OHMYGOSSIP — Davina McCall feared her career was over after ‘Big Brother’.
The TV icon was the host of the reality show for a decade between 2000 and 2010, and she admits she worried she wouldn’t get any job offers as good as the popular programme, which has just been revived on ITV2 with new hosts.
She is quoted by The Mirror as saying: “Every other show I tried to do alongside Big Brother has been a bit of a turkey.
“I was like – without Big Brother, who am I?”
Davina – who has also presented ‘The Jump’, ‘Million Pound Drop’, ‘Streetmate’, and ‘Long Lost Family’ – landed her own chat show in 2006 on the BBC, but it failed to attract the masses.
The show was axed after just one series due to low ratings, with one episode attracting fewer than 2.3 million viewers.
The 56-year-old star is currently a judge on ITV’s ‘The Masked Singer’ alongside Jonathan Ross, Rita Ora and Mo Gilligan, which returns to screens this weekend.
The panel has to decipher which celebrity is in costume by listening to their singing voice. Unfortunately for the ‘My Mum, Your Dad’ host, Davina has not made many correct guesses this series.
Speaking to the Daily Star newspaper, she said: “I looked through all the celebrity magazines to see who’s around at the moment … I did my homework, but I did not do well this series.”
Davina enjoys the show more if she does not work out who the star beneath the mask is, as the surprise of their reveal is more satisfying than a correct guess.
She explained: “If I’m honest, I like not knowing who it is.
“It’s more exciting when someone is unmasked and you have no idea who there are.
“I don’t like it when I know 100 per cent who it is. It actually takes the fun out of it for me.
“It’s much more enjoyable when you think, ‘Do you know what? I think it’s this person, but I am probably wrong.’
“I like to think what I lack in correct guesses I give in enthusiasm. That’s what I bring to the show.”
In the most recent series of the programme, Charlie Simpson as ‘Rhino’ was crowned the winner.
The new series of ‘The Masked Singer’ returns on 30 December at 7pm on ITV1, and will be available to stream on ITVX.

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Gemma Collins is hoping to have a baby in 2024.
The 42-year-old former ‘TOWIE’ star has suffered three miscarriages over the years, and has spoken openly about her struggles to fall pregnant with fiancé Rami Hawash, 48, but Gemma is hopeful that 2024 is the year that “the GC’s child will be born”.
She told MailOnline: “Well, I was meant to have an appointment the other day and the doctor cancelled, so I’m starting it picking it up again in February. Hopefully, in 2024, The GC’s child will be born.
“There’s nothing to say at the minute. We’re literally at the very, very first stage, and, hopefully, but yeah.
“I just think I’m at a time in my life. It’s the right time, so let’s see. If it’s meant to be, it would be.”
And, Gemma has big plans for the birth, if she does fall pregnant.
She said: “Definitely we’ll be giving birth next year at the Portland Hospital. I mean, I’ve got to let the legendary blood live on.
“I’m going to have it at the Portland [private hospital]. I’m going to do a press call. I saw David Beckham out there when Victoria had the baby. And I’ll be sending me out to say mother and child are doing well, and then I’ll appear like the Royals do.
“I mean, my child is going to be a gift from God. Everyone’s wanted me to have a baby for so long, haven’t they?”
And, Gemma was inspired by Tana Ramsay, who recently gave birth again at 49.
She said: “The Tana Ramsay news was the greatest thing to wake up to. Incredible.
“It really made me think positively about my future and kind of took the pressure off. I don’t think anyone knew she was pregnant, so it was a lovely surprise, but I got butterflies in my stomach when I saw it.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — The Sugababes encouraged Keisha Buchanan to take part in the ‘Strictly Christmas Special’.
The 39-year-old singer revealed that her bandmates gave her “courage” to step out of her comfort zone and do something without the group.
She said: “I’ve been here before to perform with the Sugababes for the main show, but this is a very different feeling. Now I feel like I’m here as a student. It’s definitely a learning experience, a very humbling experience. I’m enjoying the feeling, everyone’s made it so comfortable for me. It’s probably the best working environment I’ve ever been in.
