Recaps

It’s been announced this morning that Celebrity Big Brother housemates Sam Robertson and Ryan Moloney have been nominated by their fellow housemates to face eviction on Friday.

As viewers of last night’s live eviction show will know – during which Paula Hamilton became the first celeb to leave the house in this series – Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt were immune from the latest round of nominations given that they’ve been giving a secret mission…

They were of course told that they must make their housemates believe that they were walking after being disappointed that all of the celebs nominated them in the very first week.

But of course, they’re actually going to spend the next 24 hours in the basement, which has been revamped into a luxury pad where Heidi and Spencer found champagne, sushi and assorted other goodies to pass the time while they watch their fellow housemates… Continue reading »

Celebrity Big Brother of course arrived back on our screens last night, with a two-hour long launch show that at times – though it pains me to say it – kinda dragged a tad…

But that said, there was much to like, such as the basement twist, and of course, Brian Dowling, who to me looked more at home and more relaxed than he has done in any of the preceding series.

The thing that’s always struck me with Brian is that he’s unquestionably at his funniest when it’s not rehearsed, so it was his ad-libbing that scored Sense O’Humour points with me.

However, on with the events of the show and what happened afterwards, and though as I mentioned I do like the basement twist, it should have been truly malevolent having two housemates – in this case, Frankie Dettori and Rylan Clark – choosing who lived in luxury and who didn’t… Continue reading »

It’s back baby yeah!

Last night of course saw the launch of this year’s I’m A Celeb which saw ten ‘celebs’ – though to be fair, at least I knew who most of this year’s rookies are – divided into two teams of five…

Super competitive boxer David Haye, former Corrie star Helen Flanagan, comedian Brian Conley, EastEnders star Charlie Brooks and Birds of a Feather actress Linda Robson formed Croc Creek, while Tory Nadine Dorries, ex-Doctor Who Colin Baker, darts champ Eric Bristow, Made In Chelsea’s Hugo Taylor and former Pussycat Doll Ashley Roberts became Snake Rock.

The first challenge saw David go up against Hugo in the Bushtucker trial Special Delivery, which saw David positively trashing Hugo, as, like some kind of impervious machine, he landed star after star while Hugo – trying to hide his girly squeals – took about 12 years to get anywhere.

So, Croc Creek got dinner, most of which they had to leave as they were too full, while Snake Rock got rice and beans… Continue reading »

And what a welcome to Briarcliff this first outing of the second season of American Horror Story was!

As we came to expect from season one, the pace from the get go was relentless, and blinking not an option because the viewer would miss something vital and/or just plain gruesome.

It all began with Maroon 5’s Adam Levine as a modern day interloper at the now abandoned Briarcliff, who, along with his new wife, decided a bonk in one of the most haunted places in the world would be a good plan. It was not. He lost an arm, they were both trapped, horror ensued.

Yeah baby, AHS is BACKKKKKK! Continue reading »

During last night’s Downton Abbey, I wept buckets – and was therefore glad I was watching alone – when poor Lady Sybil shuffled off the mortal coil having given birth to her baby daughter…

But of course, as it turned out, everyone should’ve listened to family fave Dr Clarkson instead of the pompous horse’s ass specialist who put Sybil’s Eclampsia symptoms down to female hysteria.

And I have to say, Jessica Brown Findlay – who of course played Sybil – deserves a whole shelf full of awards for her amazing performance in last night’s episode.

She really gave it her all, and so convincing was she as she writhed in the throes of a fit and couldn’t breathe, that I found myself gasping in air for her!

With her neck arched and veins bulging somewhat scarily, Jessica’s portrayal of Sybil’s horrible death was entirely absorbing, as was the panic in the room as Sybil’s sisters, husband and parents implored her to breathe. The tension was almost palpable… Continue reading »

Last night’s third episode of the third series of Downton Abbey contained a couple of shockers, most notably that poor old Lady Edith was ditched at the altar by Sir Anthony Strallan, who, in doing so, proved to be a cad and a bounder and I should like to whip him soundly round the face with my opera gloves…

If I had any, which I don’t. Wonder if Primarni woollen mittens will do? Those I have…

However, his reasons for humiliating Edith were altruistic in that he told her she deserved better than to be married to him, given that he has only the use of one arm and is getting on a bit.

