Five Things Celebrities are Doing on TV (that they probably shouldn't)

 

 

 

It was billed as ‘the toughest live Saturday night TV challenge yet’ and Tumble certainly lived up to its reputation. It ran for only one series but what a series that was as there were more injuries in the competition than there is at an A&E department (depending on which time you pick). The celebrities weren’t exactly well known, the most famous being John Partridge of EastEnders fame but there was certainly something gruesomely entertaining about the celebs rolling around the floor in agony as their bodies declared war on them for signing up to such a stupid idea in the first place. Sadly it wasn’t recommissioned for a second series so let’s hope ITV have a copycat idea up their sleeves.

 

 

 

 

Get Your Act Together debuted a couple of weeks ago and if you ever wanted to see Sinitta pole dancing (you didn’t), I believe the episodes are still on ITV player. This… shambles sees various celebrities join forces with some of the most talented variety acts in the world to put on a performance with them. On the episode I watched, I was subjected to the aforementioned pole dancing (my eyes still haven’t recovered yet), Nigel Havers reinventing ventriloquism by moving his lips, and some rapper named Chip being impaled on spears by Shaolin Monks, all in the name of entertainment! Feel free to sympathise with Chip though, he’s got to do it all again in the live final, and I have a feeling the monks will want to step it up. And by ‘step it up’, I mean ‘increase the pain a bit more’.

 

 

 

 

The concept shouldn’t work. And last year when Sir Bruce Forsyth was interviewed, he said when he heard about the show he thought it was a joke. And yet Strictly Come Dancing is more popular than ever with a tour, a spin-off show and The People’s Strictly debuting this year with ‘normal’ people volunteered to take part. This is the only show on the list which, in my opinion, has a certain glamour about it that the other shows could never pull off. Despite only having a matter of days to perform a dance routines, some celebrities dazzle us with a fierce Paso Doble or a gentle waltz and others… well, others dress up as crabs and leaves us in stitches. On the plus side, even the professional dancers and judges can enjoy their new celebrity status.

 

 

 

 

Confession: I have no idea why I’m a Celebrity is so popular. Personally I can’t see the appeal of celebrities eating live bugs and other horrible things but somehow the show has been dominating the ITV schedule for over 12 years now and featured such highlights as Helen Flanagan finding out that living the jungle life wasn’t for her, Edwina Currie being a little too forward with people or Gemma Collins swearing off TV for life (and then returning to TOWIE). Although Ant & Dec are genuinely entertaining, at least when it comes to the trailers and little clips I’ve seen at award shows. Just.... why is it so popular?

 

 

 

 

Big Brother started out as a social experiment but you wouldn’t think it if you turned on the telly and saw the live show now. Admittedly the last couple of series have been good with benefits stereotype Dee White and outspoken former Strictly pro James Jordan sharing the house in the summer, and now Katie Hopkins, Katie Price and Perez Hilton being among the celebrities making this series more explosive than ever. I haven’t even seen this series and I still know that Ken Morley and Jeremy Jackson were kicked out in a storm of controversy, and Perez Hilton had an ‘incident’ with Katie Hopkins involving his tongue. Where else could you see such vileness? Now if we can only get Jeremy Kyle and Lindsay Lohan involved in the next series…

 

 

When I first started writing this article, I wasn’t sure I could come up with five shows and now I’ve realised this is only the tip of the iceberg. These celebrities are everywhere, popping up on talent shows, game shows and even documentaries. We certainly seem to have an obsession with how the famous (or ex-famous) are really like and while maybe some of them are putting on an act, at least most of them are entertaining enough to be considered for reality shows and talent shows. Even if they are doing it for the money. Or to get their name out there. But let's be honest, it's mostly the money.