“Mutya [Buena] and the girls in general, have always said ‘you’ve had never done anything outside of the group. Why don’t you?’ A lot of people don’t know this about me, but I’m actually a bit of an introvert and extrovert. They call it ambivert, so I am kind of shy and self-conscious, and I just never thought that I would do this. But the girls gave me courage. So I just thought okay, but I knew that I was going to come in and definitely have step my game up a lot. A lot of people do think ‘oh, you perform to millions of people and you must be so confident’, but actually you have to gear yourself up. The Sugababes, are actually known as the girl band who didn’t dance so I want people to know that, because the comments that I get on Instagram say ‘this is going on this be so easy for her’. But when we all get together and rehearse, I feel like I’ve struggled the most.
“Well I feel like I have struggled and haven’t had that much time to rehearse. I definitely think that’s one thing that I am nervous about.”
Keisha has been partnered with Gorka Marquez and he explained: “Keisha had to learn another two dances so I might get to the point where I play the music and she’s going to go ‘what am I doing?’”
When asked how training is going, he said: “Irresistible, unforgivable and sensational.”
Keisha added: “Gorka is very similar to me, he takes his art very seriously. He’s just really honest and straightforward, but also encouraging. And I feel like when he tells me I did a good job, I believe him. This is very good for the soul for me.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Christine Lampard is worried about “ruining” Christmas dinner.
The 44-year-old star – who has Patricia, four, and two-year-old Freddie with husband Frank Lampard – is looking forward to spending the festive season with her family and though she loves everything about the period, she can’t help but worry she might end up messing up their traditional turkey feast.
She told Britain’s HELLO magazine about her Christmas plans: “It’s always family orientated and centred around the children.
“They’re at the perfect age where they know who Santa is and they’re very engaged and excited.
“I’ve always been a Christmas person, I love the lead-up to it.
“Hopefully I don’t ruin Christmas Day dinner – that stresses me out – but apart from that, I really enjoy it!”
The ‘Loose Women’ presenter loves getting “glam” over the Christmas period.
She said: “Who doesn’t need a bit of glam coming up to Christmas, when it’s grey and miserable?
“Going into party season, the sequins and sparkles come out, especially when ‘Strictly’ is on!”
Meanwhile, Christine credits being “respectful” towards others for her lengthy TV career.
She said: “Being respectful is a huge part of being successful and standing the test of time.
“I don’t like to cut corners, so if I’m on ‘Loose Women’ or ‘Lorraine’, I’ll do my homework out of respect for the person I’m interviewing.
“And staying humble, for me, seems to have worked.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — ITV bosses are still hoping to convince Holly Willoughby to return to ‘Dancing On Ice’.
Stephen Mulhern has replaced Holly’s co-star Phillip Schofield as presenter of the show and although Holly, 42, is taking some time out after being the victim of a kidnap plot, producers hope she will return to host alongside him.
A TV insider told The Sun: “Stephen has been the frontrunner to take Phillip’s spot for months but ITV is thrilled to now have him signed and sealed and ready to roll.
“It means that, whatever happens, they have at least one host for the skate show.
“Stephen is hugely loved by viewers, is a consummate professional and as an added bonus has worked with Holly for decades – they both started out in telly together.
“Knowing Stephen will be there beside her could be the comfort blanket Holly needs to say yes.
“Holly’s situation remains up in the air and producers are now counting down to the start in days rather than weeks.
“They’re looking at every avenue to try and get it across the line, but do also have a ‘Plan B’ list of several figures who could fill her spot.”
Josie Gibson, Rochelle Humes and Christine Lampard have all been tipped for the job if Holly does not return.

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Ian Pepperell has died at the age of 53.
The actor had played the the role of Roy Tucker in the radio soap opera ‘The Archers’, for 22 years but passed away on Friday (22.12.23) following a long illness, the BBC has confirmed.
Jeremy Howe, the editor of the long-running radio drama, said: “He loved being part of an ensemble, relished the camaraderie and gossip of the green room, and had a seemingly effortlessly fine tuned vocal technique. Like all the very best radio actors he could think on his feet and change the way he played a scene in the blink of an eye.
“Thanks to Ian’s brilliance, he created in Roy a character who managed to face in two directions simultaneously in almost every scene he played. He captured Roy as both genial and anxious, funny and sad, easy-going and permanently stressed – a man who could hold down with ease a top job, yet who always carried with him Hamlet’s sense of failure. It all made perfect sense because of Ian’s uncanny and laser-guided ability to find humour in the emotional scenes, and find pathos in the comedy that he always played so unerringly well.”