But Edith, bless her, doesn’t have men hammering down the doors of Downton to get at her, and by the end of the episode, she’d accepted and seemingly embraced her new status as spinster of the parish. I would imagine she will begin her cat collection any time now… Continue reading »

But there’s a hoo-hah over Nicole ditching Adam Burridge & Jake Quickenden, not to mention Tulisa axing Amy Mottram – And how to solve a problem like Lucy Spraggan…

The weekend’s X Factor shows were of course all about the Judges’ Houses round, which saw each judge choosing three artists who would go forward to the live shows…

And as ever, the judges’ decisions weren’t without controversy as we saw Tulisa rejecting Amy Mottram – which was frankly just plain insanity – then Nicole ditching Adam Burridge and Jake Quickenden while putting Rylan Clark through.

Now, for me, Rylan is a real problem because I truly really like him. He’s incredibly funny and very likable so it therefore pains me to say this but the fact is, he just should not be in the final 12.

I genuinely hate to write that because Rylan really fascinates me, and were it that he was on a different show – something along the lines of TOWIE – I’d be his biggest fan and he’d without doubt make whatever show he was on a hit… Continue reading »

Last night’s edition of The X Factor was the final installment from this year’s Bootcamp, and I stared at my TV, mouth hanging open like a slack jawed yokel as some of the best singers were, one by one, kicked off the show…

Joe Cox and Jade Richards, who of course both made it as far as Judges’ Houses last year, were yet again ditched, as was Joseph Whelan, who for me was on the early Could Win It list.

I really don’t know how the judges reached their decisions this year – or most years for that matter – given that yet again, singers who are far weaker vocally than all of the above got through to the next stage…

For instance, Brad Shackleton and Rylan Clark were put through, and though certainly Rylan is a truly nice guy and very funny, there’s not a cat in hell’s chance that he’s going to win.

Ditto for Brad, who, though I didn’t actually notice him much in the shows to date – did you? – is probably also a very nice bloke, but again, his voice is nowhere near the caliber of Joe’s, Jade’s or Joseph’s. Continue reading »

Last night we paid our first visit to The X Factor 2012 Boot Camp – the second installment is of course airing tonight on ITV1 – and I have a gripe…

Well, I have a few actually, but one of the main ones is this Boot Camp tradition to hear the acts singing in groups of three.

Why? They won’t be singing in the live shows in sets of three will they? Unless they ARE a group of course…

But the solo singers are of course just that; solo singers, and therefore, putting them into groups with others is just plain pointless and I think it really puts many of the singers at a big disadvantage.

We saw a lot of the truly good solo artists struggling last night, including Jahmene Douglas who forgot the words to Maroon 5’s – by now intensely annoying, we heard it that many times – song Moves Like Jagger… Continue reading »

Last night we were of course treated to the second helping of the weekend’s X Factor auditions shows, and in terms of talent, this year’s wannabes are just plain outstanding as this second helping of XF revealed.

With the likes of 16 year old Amy Mottram absolutely stealing the show, and 19 year old Eddy String doing likewise – I’m frankly a bit in love with Eddy, which is kinda wrong as I’m old enough to be his… big sister – but not necessarily for his vocal ability, last night’s show was for me, one of the best yet.

Also making a big impression – though we saw woefully little of them – were three-piece bands Duke and MITSOTU, which is an acronym for ‘Music is the soul of the universe.’

The often very short clips from the wannabes auditions has, for some, been a niggle since XF and Xtra Factor returned this year, and I have to say, I’m finding it irksome too, particularly given that Lorna Bliss – who is just the dictionary definition of wannabe and who you may recall tried out for Britain’s Got Talent as well – got such a lot of air time for having what amounts to next to no talent… Continue reading »