‘Graceless’ Logan dances off BBC reality show

Gabby Logan has become the latest celebrity to be voted off the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing after the hit show’s judges accused her of moving with “the grace of a vacuum cleaner”.

The sports presenter, who was appearing on the reality show along with her former rugby-playing husband Kenny Logan, was forced to dance for her place in the competition after she and Penny Lancaster received the least number of votes from the public.

Though head judge Len Goodman praised the 38-year old’s efforts, he said that she needed “more bounce action”, while fellow judge Bruno Tonioli was far more critical in his comments.

Kenny remains on the show, however, despite having received consistently lower scores than his wife so far.

While it may have been bad news for Mrs Logan, the BBC was celebrating after it was confirmed that Strictly Come Dancing attracted an average of 7.9 million viewers, equivalent to a 37.1 per cent share of the total audience, in comparison to its ITV rival the X-Factor which managed to pull in just 7.1 million viewers.

Russell Brand’s Ponderland

Russell Brand is one of those people that you either love or hate. He has his own particular look which is like a goth/ageing rocker with back-combed dark hair, heavy doses of eye liner and skin tight black trousers. In Russell Brand’s Ponderland, he does what he does best - stand up comedy, rather than presenting programmes such as Big Brother’s Big Mouth or acting.

He has a particular style of delivery which takes a little getting used to. He has a definite Essex accent but uses poetic and flowery language to deliver his observations, which prompts reminders of Eddie Izzard or romantic poets and writers such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. Aptly, the programme tonight was about Love and Romance.

Brand has been talking about his thoughts or “ponderings” on topics such as crime, sport, childhood and science. He intersperses his thoughts with clippage from old programmes or adverts. Tonight he spoke about love and romance and featured a man who thought one way of chatting up ladies was to get them interested in his “Willy” - a puppet that he placed on his private bits. He claimed that many ladies asked to see Willy.

Brand went on to talk about chocolate and sex and that the two do not mix (some people would clearly disagree). He believes that both are good on their own but should not mix and ponders what happens to mini eggs when used - fearing that the Cadbury’s Parrot will turn up!

The programme went on to feature some couples saying how they had met “We were here and she was in that spot over there” - riveting! Ironically, Brand said that some people were extremely descriptive and poetic and highly romantic in their recollections of how they met. A woman was shown explaining how she and her partner met in great detail, whilst the man looked on, wondering why he was with her. Brand himself is known for his many romantic conquests and said the reason that he was not in a committed relationship was because there was one letter difference between Monogamy and Monotony . He clearly can not spell (nor count), but has a flamboyant way with words - a watchable series.

Eastenders hunk “dreading” on-screen romance

Albert Square’s latest heartthrob has admitted that he is dreading having to kiss fellow Eastender Samantha Janus.

While the actress is widely regarded as one of the most glamorous women in showbusiness, Scott Malsen has revealed that he thinks of her more as a “sister” and is not looking forward to the romantic scenes they will have to film together.

In the BBC soap his character Jack Branning is to embark upon an affair with Ronnie Mitchell, played by Janus.

He told the Daily Star: “I have known Sam since I was 16 and I am Godparent to her kids. We’re like, ‘Urgh, I am going to have to kiss you!’”

Last week saw Malsen’s final appearance in the ITV soap The Bill.

Since joining the Sun Hill regulars in 2002, his character DS Phil Hunter has become a firm favourite among female viewers, establishing him as a household name following his earlier work in Heartbeat and Peak Practice.

Albert Square’s Lacey too wide to be a bride

Eastenders star Lacey Turner has revealed that her character’s forthcoming wedding may be in jeopardy as she has grown too big to fit into her wedding dress.

The actress, who recently scooped two top prizes at the Inside Soap Awards, told the website femalefirst that her love of junk food means she can no longer change into her costumes.

“I couldn’t get in the dress! It did fit fine before, but I had a few KFCs - and then it didn’t. It was quite embarrassing, as they had to alter it,” she said.

The revelation comes as her character Stacey Slater is set to embark on her most explosive storyline to date.

Though the exact plot details have not been released, what is known is that before she and her boyfriend Bradley manage to tie the knot, her steamy affair with his dad, Max, will be revealed.