The soap editor went on to add that Ian’s death is a “tragedy” because he seemed to have had so much more to give as ne noted that cast, crew and listeners will “miss him dearly.”
He said: “Ian had a lot more gas in the tank and was desperate to return to Ambridge once his health permitted. It is tragic that he died in his prime, we will miss him dearly and our hearts go out to his family and friends and everyone who knew him. Ambridge loved Roy – The Archers and our millions of listeners loved Ian’s Roy Tucker.”
Outside of the sho, the actor owned the Star Inn in Hampshire with his wife Nikki and she was also quick to pay tribute to her husband following the announcement of his death on Saturday.
She wrote on Facebook: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that I must tell you all, that Ian – left this world today – in peace, his way. As I, and all of the closest to him knew he would.”
Ian’s co-star Grahm Seed noted in a message he posted in the comments of Nikki’s post what a “privilege” it had been to work with her late husband for so many years.
He wrote: “Such sad news. I was privileged to have Ian as a loyal friend since we met working on The Archers all those years ago. Bright witty and such fun to be with – and such a talented actor. RIP dear man.”
Other than his role in ‘The Archers’, Ian had guest-starred on ‘EastEnders’ in the late 1990s and appeared in an episode of ‘Pie in the Sky’.

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Russell T. Davies felt it was important to acknowledge “racism” in ‘Doctor Who’.
The 60-year-old showrunner cast Neil Patrick Harris as The Toymaker in recent special ‘The Giggle’ – which included Ncuti Gatwa’s debut as the new Time Lord – and deliberately wrote the script to make the villain offensive because of a previous incantation of the character in a 1966 storyline, which featured a white actor in Chinese regal outfits.
He told ‘Doctor Who: Unleashed’: “It is said, and I understand this, there’s a history of racism with the original Toymaker. The Celestial Toymaker. The word ‘celestial’, and I did not know this, but celestial can mean of Chinese origin in a derogatory way. It also means from the sky, but it can also mean Chinese in a kind of imperial way, in a British Empire sort of way.
“And there’s a lot of debate about why was the original Toymaker a white man dressed up as a Chinese mandarin? Why? And that’s not the actor’s fault. I’m not blaming the actor at all. He was just, I dunno how much of that was unconscious at the time. Nonetheless.
“I think you have to do it because I can absolutely guarantee on transmission people will pipe up and say in 1966 this was a racist character and if we haven’t acknowledged that in some way we are ignorant.
“I’m very, very aware of it. And it’s baked into him and that’s part of the reason bringing him back, I found he’s a villain.
“Of course he’s going to do terrible things and that’s one of them. I did not want to whitewash the Toymaker then, so I gave him this side of putting on accents.
“He’s a murderer. He’s a mass murderer. So I like the fact there’s a very slight thin thread of him playing with race, playing with voices, playing with accents, using it as an attack.”
Russell admitted he was stunned award-winning Neil accepted the role.
He said: “We offered him the part and we all held our breath thinking, does he need to do this? He doesn’t need to do this. Will he like it? And he loved it. He got it straight away.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Shirley Ballas has admitted Anton Du Beke is a “mischief maker”.
The ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ head judge’s fellow panelist is always “playing pranks” and can’t resist causing chaos behind-the-scenes of the Latin and ballroom show.
She said: “I think I’d have to say Anton Du Beke is the naughtiest judge. I’ve known Anton for over 35 years and he really is the nicest gentleman, but he is forever playing pranks backstage and on tour. He’s a mischief maker!”
And her fellow judges agreed.
Motsi Mabuse said: “Yes, let me think…I would say Anton is naughty!”
Craig Revel Horwood added: “The naughtiest, oh I’d definitely say Anton Du Beke!”
But Anton insisted he wasn’t the only person who gets up to mischief.
He said: “Craig is definitely the naughtiest! I’m the nicest.”
Shirley is excited about this year’s ‘Strictly’ Christmas special.
She said: “The Christmas show is always so uplifting, and I think it’s beautiful we give millions of families something to enjoy on Christmas Day.
“I am most looking forward to getting in the Christmas spirit with my fellow judges, seeing a brand new cast take to the floor and listening to some fabulous Christmas songs – there’s some great Christmas tunes out there to dance to!”
Motsi enjoys the “relaxed” atmosphere of the festive episode.
