TV & Showbiz

Shaun Ryder reuniting with I’m A Celebrity nemesis Gillian McKeith is ‘best thing to happen to British TV’

That face drop will go down in reality TV history.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 25th April 2023

The new series of I’m A Celebrity South Africa kicked off on ITV last night, and Shaun Ryder is already emerging as a fan favourite.

The Happy Mondays star was one of several famous faces who headed into the star-studded camp, in its new location in South Africa.

Also joining the new spin-off of the hit ITV show were Amir Khan, Helen Flanagan, Jordan Banjo, Carol Vorderman, Fatima Whitbread, Paul Burrell, Phil Tufnell, and Janice Dickinson.

But the series had already promised a few more surprises and late-arrival campmates – and their first surprise delivered some TV gold.

Right at the end of last night’s episode, as the celebrities were settling in to their new home, ITV dropped a mysteriously giant box into camp.

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Shaun Ryder, who had previously commented that ‘there doesn’t seem to be any knobheads’, was soon eating his words when his former TV nemesis Gillian McKeith burst out of the box.

Gillian McKeith arriving in a giant box on I’m A Celebrity. Credit: ITV
Gillian McKeith arriving in a giant box on I’m A Celebrity. Credit: ITV
Shaun Ryder and Gillian McKeith are back together in the I’m A Celebrity jungle

The smile dropped from his face the second he recognised his former campmate, who he butted heads with back in 2010.

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He had labelled her ‘a f***ing irritating woman’, and frequently lashed out at her.

Shaun even told told Ant and Dec when he left the jungle: “If Gillian was my wife, she would be in pieces in a plastic bag, deep in a hole in the back garden.”

In response to Gillian entering the I’m A Celebrity camp, he simply said: “Oh… F***ing hell.”

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And when Paul Burrell asked if she was ‘mad as a box of frogs’, Shaun replied: “Yeah. I nearly killed her.”

He later said in the diary room: “Gillian arrived in a box. She should have stayed in the box folks…”

Fans are obviously loving the drama, and seem to mostly be Team Shaun.

One person said: “I’m a celeb bringing Gillian mckeith in with Shaun Ryder is one of the best things to happen to British tv for years.”

Another wrote: “However this series pans out, putting Shaun Ryder and Gillian McKeith in the jungle together again is a genius TV move.”

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Someone else said: “Shaun ryder is gonna carry this series and if he dosent win its a robbery.”

Everyone strap in – there’s gonna be fireworks.

Featured image: ITV

TV & Showbiz

Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman to step down from Strictly Come Dancing

Danny Jones Danny Jones Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman stepping down from Strictly Come Dancing

Long-serving Strictly Come Dancing presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman have announced that they will be stepping down from the beloved reality TV competition after more than three decades between them.

The Strictly team will, of course, ‘keep dancing’, but this still feels like the end of an era.

While Claudia Winkleman only became a joint co-anchor back in 2010 in preparation for the legendary Sir Bruce Forsyth’s eventual retirement in 2014, Tess Daly has been one of the two lead presenters since the hit smash-hit UK show first started way back in 2004.

Boasting a cumulative and incredible 31 years as the respective lead faces on one of the nation’s favourite IPs, Daly and Winkleman released a joint video on their social media pages confirming the bittersweet news.

Writing in the caption on Instagram, the pair said: “We have loved working as a duo and hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream. We were always going to leave together, and now feels like the right time.

“We will have the greatest rest of this amazing series, and we just want to say an enormous thank you to the BBC and to every single person who works on the show.

“They’re the most brilliant team, and we’ll miss them every day. We will cry when we say the last ‘keep dancing’, but we will continue to say it to each other. Just possibly in tracksuit bottoms at home while holding some pizza.”

Although Winkleman, 53, began as the presenter of the spin-off programme ‘It Takes Two’, it now seems hard to imagine the main show without either of them.

Confirming that they will be departing the British telly favourite at the end of the current series, which is around a month into its 23rd series.

Daly, 56, went on to share a further statement addressing the decision to quit the Strictly lineup after such a lengthy stay on BBC One.

It goes without saying that, much like when ‘Brucey’ left 11 years ago now, the show just won’t be the same without them.

For now, all we can say is thanks for all the memories, and we’d better see them back in the ballroom or popping up for special cameos in Blackpool again one day soon.

What do you make of the announcement, Strictly fans – and who do you think should replace them?

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Featured Images — BBC Media Centre/Screenshot (via BBC)

TV & Showbiz

Jürgen Klopp reveals the main reason he turned down the Manchester United job

Danny Jones Danny Jones The reason why Jurgen Klopp turned down the Man United manager job

Former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has revealed one of the main reasons he turned down the Manchester United job more than a decade ago.

The ex-Borussia Dortmund boss turned Merseyside hero spent nine years at Anfield, going on to win a Champions League, Premier League, and a collection of cups.

It’s also worth noting that this all came in the years following the departure of legendary Man United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, but there could have been an alternate reality where Klopp carried on where ‘Fergie’ left off, as the now 58-year-old says the club spoke to him during that time.

With Sir Alex leaving in 2013 after the best part of 30 years, Klopp told Steven Bartlett on his most recent Diary of A CEO episode that “of course, they were interested.”

Admitting that the interest was mutual “at one point”, the prospect of joining Liverpool‘s historic rivals clearly appealed to him.

Noting that he was flourishing as an up-and-coming coach (aged 46 back then) in charge of an impressive Dortmund team – adding that even some of his then future players to be at Liverpool flew to watch them play in the Champions League – it’s clear he had plenty of suitors.

However, the retired German footballer turned ‘Gegenpressing’ tactician goes on to explain that despite United trying to poach him from the Bundesliga, it was “the wrong time, wrong moment for me.”

Crucially, he says that some aspects of the conversations between him and the club at the time proved to be a turn-off rather than an incentive, citing talk of ‘the biggest club in the world’ and supposedly “signing any player we want.”

In short, Klopp says that, crucially, it didn’t sound like it would have been his project, drawing parallels to the board wanting to bring back players like Paul Pogba, with arguably similar ‘mistakes’ being made with the return of Cristiano Ronaldo. In his eyes, looking backwards simply “never helps”.

You can see the clip in full here:

Had he not turned down the offer, do you think Klopp could have helped rebuild Man United?

According to Klopp, after negotiations seemed to revolve primarily around the kind of players they were going to bring in, he decided the opportunity wasn’t for him.

Nevertheless, it looked like things worked out for Merseyside’s biggest club, at least, as he went on to become one of the most successful managers in the Premier League, managing to break up the long period of dominance overseen by both Manchester United and, most recently, Man City.

As for the red half of Manchester, they at the very least had a good weekend as they finally ended their long wait for a win away against Liverpool.

In case you missed it, you can watch the highlights – including another big clutch goal from Harry Maguire – down below.

What an ending that was, eh?

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Featured Images — Diary of a CEO (screenshots via YouTube)/Tim Reckmann (via WikiCommons)

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