OHMYGOSSIP — ‘Strictly Come Dancing’s Annabel Croft has offered Kate Garraway advice on coping with grief.
Annabel, 57, lost her husband Mel Coleman in May 2023 just weeks after he was diagnosed with cancer, while Kate’s spouse Derek Draper died in January from COVID-19 complications, almost four years after he first contracted the virus.
Annabel told Woman Home magazine: “Kate Garraway ’s been going through [grief] for a long time and it’s a very different [scenario to mine]. But I can imagine how she’s feeling. Grief is horrendous and I take every day as it comes. I try to fill the day with nice things, but when I’m on my own at home, if I start looking at pictures, I start sobbing. I have three piles of unopened letters [from well-wishers] and feel awful because people have been so kind to take the time to write, but every time I start to read them, I can’t stop crying.
“I’m too emotional and too raw at the moment. Christmas and New Year were really hard. There were a lot of tears because they’re such big markers, and because we had such a normal Christmas and New Year the previous year. We were a tight little unit anyway, but losing Mel has brought me closer to my children. We have our set places at the dinner table. It’s like The Three Bears – Mum sits there, Dad always sat there and the kids in the middle – and when we sit around that table for meals, we talk about Mel and his amazing humour, and that keeps him there.”
Although Annabel has praised ‘Strictly’ for giving her something to focus on during her grief, she admitted her kids were worried about her weight loss during the competition.
She said: “My kids were getting worried because during Strictly I went really scrawny. I couldn’t keep [weight] on with eight hours of dance a day.
“I lost about 10lb. It’s probably gone back on now. I need to find a dance class to keep going and, right now, I’m the fittest I’ve ever been. I try to exercise every day. I walk, do yoga, play tennis twice a week for pure enjoyment, and run cross-country with a group on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday for about 40 minutes. I like being outside in the fresh air. I can’t bear the idea of going into a sweaty gym.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Leigh Francis decided he “didn’t exist” in order to become Keith Lemon.
The 50-year-old star is often known more by the name of his fictional alter ego and recalled hosting a short-lived show called ‘Buzz’ early on in his career that caught the attention of talent agent John Noel, who told him that there should be “no such thing” as Leigh Francis and he should focus on presenting as his characters instead.
Speaking on the ‘White Wine Question Time’ podcast, he told former ‘Loose Women’ anchor Kate Thornton: “I was on ‘The Frank Skinner Show’ many years ago with Davina McCall and we were plugging this charity single we did that was a cover of ‘I Got You Babe’ with Patsy Kensit. I know, I’ve had a really odd time. It’s so weird, isn’t it?
“But I was incredibly nervous. I didn’t know Frank Skinner and he’s a lovely man every time I’ve bumped into him since. But I was super nervous and I was so glad Davina was there. I’ve seen clips of it pop up and it’s so embarrassing.
“But back in the day, we had the same agent and he was very good in the beginning for me and he was almost like a father figure. He saw me presenting a show called ‘Buzz’ and he said ‘I saw that ‘Buzz’ programme you did, I thought you were (rubbish) but I like the characters!
‘How about there’s no such thing as Leigh Francis and we just do the characters?’
“I was very young and said, ‘Yeah, that sounds ace!’
“So I went along with it and just decided that I didn’t exist on television. It worked, though. He was right!”
Meanwhile, the former ‘Celebrity Juice’ host has become known for his controversial comedy through his shows but insisted that any harsh jokes that may come across as “offensive” are never meant in such a way and he sees them as a compliment instead.
“It doesn’t come from a place of malice, it comes from a place of childish silliness. When I’ve lampooned anyone it’s because I like them.
“What a weird compliment, though, I like you and now I’m gonna make a fool out of you!'”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Alan Carr is making the sixth series of his ‘Interior Design Masters’.
The comic, 47, who has also had his ‘Italian Job’ home makeover series with Amanda Holden renewed, is casting for the new show before the fifth season has even been shown.
An appeal for the interior design reality contest says seen by The Sun says: “Ten talented designers.
