson sadly passed away in June of this year, his death was one of the most mentioned things on Twitter for over two months. It became the number 1, "Trending Topic".
After this something really odd happened. A rumour started from an individual or individuals that the actor, Jeff GoldBlum, had died. Although completely false, this topic soon become a top trender also. It became such a problem that Mr Goldblum had to come out and publicly announce that he was still alive. Most people believed him.
It would outwardly appear, that if a user is bored on Twitter, they may invent a story that a famous celebrity has died in order to get it into the Top Trending Topics list. This seems pretty desperate stuff and I hope it isn't something that's going to continue... but alas it probably will do.
The latest fake celebrity death to trend is Kanye West. It's a bit tricky to know what to believe anymore. If anyone reports the death of Elvis Presley, I for one, won't believe them.
Week 10 saw two of the Strictly Come Dancing Celebrities leave the contest. First in dramatic fashion, John Sergeant and then, through more conventional means, Jodie Kidd.
The contest is really too close to call this year, but here is how the Market currently values each Celebrities chances of winning.
Austin Healey 7/4 Tom Chambers 2/1 Rachel Stevens 11/4 Christine Bleakley 7/1 Lisa Snowdon 12/1
Austin Healey has edged out slightly to 7/4 and is now more or less the same odds as Tom Chambers to win.
The rapid improving Rachel Stevens looks fantastic value at 11/4. Last week she scored 39 and this week a perfect 40. If she maintains this form, Rachel will be virtually impossible to beat.
Christine has undoubtedly got very strong support with the voting public, but it looks very much as if this will finally develop into a three-way tussle between Rachel, Tom & Austin. I would personally bet on Rachel, simply down to the great odds offered.
Not many weeks left to go now. Week 9 marks the start of serious territory in the BBC Strictly Come Dancing show. Here is how the betting market values each celebrities chances of being eliminated from the dance floor this time round.
John Sergeant 8/11 Jodie Kidd 9/4 Christine Bleakley 7/1 Rachel Stevens 12/1 Lisa Snowdon 14/1 Cherie Lunghi 14/1 Tom Chambers 50/1 Austin Healey 66/1
John Sergeant is odds on to go, which probably means he won't. Judges have never seemed to grasp in these contests, the worse you say about a performance, the more the Public vote for the performer to stay in. There will be plenty of bad things to say about John this week. That is a given.
Taking the Sergeant Factor into account, Jodie Kidd looks extremely vulnerable. Jodie was very appreciative that the voting Public kept her in last week and has promised to give a great performance in thanks.
Rachel Stevens scored a fantastic 35 points last week, but still ended up in the bottom two with seemingly very little or no Public voting support. You need the Public behind you on Strictly Come Dancing otherwise it is very difficult to win. If this pattern continues, the bottom two this week could well be Rachel Stevens verses Jodie Kidd.
If this is the case, Jodie would have to pull off something pretty stunning to stay in the running.
This Sunday, it is back! I'm a Celebrity Get me Out of Here !!!
Is this a good thing? Is this show now old hat? Yesterdays news?
Well... each year the shows success is totally dependant on the Celebs themselves.. or almost celebs as rarely have you heard of all of them. Some Jungle outings are a lot better than others. For some reason, I have a good feeling about this one.
Cheeky Newcastle chappies, Ant and Dec will of course, be there again. The initial Television advert is currently running comprising of clips from last years show. In 2007 I'm a Celebrity was won by the shy and retiring, Christopher Biggins. Ok... he wasn't that shy... or indeed retiring.
As entertaining as he has been, I think it is now time for John Sergeant to go from Strictly Come Dancing.
He has progressed far further than he really should have and the show has been undeniably richer for him being there. However, it is now getting rather silly. John is knocking people out the contest who are generally quite good.
John Sergeant's performance of the Cha Cha Cha this week was simply awful or as a friend maybe less eloquently put it, bloody crap!
He managed a total score of 12, but really it didn't even deserve double figures.
Each week, John is looking worse and worse as the overall standard of his competitors left in averages higher and higher. The shear gap between him and the others is now far larger than the greatest canyons of Mars. I would have said larger than the Grand Canyon, but that didn't seem quite large enough.
Secretly, I think John would rather go also, this is starting to get very embarrassing indeed. Somehow though, I'm worried that this week Jodie Kidd will go.
It's week 8, the dances have been done, and the Judges scores are in. Wow, what a high scoring week... well... for all non-former ITN people.