Earlier this week Hollywood star Sienna Miller revealed that she would love to join the Albert Square regulars, telling Digital Spy: “I’m quite good at the ‘Alright darlin’.”

Waterloo Road

Waterloo Road focuses on the life of the pupils and teachers at Waterloo Road School in Rochdale. It is now in its third series and features Jason Merells as Headteacher Jack Rimmer and Denise Welch as Steph. The new series also introduces Neil Morrisey as Deputy Head, Eddie Lawson.

The programme contains a number of continual storylines interspersed with new ones. At the end of Series Two, Izzy was stabbed to death, just as she had managed to resume her relationship with fellow teacher Tom Clarkson. Jack Rimmer is receiving therapy for the incident as Izzy was protecting him when it happened. Tom is left to bring up her two teenage daughters - Chlo (who has recently married her boyfriend Donte) and Mika.

Jasmine Kureshi is a new teacher to the school and only recently qualified. She has been having trouble in controlling her class. As they shout “Who are ya?” to her, she decides to put them in detention for the evening, but does not realise that it is the first football match for the Waterloo Road girls’ team. She is on the verge of quitting completely when Eddie Lawson suggests that she helps Tom to coach the team and get to know them better, and that detention is postponed. The girls are even unimpressed as she shows that she is proficient in “keepy uppy”. During the match, 2 of the girls – Janeece and Maxine are taken off as they have been falsely selling raffle tickets for a prize holiday. This puts the school in an awkward position, so the Headmaster raffles of a weekend trip to Paris (which he has just bought).

As the football team is down to 9 people, Jasmine goes on as substitute and manages to help the team to draw the match. She is finally accepted by the pupils.

Donte has been behaving a bit suspiciously but has been looking for a flat for him and new wife (Chlo) to live in. She has been receiving some tuition in French from her sister’s boyfriend Brett Aspinall. However, things get a little out of hand and they sleep together in the new flat. Elsewhere Steph shows her interest in new music teacher but is unaware that he is gay. At the end of the programme she gets drunk (for a change ) and ends up kissing Jack (who is missing his girlfriend Davina).

Waterloo Road works well as it is almost like an adult version of “Grange Hill” and has something for a range of age groups. It shows how the teachers’ and children’s lives interact and the pressures that both groups face.

Communication breakdown between Sharon and X Factor

X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne has revealed that the show’s producers have yet to call her up to ask her to return to the hit talent show after she sensationally stormed out of the most recent live show.
Speaking on ITV’s The Paul O’Grady Show, the wife of rock legend Ozzy, said that she wanted to return to her role as looking after the under-25 female category and admitted she may have been a bit hasty in her reaction to having to choose between two of her acts.
“I don’t even know if ITV want me to come back. I want to go back and take care of my girls but I haven’t heard from anyone,” she told the comic.
However, she stopped short of issuing an apology to the show’s producers, claiming that she never claimed “to be perfect” and “I can’t apologise for being me”.
To make matters even more confusing, it seems that the X Factor bosses are waiting for their missing judge to contact them.
A spokeswoman for the show said: “To date we, her employers, have not received any calls direct from Sharon to discuss whether she is returning to the show.”

Judge Judy

Judge Judy (Judith Sheindlin) is a straight talking, no nonsense Judge who presides upon cases in her TV courtroom. The people are real, the cases are real and the judgements are final. Judge Judy is a specialist in family law and presides over small claims. The studio is set up like a real courtroom, but the audience are paid extras.

Judge Judy had two cases in this episode of the programme.

Cindy Ina (plaintiff) was suing her ex-boyfriend Vernon West (defendant) for lease payments on a car. The pair had a 7 year old child together but never lived together, although they had been making plans to do so (despite him having a wife!) They had an agreement that she would purchase the car in her name and he would drive the car and make the payments on it. Although Cindy went on to describe their relationship, Judge Judy only wanted to know the facts relating to the case.

