Cowell: Britney’s not got the X Factor
Britney Spears wouldn’t get past the first round of X-Factor auditions based on her latest performance, the talent show’s chief Simon Cowell has said.
His harsh comments come after Britney attempted to resurrect her pop career with a performance at the recent MTV music awards, though she was universally criticised for miming and looking generally worse for wear.
“If I had been looking after Britney I’d have taken one look at her in rehearsals and I wouldn’t have allowed her on stage,” Simon told the Sun newspaper.
“The song wasn’t right, the image wasn’t right and she just wasn’t rehearsed,” he said.
“If she had turned up and given that performance at ‘The X Factor’ auditions then I wouldn’t have put her through to the next round.”
One singer who won’t be returning to the show is last year’s star Ben Mills.
The gravel-voiced 27-year old, who is currently recording his second album in Dublin, believes the focus should be on the current contestants rather than on previous singers.
Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Celebrity
Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Celebrity has a similar format to the main Millionaire programme but has pairs of celebrities working together to raise money for their favourite charities.
Since its first showing in 1998, the Who Wants to be a Millionaire? format has been licensed in 106 countries. It originated in the UK and is now on its 21st series with Chris Tarrant as host.
Normally a contestant has to go through a preliminary round to sit in the chair and answer questions, with the possibility of winning one million pounds. Up until recently, a contestant needed to provide 15 correct answers to become a millionaire. This has now changed to 12 questions – all of a multiple choice nature with four possible answers. If a correct answer is given, the contestant is given the opportunity to answer the next question for more money. If, however, the contestant answers a question wrongly, then they lose money. There are certain points at which money is kept – for example when a contestant gets to £1,000 and then answer questions wrongly, they will receive £1,000.
The contestants have 3 life lines with “phone a friend”, “fifty fifty” (where two incorrect answers are removed from the four) and “ask the audience”.
Competing in this episode of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Celebrity were three couples:
• Sian Williams and Bill Turnbull
• Carol McGiffen and Sherrie Hewson
• Brothers Tim and Jeremy Vine
It is interesting to watch the celebrity editions as you realise that they are no more knowledgeable than yourself. The pairing of Carol McGiffen and Sherrie Hewson (both from the show “Loose Women”) was difficult to watch as they conferred on even the easiest of questions and went through each option in turn to choose an answer. However, the programme is as watchable as ever!
Davidson’s anti-gay rant gets him the Hell’s Kitchen boot
Comedian Jim Davidson has been given the boot from Hell’s Kitchen after a series of homophobic outbursts.
The 53-year old former Big Break star offended fellow contestant Brian Dowling in front of millions of viewers after calling homosexual men “shirt-lifters” who all have “the same look”.
Brian, who rose to fame in the Big Brother house, asked him to not use such offensive words, only fuelling Jim’s rant further.
“Go on. You play the whole homophobic card, you are a f***ing disgrace,’ he shouted at Brian, who seemed to be on the verge of tears.
The show’s producers were quick to state that they in no way condone the use of language which could be seen as offensive by viewers, though Jim decided to jump before he was pushed from the show.
“With the likes of Brian and Abbey, it’s a measure of how far I am out of that world that I don’t really have experience of such people on a day to day level,” he said in a statement released after he walked out.
“People who know me know I am not homophobic,” he added.
MacIntyre’s Underworld
Donal MacIntyre is an investigative journalist who makes documentaries about his findings. He first came to prominence as an undercover journalist and received awards for his work on “World in Action” and later had his own series – MacIntyre Investigates.
In his new series – MacIntyre’s Underworld – he examines the criminal underworld – The first episode of the series is entitled “Wayne’s World” as it is based on Wayne Hardy. MacIntyre first came across former drug dealer. Hardy 10 years ago when he was conducting an investigation. He revisits Hardy who is now claiming to have gone straight.
It seems that life has treated Wayne Hardy rather badly of late:
- His 8 year old son is terminally ill and likely to die before adulthood.