Here are how things shape up at the half-way stage,
Tom Chambers & Camilla 36 Cherie Lunghi & James 36 Lisa Snowdon & Brendan 36 Rachel Stevens & Vincent 35 Christine Bleakley & Matt 31 Austin Healey & Erin 29 Heather Small & Brian 27 Jodie Kidd & Ian 23 John Sergeant & Ola 12
3 couples top the table on a fantastic 36 points. This is the first time this has ever happened. Tom Chambers was outstanding, Cherie Lunghi was back to the style of dances she does best and Lisa Snowdon showed she is not to be underestimated.
Rachel Stevens finally came good to indicate she perhaps now will be a threat in the competition's final stages ahead. Thank goodness. Up until now, she had been Strictly Come Dancing's serial under performer. Not by any means bad any week, but you sensed she was not performing to the best of her ability. Rachel's American Smooth scored a well deserved 35.
Jodie Kidd struggled a bit with the Samba, but compared directly to John Sergeant's Shambles, she was the greatest dancer of all time.
Favourite to win, Austin Healey, had his worst week yet, but that's mainly due to being scored a shocking 5 by Craig. He totalled 29, but should still escape the bottom two.
What can be said about John's Cha Cha Cha this week? Judge Craig said it was a Disaster. I think he was being polite. Craig scored it a 1, but that is only because there were no score paddle with zero written on it. A woeful total of 12 points still seemed way over-marked. It was the worst dance I have ever witnessed and I'm not 100% sure he was really bothered. I've honestly seen people on fire dance better than him.
In danger of being in the dance off this week are Jodie Kidd and Heather Small.
So... now that Jonathan Ross has been suspended for 3 months for things I don't really want to go into, what is replacing his big ratings winning show in the BBC schedule?
Well... not much really. The BBC seem content with just putting a film on each week until everything blows over. Last week it was Speed which has been on about fifty times already and this week, it is Armageddon.
The BBC have really shot themselves in the foot with this one. For all his faults, Ross attracted the viewing public in their many thousands, could get the best celebrity guests and delivered an entertaining show. Now it's gone for a while and replaced with mediocrity. One waits for other possible films in the weeks to come and fears the likes of Cocoon, Honey I shrunk the Kid and Teenwolf being shown on what should be prime weekly viewing.
I think I, and many others, will be watching a different TV station for a while until the BBC are back on track. It's the 4 Poofs and a Piano, I feel sorry for.
Expect the standard of Celebrity guests on other shows to suddenly increase as they desperately find other outlets to plug their various projects.
Heather Small must be feeling she's in a bit of a war zone at the moment. She has faced three bottom two dance-offs and survived each time. The Bookmaker considers her a strong favourite again to be in a similar situation, but she is not without a chance of escaping the drama.
This week will see Heather Small perform the Tango and in practice she has looked pretty good. Clearly it is a style of dance she is more comfortable with and she has even confessed to liking the routine. This must be a first!
If Heather converts her good work in training to Saturday night then it could spell trouble for Jodie Kidd and Christine Bleakley. John Sergeant is the unknown quantity here. This deep into the contest, it is going to be interesting to see if he continues to have such massive support with the voting public. I'm suspecting that he will.
Although no official start has been announced, it is nearing that time again. November usually signals the rise of jungle fever and the beginning of the ever-popular, I'm a Celebrity Get me Out of Here!
Back for an Eighth series, one thinks how long can this show go on for? How long will the viewing public watch ever-less-known "celebrities" arguing about rice, rats, cleaning the toilet, eating and being covered in a assortment of weird insects and spiders? Unknown, but the viewing figures from last year were high, so maybe there's some mileage yet.
Of course, the success of each show is 100% dependant on the Celebrities and their differences and reactions to one another. Some years are a lot funnier than others. No one has been announced as a Jungle resident yet, but here are some of the rumours circulating on who might be going / parachuting in.
Bobby Davro, Donny Osmond, Dwaine Chambers, Syed Ahmed Frankie Dettori, Greg Rusedski, Tim Vincent, Bobby Brown Tim Lovejoy, Willie Thorne
Abigail Clancy, Sarah Greene, Emma Barton, Emma Rigby, Fiona Phillips, Jamie Winstone, Bonnie Langford, Shannon Elizabeth
None of the above have been confirmed. Some may be there, none may be there. Who knows? Celebrities that definitely won't be there are Prince Phillip, Elvis Presley or anyone that is still in paid employment. Bobby Davro is looking a stronger likelyhood all the time.