Vernon drove the car from September 1999 to April 2000, but Cindy said that he had only made 2 payments out of 7 and he said that he had made 4 payments but did not pay the others as he had lost his job. Judge Judy pressed him for his defence and he eventually admitted that he had no defence. It also became apparent that he had 3 parking tickets that had gone to Cindy’s address (as he had this on his driver’s licence) and that these were unpaid. He had three children but had stopped paying child support for their child. Vernon’s wife accompanied him to the court and was less than impressed. Judge Judy found in favour of the plaintiff and Vernon West was ordered pay for the missing lease payments, parking tickets and child support.

In another case, Lynne Blackwell (the plaintiff) had sold a used car to a friend (Jamie Starr) for $2000. An agreement was written up for the friend to make regular payments. After about a year and a half Jamie Starr stopped making payments as she was not happy with the car (she started to have problems after 4 months). Judge Judy pointed out that a used car is sold as seen and you could expect to have problems - thus it was not a good enough reason to stop making payments, The moral of the case was “Don’t sell anything to friends or relatives” and “Don’t buy a used car expecting it to be perfect”.

Corrie’s Nikki lined up for Dancing on Ice

Actress Nikki Sanderson has announced that she is to swap the cobbles of Coronation Street for the ice of a new reality dancing show series.

The former Corrie favourite, who played hairdresser Candice Stow, will be among the host of stars competing in the forthcoming series of Dancing on Ice, to be screened on ITV from the start of next year.

A source close to the actress told Soaplife magazine: “Nikki loves the show and jumped at the chance to be in it.”

Though the 23-year old is looking forward to the chance to show off a whole new wardrobe, she has also expressed reservations about revealing her legs to the nation.

“I’d make my legs longer if I could and I’ve got a big scar on one of them so I’d get rid of that,” she told the publication.

Over on the BBC, snooker legend Willie Thorne became the latest celebrity to be voted off hit show Strictly Come Dancing after the judges said that his style of dancing resembled “a polar bear in the Sahara”.

Hollyoaks Round Up

Tony and Jacqui get an answer from the adoption agency, but now Jacqui gives Tony an ultimatum: choose her or his son by Tessie. Instead, stressed out Tony trades tales of woe with a drunken Mercedes, but then one thing leads to another and they end up in bed.

Tina struggles to cope with Pete’s increasingly suggestive antics but Myra can’t help as she is too preoccupied with her own worries for Jacqui. She gets no help from Dom either. Will anybody listen to her before Pete really oversteps the mark?

Amy and Ste get a council flat, and Ste does his best to support her and Leah, but Amy is nervous when Mike turns up, and when a social work also arrives on the scene she assumes Mike called her in. Gilly offers to help Beth when she’s evicted from halls. He thinks Rhys should show more concern for his sister’s plight.

Josh attacks Beth for using Hannah’s stuff, but as Beth finally starts to settle into the family, Rhys knows he’s going to have to learn to fight his attraction.

Carmel suggests Louise should start planning her wedding, but she is shocked when Louise explains that she may have a long wait on her hands.

Coronation Street Round Up

David apologises to Sarah for ruining the wedding and honeymoon, but his crocodile tears won’t wash. She is livid at his attention-seeking, spiteful behaviour.

However, it seems she’s the only one who can see through David’s façade, and the newly-weds have done nothing but argue since their disastrous wedding. To calm things down, Sarah arranges for some belated wedding photos to be taken, but Jason leaves her dress in the cafe - and David spies it.

Later, when David is taken back at the salon, an outraged Sarah quits, but how will she and Jason get their own place now?

Rosie schemes to get a few hours alone with John, but Sally and Kevin come home unexpectedly and John has to think on his feet. But his excuse of seeking Sally for further lessons gives her, Kevin and Fiz the wrong idea.

Later, John agrees to move in with Fiz - but is it to be closer to her, or their neighbour Rosie?

Jerry returns from Milan to his angry family and bends over backwards to try to appease them, especially Jodie, who finally gets time off to share a kiss with Lloyd at the bonfire party. But Jerry ruins it all again when he lets the children out of his sight.

Elsewhere, Michelle and Ryan move into the pub and Steve hopes that Liz and Vernon will move out.

Violet’s misgivings about how much involvement Sean wants to have with her baby reach boiling point when Jason accidentally reveals the baby’s sex to the whole pub and Violet realises Sean must have told him.

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