Huge change to Celeb SAS: Who Dares Wins as cash-strapped Channel 4 tightens the belt
FOR the past three years the Celebrity version of SAS Who Dares Wins has been filmed in a string of incredible international locations.
They include Vietnam, New Zealand and Jordan – but this year the Channel 4 show is going to the slightly less tropical destination of Wales.
Not only has it been used before by the show for its punishing conditions, it’s also a far cheaper alternative to flying dozens of contestants and crew abroad.
A TV insider said: “Belts have been tightening for some time at C4, which is going through financial dire straits at the moment.
“ So it’s no surprise that the current plan will see SAS Who Dares Wins stay in Wales this year – which will be a lot less costly.
“Though it won’t be any less challenging for the contestants – in fact it might be harsher than some foreign climes.”
Channel 4 have already axed the civilian version of SAS Who Dares Wins, but retained the celebrity spin-off which got higher ratings despite starting later.
A spokesman for C4 said:“SAS Selection is the toughest selection procedure of any Special Forces Regiment in the world, with the first phase always taking place in Wales – the home of SAS training.
The location of each SAS: Who Dares Wins series is chosen to reflect each phase of the real SAS selection and with storm swept Atlantic beaches to unforgiving mountain peaks, the Welsh wilderness, where series one was filmed, would push any celebrity recruit to their limits.”
I’m sure every contestant on the Welsh series of I’m a Celebrity would agree – and they were just sitting round a campfire.
What’s Piper picked?
Billie Piper admits she has quite a collection of telly memorabilia – much of it pinched while on set.
The actress makes the revelation to Jonathan Ross on his ITV1 chat show this Saturday.
While discussing her previous roles, the former Doctor Who star reveals that she has been left with more than just happy memories from some of her TV acting jobs.
Chatting to fellow celebrity guests, Hollywood actor Paul Rudd, pop royalty Mel B, comedian Leo Reich, and singer Cat Burns: she admitted: “I take things from the set, I see things and I grab them.
“I have taken loads of things – rings, costume jewellery, and I actually have a whip and some underwear from The Secret Diary Of A Call Girl.
“On Doctor Who, I took loads of stuff from the Tardis, including the main central console.”
Nicole’s got age concern
Nicole Scherzinger always spoke her mind when she was a judge on X Factor – and she’s not winding her neck in now.
This time – at the ripe old age of 45 – the former Pussycat Doll singer has age discrimination in her sights.
Nicole said: “I’ve never been more fit physically, never more wise in my mind, never more focused. So what is ageism?
“It’s such a negative thing we put too much focus on. So I was thinking about what’s the opposite of ageism. The opposite is agelicious.
Talking on journalist Elizabeth Day’s How To Fail podcast, she added: “It is celebrating who you are, everything that brought you here right now. This is our prime. I’m better than ever, you’re better than ever, we’re wiser than ever, stronger than ever, braver than ever.”
Anyone would feel better about being in their forties if they looked like Nicole.
THE BBC will air all 134 episodes of law series Suits, which starred the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle as paralegal Rachel Zane. The broadcaster has also acquired comedy St. Denis Medical and drama The Best Man: The Final Chapters, on iPlayer and the Beeb’s TV channels.
Danny’s back to party
IT’S been over a decade since he was first seen on Death In Paradise.
But that doesn’t mean that Danny John-Jules isn’t still up to his old Officer Dwayne Myers tricks.
Flying out to Guadalupe to film for the series, which airs its finale episode this Sunday at 9pm on BBC One, the actor was quick to head out for a night on the town.
He said: “I wasn’t there for the extended period like I usually was, and I’m thirteen years older which slows you down a bit.
“But I still went to a birthday party in a nice club and went out to town and drank pink champagne, surrounded by women, like Dwayne would be!”
Danny returns to the long-running series alongside French actress Josephine Jobert as Detective Sergeant Florence Cassell.
Ali: Paul so racy
Great British Bake Off host Alison Hammond says co-star Paul Hollywood got her pulse racing – by taking her for a ride in his fancy Lamborghini.
While plenty of women would love to be in a posh car with the telly judge, Alison described it as the “scariest moment of my life”.
Speaking ahead of this Sunday’s Bake Off special for Stand Up To Cancer on Channel 4, the This Morning presenter said: “He had this beautiful Lamborghini and I had to squeeze myself in, literally leaning over his gear stick.
“He then took me for a ride and I’ve literally never been more scared in my life.
“I was just screaming all the way.”
Ed Speleers has taken inspiration from James Bond for his latest role. The Downton Abbey star joins the cast of Peril On The Night Train as double agent Mr Roland. Airing on March 29, it is the second instalment of CBBC’s adaptation of Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five stories.
Yinka in tribute
Watching Sunday’s Great Celebrity Bake Off will be a bittersweet moment for Yinka Bokinni.
The radio and TV presenter appears with actor Danny Dyer and comic Leigh Francis on Channel 4’s Stand Up To Cancer charity special. Now she has revealed her emotional reason behind signing up for the show.
She told me: “I lost my mum to renal cancer almost 16 years ago, so I was young.”
In the episode, Yinka dedicates her showstopping creation to her dad.
She added: “Since filming, Dad has passed away with dementia, and it’s a big shame he’ll never see it.
“I told him about it, though – we were going to watch it at the care home.”