“One life-changing contract.
“Alan Carr and interiors guru Michelle Ogundehin are on the hunt for talent, passion and dazzling designs.”
The comedian’s ‘Italian Job’ co-host Amanda, 53, has said she wants to add another job to their roster – fronting the BAFTA awards.
She told The Sun’s TV Magazine about their future plans: “We thrive on live telly! The BAFTAs might be good, but I feel it would be a tough audience.”
Alan, who was also interviewed in the magazine, added: “The Brits would be lovely, but by god I’m too old now.
“There’s a band called Wet Leg, and I’m like, ‘Why would you call yourself Wet Leg, love?’”
Amanda has become famous for sharing her saucy home life, and has admitted she cooks naked in front of her family – despite being unhappy with her rear.
Amanda – whose racy dresses on ‘BGT’ have sparked hundreds of complaints to broadcast watchdog Ofcom for being “too revealing” – told the Daily Mail about how she coked a Sunday roast in her birthday suit: “I was quite literally the Naked Chef. I got out of the shower, realised I was running late to get everything on the table so I didn’t bother to get dressed.
“I just raced downstairs, got the potatoes on, the meat in the oven and my veggie option. It definitely made it more interesting.”
But Amanda’s domestic nudity has made her realise she needs to work on her exercise regime.
She added at the time: “My bottom isn’t looking so great at the moment because I’ve slacked off in lockdown.
“I’m an outdoor exerciser – I like yoga and running but it’s been too cold.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — John Savident has died at the age of 86.
The actor was best known for having starred as butcher Fred Elliott on ITV’s ‘Coronation Street’ in the 1990s and early 2000s and passed away on Wednesday (21.02.24), his agents announced on Friday.
Without revealing a cause of death, his agents said: “We are sad to announce the death of the actor John Savident who died on Wednesday.
“He was a much-loved husband and father of two and will be sorely missed by all who knew him.”
John is survived by his wife Rona – whom he had been married to since 1961 – as well as their two children and several grandchildren.
John made a number of appearances on television and in film throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with roles in classics such as ‘A Clockwork Orange’ as well as ‘Yes Minister’ and even created the role of Monsieur Firmin in the original production of ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ in 1986.
But in 1994, he was cast as Fred Elliott in ‘Coronation Street’ when he was fifties and quickly became a household name.
Perhaps Fred’s most famous storylines saw him secretly reveal to fellow Street legend Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls) that he was the secret father of Ashley Peacock (Steven Arnold) after years of passing himself off as his uncle and in 2004 he fell out with friend Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs) when it was revealed that he had been having an affair with his wife.
During his time on the show, John’s character – who became known for his catchphrase “I say, I say…” – was married to Maureen Holdsworth (Sherrie Hewson) but she left him after just a week after the wedding and he later tied the knot with barmaid Eve Sykes (Melanie Kilburn), although it later came out that she had never divorced her first husband.
The Rovers Return landlord looked set to find happiness with Bev Unwin (Susie Blake) in October 2006 but 11 million viewers tuned in to see him killed off in a shock twist, which saw him suffer a heart attack in Audrey’s house as he prepared to head to the church.

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Diane Carson only went on ‘The Traitors’ to prove her children wrong.
The 63-year-old retired teacher became a standout star of the hit BBC reality show when it returned for its second series at the beginning of this year as part of a secret mother-and-son duo with Ross Carson but only applied for the program because she loves a “challenge” and her children thought she could never get on it.
Speaking on the ‘How to Be 60’ podcast, she told ‘Loose Women’ star Kaye Adams: “It was mainly because my kids told me I’d never be able to get on the programme because I’d be too gobby and to opinionated. [They said] I wouldn’t get on it or I wouldn’t last past a day. So I love a challenge! To be fair, I didn’t expect to get on it. It would have been enough for me to say ‘Look, I’ve filled in an application form’ and shown me the little video I had to do saying why I should be on it.”