She said: “It’s always beautiful for the Christmas special because it really puts you in that Christmas spirit. And the last dance for the main show has happened so it’s more relaxed and it’s all about the Christmas period and having fun, so that’s what I’m looking for. I always cry on the Christmas show because it’s family time.”
And Anton admitted he prefers it to the main series.
He said: “I have to tell you, the Christmas special is my favourite show of the series. But then I love Christmas, so it’s perfect for me.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Daisy May Cooper has hailed going to rehab “the best thing” she’s ever done.
The ‘This Country’ star – who split from husband Will Weston shortly after giving birth to their second child, Jack, now three, in October 2020 – checked into a clinic late last year because she felt “really lost” and needed a “break” from life and she thinks she couldn’t have given herself a better “gift” than subsequently quitting drinking.
She told Fabulous magazine: “Going to rehab was the best thing I did.
“I just felt really lost and said to my agent: ‘I need a break from everything’.
“So I went there and now I want to write a film about it, because it was extraordinary.
“Addicts are some of the most interesting, funny, smart, creative and loving people I’ve met in my life.
“You can see why it happens. They’re sort of angels on Earth who haven’t been equipped to live amongst the muggles.
“This was all literally just before I gave up drinking, which is the biggest gift I’ve ever given myself.”
Daisy – who also has five-year-old daughter Pip with Will – has now been sober for eight months and is glad she has stopped “wasting” days being hungover after hitting the bottle to feel more comfortable when socialising.
She explained: “The biggest reason for my drinking was because I’m terrible with social situations.
“I get so anxious and felt alcohol was this superhero juice that would give me a great personality where I could talk to people.
“But I’d get such crippling hangover anxiety, I’d feel suicidal the next day.
“I was waking up thinking: ‘What did I do last night? What did I say?’ Another wasted Sunday.
“It suddenly occurred to me that I didn’t have to do this any more. I didn’t have to torture myself.
“And just taking alcohol out of the equation means I’ve got time for my kids that I never had before.
“I remember rushing to read their bedtime story because I wanted them to get to sleep so I could go downstairs, have a drink and watch ‘Married At First Sight’.
“Now I can be completely present.
“I’d recommend sobriety to anybody. I’m still in the early days, but it’s changed my life.”
The 37-year-old star also found balance by coming off social media and she no longer even owns a mobile phone.
She said: “I became completely obsessed with it, and it took over everything.
“It was instant gratification – I’d put something up and then be constantly refreshing the page.
“It became another ‘thing’, phone addiction.
“I haven’t had a phone for about a year and that’s been liberating.
“People can only get hold of me by email, so I have to carry my laptop everywhere. But it’s brilliant.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Jeff Brazier is to take part in ‘Celebrity Race Across the World’.
The 44-year-old presenter – who has been in the spotlight recently cheering on his eldest child, ‘EastEnders’ star Bobby Brazier, as he progressed on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ – will be donning his backpack to go on a globetrotting adventure with his younger son Freddie for the BBC competition series.
A source told The Sun newspaper: “Being in the audience almost every week on Strictly has certainly helped to raise the profile of Jeff.
“Bobby’s done wonders for the Brazier name and it seems producers want to get in on the action as soon as possible.
“It’s a bit of a coup to have got on ‘Celebrity Race Against the World’, as it turned out to be one of 2023’s biggest telly hits.”
The celebrity spin-off of the popular show launched this autumn and saw ‘Good Morning Britain’ weatherman Alex Beresford and his dad Noel narrowly beat McFly’s Harry Judd and his mum Emma to win the show after travelling through 24 countries to get from Morocco to Norway.
The news comes after it was recently revealed Bobby is set to present a travel show off his own – and Jeff may even get involved too.
A source said: “From the start of ‘Strictly’, Beeb bosses realised that they had a serious star on their hands — and the fact that he made it to the final was a complete bonus.
“So they’re incredibly keen to keep him with the Corporation, not least because Bobby is seen as home-grown talent as he got his big TV break on ‘EastEnders’.
“The travelogue show would be a shrewd way to tempt him to stay with the Beeb and is likely to be among the first of many projects they’ll tempt him with – many with a fat pay cheque too.”
And the bond between Jeff and Bobby – whose mother is the late Jade Goody – would make for compelling viewing.
The source added: “Involving dad Jeff is also a smart idea … The bond between Brazier junior and senior is obvious to everyone and bosses are keen to tap into that.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online