- His brother Dean was on an attempted murder charge for slashing an American with a knuckleduster. He eloped to Tenerife. The documentary featured the funeral of his brother– where Dean’s body was placed in a horse drawn carriage. The funeral was attended by friends, family and many underworld members.
- Whilst Wayne was in prison, his girlfriend suffered from post-natal depression and killed their 11 month old daughter and herself. Their bodies were cremated and the programme showed Wayne’s regret of that decision (rather than a burial).
- Wayne’s daughter was battling with a heroin addiction and taking methadone to try to come off the habit. She had married a man, Jim, who was 22 years her elder but unable to look after her properly. Wayne and the rest of the family were determined to help her to stop the habit (especially as she has once slashed her wrists). The love between Wayne and his daughter was evident as he held her to get her through withdrawal symptoms.
This was an interesting programme and showed that the former gangster had a sensitive side, as he battled with tragic events. It also showed that in the end “crime does not pay”.
Ryan hits out at ‘arrogant bully’ White
Lee Ryan has refused to walk away quietly from Hell’s Kitchen.
Soon after walking out of the reality show following a series of confrontations with kitchen boss Marco Pierre White, the former Blue singer has labelled the celebrity chef as an “arrogant” bully.
Speaking to the News of the World, Ryan revealed that it was the Frenchman’s use of the word “pikey” that finally forced him to leave, though he claims that the show’s producers even misrepresented his departure.
“Pikey is a bullying word because it puts people down. It’s important to make a show of bullies like I did with Marco,” the 24-year old said..
“I got kicked out but it was edited to make it look the other way. They left out the bit where I asked Marco, ‘Do you want me off the show?’ and he said, ‘Yes’.”
While White may well ignore the singer’s remarks, the show’s producers are likely to be worried by the fact that the Commission for Racial Equality has called on the chef to apologise for using the derogatory for travellers and gypsies.
“These high-profile figures should realise that fame brings responsibility. He (White) ought to acknowledge his mistake and apologise for the offence he has caused,” the watchdog said in a statement.
A Place in the Sun : Home or Away
A Place in the Sun : Home or Away is not like your ordinary property show . This one focuses on providing prospective buyers with a choice – to purchase in the UK or overseas and usually in a sunny clime. Buy a house is a difficult decision at best and whether or not to emigrate, adds an extra dimension. There are two presenters who help people to find their dream home – Jonnie Irwin in the UK and Jasmine Harman abroad. There is some rivalry between the two of them and usually the sunnier location wins. The programme has featured the Algarve, the Dordogne in France, Poland, Larnaca, Alicante and the Dolomites in Italy.
This week’s buyer is Stella Jones on London. She has two daughters and grandchildren. One daughter lives in London whilst the other is in Italy, so Stella has a tricky decision to make. She has around £250,000 and has set her heart on either moving to Brighton or moving to the Veneto region in Northern Italy. Stella took her sister with her to view the various properties
Of all the properties shown, it was a surprise to see something within budget in the centre of Venice. The two-bedroomed apartment overlooked one of the central canals, was on an upper floor (important as Venice is prone to floods) and dated back to the 17th century. It had a spectacular view and needed a little work on it, but had good sized rooms and would probably hold value. However, Stella felt that she could get more for her money in terms of space and surrounding land and preferred a old mill. In the end, she made a decision to move to Brighton, as she would have more of a social life than in Italy. Pity she could not afford the two locations!
Rosie praises Marco as she leaves Hell’s Kitchen
Rosie Boycott has become the second trainee chef to leave Hell’s Kitchen, though the former newspaper editor was pushed rather than jumping herself.
After having worked in the high pressure world of journalism, including her time editing the national Independent, Rosie was hardly fazed by the stress of working under head chef Marco Pierre White but instead claimed she enjoyed her brief stint on the reality show.