Diane – recently announced as part of the lineup for ‘Celebrity Masterchef’ – also insisted that her age was not part of her motivation to apply and is enjoying her newfound fame but doesn’t want it to take over her life.
“Age is not something that stops me from doing anything, so age was nothing to do with my application for ‘The Traitors’ because I thought I had as much chance as anyone else, or not, depending on how it went. But it was more about just doing it and being able to tell my kids I’d applied. To keep going through the rounds was a big surprise really but age didn’t come into it.
“I entered it for a bit of a laugh, I didn’t expect this at all. What I don’t want to happen is for my own world to disappear because not only do I run, I’ve been learning for golf for a couple of years, I play paddle tennis I want to spend time with my family, so as long as we can work it all then that’s fabulous.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Ant Middleton could be facing bankruptcy over a huge tax bill.
The former ‘SAS: Who Dares Wins’ star, 43, who was chief instructor on the Channel 4 reality show, is closing down his UK businesses after one went broke owing more than £1.2 million, mainly to the tax office.
His company Sway and Starting Ltd was forced into liquidation by creditors despite raking in £4.5 million two years ago, the Daily Mirror have revealed.
The publication said a statement of affairs seen by the newspaper revealed it was shut owing £1,199,000 to HMRC and £3,000 to other creditors.
Liquidators trying to claim back money for creditors said in documents filed this week said: “We are in correspondence with the director regarding the loan account but a settlement is yet to be reached.
“If a satisfactory settlement is not able to be reached it will be necessary for me to petition for the director’s bankruptcy.”
Before closing his firm, Ant took a £2.7 million director’s loan.
The Mirror said paperwork stated it was “uncertain” how much would be repaid.
It added accountants are looking into any possible breaches of the Company Directors Disqualification Act and have sent a report to the Department for Business and Trade.
Ant’s spokesman said after news first broke in January he was suffering money troubles: “Due to the impact of lockdowns on Ant’s work and associated adverse effects on the company, unfortunately Middleton Global Limited has had to be placed into voluntary liquidation.
“Ant has an extremely busy year ahead and is focused on his TV work, brand deals, books and events.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Jack Davies and Amina Khan have been fired on ‘The Apprentice’.
The duo have both been sent home by Lord Alan Sugar, after they failed to impress the businessman during the fourth task.
For the latest episode, the contestants all headed to the island of Jersey, where they were tasked with securing nine separate items under time and budgetary constraints.
One of the teams was ultimately fined more than £200, with Lord Sugar describing it as the “worst performance” during the task.
The 76-year-old businessman subsequently chose to fire Jack and Amina from the show.
Jack has now admitted that his team didn’t have a suitable “strategy” for the task.
Jack – who served as his team’s project manager – told The Mirror: “Anyone could have gone but in that scenario, it then automatically goes back to the project manager and probably the sub project manager for Lord Sugar to ask, ‘What’s the underlying issues here? Why did they lose?’
“Some of the strategy could have been better, but at the end of the day, we didn’t negotiate as well as the other team and that’s why we lost the task. If we all negotiated better individually, we would have won.”
On the other hand, Amina has questioned whether she should have been fired at all.
The entrepreneur – who has her own successful supplement business – told The Mirror: “I don’t think I should have gone.
“I think Lord Sugar didn’t give me a chance to showcase my business acumen.
“I have the most profitable business in the show and even amongst all the winners [of ‘The Apprentice’] I have the most successful business and Lord Sugar didn’t give me a chance to showcase my skills.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly are hoping to make cameo appearances in their ‘Byker Grove’ reboot.
The TV presenters rose to fame in the hit CBBC children’s drama back in the 1990s – which ran from 1989 until 2006 – and they are now planning to bring the show back to TV for a new generation of fans and although production is still in its “early days” the pair are both hoping to make appearances onscreen.
During an appearance on ‘The One Show’ on Thursday (22.02.24), they were asked if they are planning to star in the show and Ant replied: “We haven’t decided if we’re going to be in it yet, I doubt it though maybe just a cameo.”
Dec said of the reboot: “We’re still at the very beginning of producing it but we are developing it and it is very early days.