Previous winners, Kings or Queens of the Jungle are,
2007 - Christopher Biggins 2006 - Matt Willis 2005 - Carol Thatcher 2004 - Joe Pasquale 2003 - Kerry McFadden 2002 - Phil Tufnell 2001 - Tony Blackburn
The actual line-up for Celebrity Get Me Out of Here should be revealed very shortly by ITV television.
Week 7 of Strictly Come Dancing is a bit of an odd week. Each celebrity is performing a different dance. Sounds like voting chaos to me. Here are the latest odds on each Celebrity's chances of leaving the dance floor for good,
Heather Small 2/1 Andrew Castle 2/1 John Sergeant 7/2 Jodie Kidd 11/2 Lisa Snowdon 14/1 Christine Bleakley 14/1 Rachel Stevens 66/1 Cherie Lunghi 66/1 Tom Chambers 80/1 Austin Healey 80/1
Heather Small and Andrew Castle are joint favourites at 2-1 to go and I think this is probably about right.
John Sergeant will survive again this week, no matter what. That is a given. So in order to avoid the bottom two, Heather and Andrew are perhaps reliant on a slip up from either Jodie, Lisa or Christine.
Andrew Castle looks particularly vulnerable this time round. He is performing the Samba this week which could be a problem.
What are the set dances going to be on Week's 7 Strictly Come Dancing?
Well... that is a very good question. Usually there are two dances with each couple performing either one, depending on what they have danced previous or how it has been drawn.
What is known so far is Lisa Snowdon and Brendan will be dancing the Tango, Tom Chambers the Paso Doble and Christine Bleakley, the American Smooth.
Although it may be more entertaining to watch, I'm not sure I'm in favour of everybody performing a different dance. For one, how are you supposed to judge them all against each other? How can I tell if Lisa's Tango is better than Christine's American Smooth? If Tom's Paso Doble is better than Cherie's Moonwalk? If Castle's Cha Cha Cha is better than John Sergeant's headspin?
If it were Spring-Board Diving, the points would be multiplied by the element of difficulty of the dive. This system doesn't work on Strictly and the Judges just mark from 1 to 10, or in Len Goodman's case, 5 to 10.
The final result could be a bit random this week which must be good news for Andrew Castle, random is what he needs to stay in.
Swimmer, Mark Foster, has become the sixth celebrity to be voted out of Strictly Come Dancing 2008.
He and professional dance partner, Hayley Holt, finished bottom after the Judges initial votes and this time the added Public vote was not enough to save them from the dance off. Here they faced former tennis star, Andrew Castle and dance partner, Ola Jordan. Andrew was a little unlucky to be in the dance off as he perhaps gave his best performance of the contest so far.
When the dance off was complete, Craig, Arlene, Bruno and Len all agreed, Mark should be the one to go.
Mark Foster is the most successful swimmer Britain has ever produced. Six times a World Champion, with 10 European Champion medals and two Commonwealth Champion medals, he has also broken eight world records in his career. This accounts for nothing on the dance floor however and when all is said and done, I think he had a pretty good run.
Currently in the UK if you own a Television, you must also pay for a TV Licence otherwise you could risk a fine.
A colour TV Licence costs £139.50. A black and white TV Licence costs £47.00. Not many people have a Black and White television nowadays so we are looking at a general fee of £139.50. This works out at around £2.68 a week. Even if you just watch TV on the Internet, you still need to have an up to date Licence.
If the BBC did not exist, there would be no Licence Fee at all as all other Channels are paid for by advertising. So... is the BBC's Licence Fee value for money? After all, the choice of different alternative channels to choose from now is huge and continues to rise. Why should UK residents have to pay a Fee towards, what is becoming, a very small percentage of Channels, that some may argue, they do not watch much anyway?
The BBC justify the Fee by saying they produce quality programmes which are not interrupted by adverts. Also they are a traditional and World-known brand. Well, ok, there is some truth in this, but as more and more channels spring up should the BBC be reviewing their set up?
Below is Venessa Feltz in one of the Quality programmes, Hole in the Wall, presented by Dale Winton. This show has been aired prime time on Saturday Evenings and involves B-list celebrities in silver spangly costumes trying to position themselves through a moving wall.
Even though I found this show rather amusing, I'm not sure I would regard it as quality and its definitely not something I would wish to pay for.