“I learned to make puddings, be adventurous with food and respect food. Also, I made a whole load of friends,” she said after viewers had voted her off the ITV show.
“Marco’s a great team leader - he’s very inspirational. The boys love him too.”
One ‘boy’ who certainly doesn’t love the Frenchman is Lee Ryan.
The former Blue singer quit the show after a series of arguments with his boss, including his refusal to wear a chef’s hat, finally culminating in his decision to walk out rather than kill a shellfish in the kitchen.
The Restaurant
A number of well-known chefs have their own programmes airing on television at present including Jamie Oliver and Marco Pierre White, Not to be confused with Hell’s Kitchen, The Restaurant is a reality documentary following. Nine couples have been competing to win a restaurant and run it with Raymond Blanc. The would-be restaurateurs have no formal experience of running a restaurant, but have cooked for friends and family in the past.
Each week a challenge is set by Raymond Blanc for three couples – two will go onto the next round and one couple will have their restaurant closed. Each week Raymond Blanc closes a restaurant until one couple win The Restaurant and run it with Raymond Blanc.
The challenge for this week was to prepare, cook and serve lunch for up to 800 research scientists . The couples had £3.50 maximum to spend on a main course and needed to make a profit. They had to devise menus, order supplies and prepare a marketing campaign. The couples were competing for the same 800 customers and would all cook the food in the research laboratory canteen kitchen. They had some time to devise their strategy and buy ingredients, but only 5 hours to cook the meals.
The couples were as follows:
- Martin and fiancée Emma. He was a prison chef and they also had a military chef on the team so they were used to mass catering. They chose chicken chasseur and a rhubarb crumble as their dishes and advertised them using flyers. They charged just £2.95 for their main course and sold 155 covers for £407 making a profit of £63.
- Sam and Jacqui, a husband and wife team. They did not have much experience in catering and were unable to work out how much each portion of food cost. They went for a Mexican theme serving chilli and Mexican spicy apple crumble. They promoted their food by offering lime cordial and free nachos. They sold 151 covers for £378 and made a profit of £50.57.
- Tom and his mother Nicola – they tended to use most of the ovens in the kitchen and cooked pork for 3 hours (there was concern that it would not be ready). They chose roast pork, potatoes and vegetables with apple crumble as their dishes. They sold 140 covers at £454.98 and made £95.85 in profit.
Tom and Nicola went through to the next round, but the remaining two couples had to plead their cases before Raymond Blanc (a little like the style of The Apprentice). It all came down to profitability in the end and the fact that Sam and Jacqui did not have a clue about financial management. Sam and Jacqui had their “restaurant” closed. When it comes to running a restaurant, it is not just about cooking dishes for people, but almost making a profit.
Lee Ryan: ‘not down’ with da kitchen
After days of not being able to stand the heat, former Blue star Lee Ryan has finally walked out of Hell’s Kitchen.
The singer’s relationship with the show’s fiery head chef Marco Pierre White looked doomed from the start after he refused to wear the chef’s hat, insisting he will not be following “regulations”.
In addition to his vanity, the 24-year-old also insisted on protecting his fingers from sharp knives and hot ovens, fearing an injury would mean that he wouldn’t be able to play the guitar or piano, thereby denying the world such classics as ‘Army of Lovers’ and the seminal ‘Turn Your Car Around’.
However, it was being asked to kill a shellfish that brought his time on the show to a premature end.
“I am down with vegetables but I ain’t killing things,” he so eloquently elucidated, claiming it was against his “beliefs”.
It remains to be seen whether Jomo from Ultimate Kaos will be drafted in by the show’s producers as a replacement.
Hollyoaks Roundup
Hannah struggles to come to terms to life without Melissa, but Sarah is on hand to support her friend. To blot out the memory of the past few weeks, Hannah tries a dramatic new look but passes out from lack of food and Sarah and Suzanne find where she has been stashing her meals.John Paul is elated about going to