“We are looking at characters and storylines, we are looking at the world because it can be whatever we want it to be. There are a lot of possibilities.”
Ant and Dec played PJ and Duncan in the series – which revolved around a youth club in the North East of England – and they went on to launch a music career using their characters’ names before later reverting back to their real names.
The pair confirmed the reboot news last summer in a video in which Dec explained: “17 years after it closed its doors for the final time, Byker Grove is opening them up again.
“Now, it’s obviously a show very close to our hearts, the show which gave us our breaks, so we couldn’t be more excited that we’ll be giving it a new lease of life.
“Once again, it will follow a new generation of young people and their families as they try to navigate the challenges they face today in the 2020s.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — ‘The Great British Bake Off’ could be at the heart of a £100 million bidding war.
Channel 4’s contract for the programme – which is acquired in 2017, six years after it first aired on the BBC – runs out at the end of the year, and Love Productions have seen interest from both Netflix and Disney+ to take it globally on their streaming services.
A source told The Sun newspaper’s TV Biz column: “Having two huge corporations enter the race has hugely inflated the value of the show, which is already sought-after due to its global appeal.
“Streamers are also looking to combine their model with shows that air at the same time and day each week.
“Netflix is already doing this with WWE wrestling and Disney+ recently bought the US version of Strictly.
“The talk is they’re both looking to do the same with a big British show.”
Following previous speculation about Netflix’s interest in the show, Dame Prue Leith insisted she didn’t think it would leave Channel 4, though she hoped to continue as a judge whatever happens behind the scenes.
Prue told the Daily Mirror about her future on the programme: “Oh my God, I hope to stick with ‘Bake Off’ wherever it goes. But I don’t think it will move.
“I know a lot of people are having a hard time of it and Channel 4 has lost a lot of shows.
“But I am quite sure while Channel 4 is there, they will hang on to ‘Bake Off’.
“It is certainly one of their best shows. I think it has found its natural home at Channel 4.”
Netflix currently has the rights to air ‘Bake Off’ in the US.
Channel 4 said: “Any speculation around contracts is just that and we look forward to bringing many more soggy bottoms to our viewers in future.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Sarah-Jane Honeywell thought she was going to take her own life when she was sacked by CBeebies.
The 50-year-old TV star – who is married to former ‘Hollyoaks’ actor Ayden Callaghan and has Phoenix, eight, and six-year-old Indiana with him – was dismissed from her role as a presenter on the children’s television channel when she posed naked for PETA campaign in 2011 and felt a “compulsion” to harm herself in the years that followed until she remembered she was pregnant and felt her baby kick.
She told The Sun newspaper’s Fabulous magazine: “I felt like I’d let my husband down. I’d let my parents down. I’d let everybody down.
“I walked to the train station in Liverpool and, I hadn’t thought I was going to kill or hurt myself, but it was like a compulsion.
“It was like, ‘I need to jump’. And then I remember my little boy kicking and that shocked me out of it.
“I just felt like my life was over.
“Cancel culture is really dangerous and I think people forget that human beings are behind those celebrity personas. People can make mistakes.”
Sarah – who took time out of the spotlight for almost a decade but has hosted a Sunday slot on BBC Radio Lincolnshire since 2021 – was a vegan at the time the animal rights organisation approached her and she agreed to pose topless on a plate of vegetables as if she had taken the place of the meat.
She recalled: “They said I could wear a bra and pants, so I got some flesh-coloured ones, and I was asked to lie down on a giant plate of food. As I got in position, they asked me to take my bra off because it’d get loads more news coverage.
“I thought, ‘OK, I’m helping a good cause’ and I didn’t really see what was wrong with it. They’re just boobs and they were covered with my hands.”
But the former ‘Tikabilla’ star noticed to a sudden “shift” in attitudes as soon as the photo was published as her colleagues immediately froze her out and she was even subjected to online abuse from viewers before finding out in the papers that she had been sacked.
