Throw them to the crocodiles

Nov 30 2012 by Cheryl McEvoy, Ayrshire Post

It seems that every week the Saturday night TV ratings war ends up making headlines in the showbiz sections of newspapers and magazines.

The X Factor has been getting a kicking every week by Strictly (my show of choice this year). To make things worse for Simon Cowell’s karaoke contest, it’s also been beaten by I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here over the past couple of weeks.

I usually look upon it fairly cynically as being a platform for celebrities to get themselves back in the public eye and relaunch their careers. After all, when was the last time we heard from Limahl? Ashley Roberts hasn’t exactly had a hit record since the Pussycat Dolls went their separate ways and I’d never even heard of TV chef Rosemary.

But I’ve tried to put my cynicism aside this year and have actually been enjoying it so far. Apart from Rosie Webster, that is, who started off quite amusing until it turned out she’s afraid of everything including her own shadow. Eric Bristow’s tell it like it is attitude was refreshing at first but that soon wore thin. Brian Conley had the obligatory meltdown and Linda Robson just didn’t seem to do anything at all.

In fact, now that I think about it, I’m not sure why I’ve wasted an hour every evening for the past two and a half weeks. Perhaps what’s needed is a way to refresh it which might also help the X Factor with its ratings as well.

How about next year we send the X Factor judges to the jungle to eat bits of kangaroo and make the wannabe pop stars perform whilst having maggots and cockroaches thrown at them by the stars from Strictly Come Dancing? It would boost the ratings no end.

Don’t forget there’s still time for you to get involved in West FM’s Cash for Kids this year – westfm.co.uk/cashforkids