Will the BBC's Licence fee be something that exists forever? Undoubtedly, if the fee was axed, the Government would bring in a replacement TV tax which they would be 100% beneficiaries to. That's how taxes seem to work. One is removed, a stealth one is quietly slotted in to replace it shortly afterwards.
Hmmmm, maybe the Licence Fee should stay then. I can't wait to see which Celebrity gets knocked into the Swimming pool this week. My money is on Kieth Chegwin. Or alternatively, I could go up the Pub.
The BBC thought Venessa was such a hit on this show, that she was brought back for another go.
Yep, it's definitely the Pub for me. I might not come back.
Week 6 of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing contest will see the remaining celebrities perform either the Paso Doble or the Viennese Waltz. It does not always reflect accurately on the Night, but here are the odds on who is favourite to be eliminated this Saturday.
Heather Small 2/1 Mark Foster 9/4 Andrew Castle 7/2 John Sergeant 4/1 Jodie Kidd 10/1 Lisa Snowdon 25/1 Christine Bleakley 25/1 Rachel Stevens 50/1 Cherie Lunghi 66/1 Tom Chambers 100/1 Austin Healey 100/1
You can pretty much draw a pencil line through John Sergeant. The public love him and will vote for him no matter what. Last week, 16 points (an average of 4 per Judge) was enough to see him through.
In the previous round, no celebrity who finished in the bottom three with the Judges, ended up in the bottom two overall. Taking this into account, it looks as if Heather Small may find herself in the dance-off for the third week running. She isn't the worst out there, and I think she can survive again at the detriment to either Mark Foster or Andrew Castle.
So now we are into week 3 of the Strictly Come Dancing Competition. Here are the latest odds to win after everybody has danced their first performance.
Austin Healey 3/1 Tom Chambers 7/2 Rachel Stevens 7/2 Cherie Lunghi 6/1 Christine Bleakley 8/1 Lisa Snowdon 12/1 Mark Foster 16/1 Heather Small 16/1 Andrew Castle 16/1 Jodie Kidd 25/1 Jessie Wallace 40/1 John Sergeant 50/1 Gary Rhodes 50/1 Don Warrington 100/1
Big movers in the market are Cherie Lunghi and Christine Bleakley both receiving positive support and are now placed 4th and 5th in the market respectively.
Jessie Wallace drops slightly to 40-1 from 25-1 and Gary Rhodes edges outwards very marginally. John Sergeant continues to flip-flop between 50 and 80-1. I would be very surprised if he gets knocked out this week though.
The top three in the market remain solid and quite frankly, the Bookies do not want to know anyone else. According to them, Austin Healey, Tom Chambers or Rachel Stevens will win. I hope they're wrong, there's nothing like a good upset for a bit of drama.
Here's how the final vote panned out with the judges yesterday between Jody Kidd and Gillian Taylforth. Both had to compete this week in the dance-off for survival.
In the end the decision was unanimous. Jody's improvement over her first dance was remarkable.
Monday saw Gillian Taylforth 33-1 to win this years BBC Strictly Come Dancing show.
Just two days later, her odds have now gone out to a weak 50-1. These are the same odds as John Sergeant, former political editor of ITN. If the odds can be believed, she is now a very strong favourite to voted out first of the women. 50-1? Is she really that bad. Seems hard to believe. The nearest competitor for this week to her is Jessie Wallace at 25-1.
Gillian Taylforth is quoted at 7/4 to be voted off. It maybe famous-last-words time, but I think she has a good chance of survival.
Gary Rhodes and other past celebrities have shown, if you are bad enough, the voting public will keep you in.
The first week is complete and now we are into week 2, which sees the female contestants dance for the first time. Latest odds with WilliamHill to win the sixth series outright are,
Austin Healey 3/1
Tom Chambers 4/1 Rachel Stevens 4/1 Lisa Snowdon 8/1 Christine Bleakley 8/1 Mark Foster 10/1 Heather Small 14/1 Cherie Lunghi 16/1 Andrew Castle 16/1 Jodie Kidd 20/1 Jessie Wallace 25/1 Gillian Taylforth 33/1 Gary Rhodes 40/1 John Sergeant 50/1 Don Warrington 100/1
Austen Healy has become the new favourite after his first performance. Rachel Stevens still looks string at 4-1 and John Sergeant has moved in to 50-1 from 80-1 a few days ago. According to the market, Gillian Taylforth looks the most vulnerable of the women to go... but... who knows ?
This may well be more indicative of me rather than the housemates of the latest Celebrity Big Brother, but when I look at the list, am I not the only one who says...
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