She said: “There was just this shift. I remember my legs almost going from underneath me. I phoned Justin [Fletcher, ‘Mr Tumble’ star] and left a message asking him to call me. I felt like something bad was going to happen. I never heard from him or any of my former colleagues again. Then I found out in the papers, they’d gone to the BBC for comment, that I no longer worked there. That was a shock.
“There was a Facebook group set up called ‘I Hate Sarah-Jane Honeywell’. That was a lot.
“Other comments included ‘attention seeker’, ‘desperate’, ‘waster’, ‘tacky’, ‘I reckon she’s absolute filth’, ‘loves herself this one’, ‘if she had brains she’d be dangerous’… it was annoying because I felt like they were unfair.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Ben Shephard admitted that he “never enjoyed” getting up early for ‘Good Morning Britain’ as he paid tribute to his colleagues on his last day.
The 49-year-old journalist has been a regular host of the ITV1 breakfast show – which airs from 6am until 9am on weekdays – since its inception in 2014 alongside Kate Garraway and before that hosted GMTV with her for a number of years but left his post on Friday (23.02.24) to take a couple of weeks off before he begins presenting ‘This Morning’ alongside Cat Deeley in March.
Speaking live on Friday’s show, he said: “A friend of mine text me last night saying ‘Enjoy your setting alarm for stupid o’clock for the last time’ and I thought I actually might. I didn’t. It’s horrible. The alarm going off has never been anything I’ve enjoyed but what I have known is that as soon as I get in here I’m going to be surrounded by you brilliant, incredible, gorgeous, talented, challenging, chaotic, annoying, fabulous people who make me better what I do.
“It’s not lost on me that I wouldn’t be able to do if you lot weren’t amazing and hadn’t been such fabulous friends and brilliant colleagues. ”
The ‘Tipping Point’ star was joined by a host of his colleagues as he said goodbyes, including the likes of Kate, Susanna Reid as well as long-serving competition presenter Andi Peters and weatherman Adil Ray.
Ben concluded his goodbye speech by thanking those behind the scenes for running the show and looked forward to “welcoming” viewers back when he starts to host the mid-morning magazine show in the studio next door in a few weeks.
He said: “The extended family here at ‘GMB’, it’s not just us…we just get to do the glorious bit when it goes right but the team behind the cameras and everybody, thank you. And thank you to the viewers for trusting me to wake you up in the morning. I can only cope with this because I know I’m not going very far. These guys are going to do an incredible job, I’m gonna get a lie-in! But in a couple of weeks I will be able to welcome you back from the school run with a cup of tea with Cat next door.
“I know this lot are still going to do the best show they possible can, so thank you for making it so special.”
Ben and Cat will be seen from Monday to Thursday on the ITV Daytime show, while Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary will continue in their roles as Friday presenters and holiday cover.
Ben said: “This really feels like a very special moment for Cat and I to be part of the next chapter of ‘This Morning’.
“It’s an honour to be trusted with the reigns, join Alison and Dermot and all the team that work on and off screen and do such a great job. For the last ten years, I’ve been waking up with our ITV daytime audience on GMB and I now look forward to spending time with Cat, welcoming the viewers home after the school run or from their early morning routines, with a cup of tea and a mix of everything that makes ‘This Morning’ so loved.”
Cat – who began her career on children’s television alongside Ant and Dec and went on to host ‘Stars in Their Eyes’ before finding further success in the US – is thrilled to be joining the “national institution” and vowed to “take care” of it as well.
She said: “‘This Morning ‘is a national institution. Whenever it’s on, it’s like having your friends over – funny, smart, silly, heartfelt, informative and joyful – like all the greatest friendships! ‘This Morning’ is and always will be the viewer’s show.
“Ben and I both know how much people love it, and with the help of an amazing team of people, we’re going to do our best to take care of it.”
Towards the end of last year, Cat stepped in for a trial run of a week of shows alongside ‘Good Morning Britain’ host Ben.
The show had been searching for a pair to take on the coveted TV jobs following the departures of long-running hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.

Source: VacationHunter.Online