What Holly Willoughy and Amanda Holden are REALLY like as Stephen Mulhern lifts lid on co-stars
HE’S presented alongside a long line of ladies over the years, now Stephen Mulhern has lifted the lid on what his glam gal pals are really like.
The all-round entertainer returns this Saturday with his gameshow, In For A Penny, one of the few programmes where he hasn’t had a female by his side.
In an exclusive interview, he said: “I’ve been very lucky with my co-hosts.
“What are they like? Emma Willis is what you see is what you get. She’s so honest that it’s incredible. She lets you know how it is.
“Holly Willoughby is just a good person. She’s good fun on a night out — absolutely brilliant.
“Meanwhile, Fearne Cotton is the cool kid. And Amanda Holden, anything goes.
“We were chatting away and Amanda just lifted up her top and showed me her boobs. Still to this day I don’t know how that happened.”
The magician and former Butlin’s Redcoat also says he and friend Bradley Walsh are the last remaining “old school” entertainers on TV.
Stephen said: “Not many presenters have an act. If you said to most presenters, ‘You need to get on the stage and do half an hour’s worth of material’, the chances are, apart from Bradley and I, who else would that?”
For the new series of In For A Penny, Stephen and the team have conjured up some of the best games yet.
On discussing the return of the show at the height of the pandemic, he said: “We sat down to work out games that we can actually do and it worked out as some of the funniest yet.
“I never thought Covid would benefit the show but I think it made people on the street just go — do you know what we need? We need a good laugh.
“In For A Penny is exactly that.”
Maya made up over new role
Colour me intrigued by Maya Jama’s role as host of Glow Up.
The former Radio 1 DJ takes over from Stacey Dooley on the third series of the make-up contest, which begins next Tuesday on BBC Three and BBC1.
Maya, who has just become a regular panelist on Keith Lemon’s show Celebrity Juice, posed alongside judges and beauty industry experts Val Garland and Dominic Skinner, as well as this year’s hopefuls.
She looks so glam here it’s enough to make you blush.
Finally chef airs the final
The MasterChef final will air tonight after it was postponed due to the death of Prince Philip last Friday.
Fans have been waiting with bated breath for the conclusion of the series, which will now go out on BBC1 at 8pm.
Bosses at the Beeb decided to cut all its scheduled programmes out of respect for the late Duke of Edinburgh.
In case you have forgotten, the finalists are telecom sales manager Mike Tomkins, restaurant manager Tom Rhodes and Alexina Anatole, who works at meals company, Mindful Chef.
And their endeavours will be overseen by MasterChef judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace.
Devotees of the show have been frustrated by the setback, with one tweeting: “Forget pubs opening, all I want to know is when the MasterChef final is finally going to air.”
Here’s hoping there are no other delays.
Jimmy’s lippy to Cheryl
Funnyman Jimmy Carr takes a pop at Cheryl’s music career on new game show I Can See Your Voice.
The show panelist skewers her over her vocal ability on the programme, which sees contestants predict who can and cannot sing from a group of lip-synching strangers.
Introducing Cheryl’s Girls Aloud bandmate Nadine Coyle as a guest panelist on the show, Jimmy jokes: “I’m disappointed that Nadine’s here.
“I thought if we wanted someone that knows about lip-syncing, we should have got Cheryl.”
Despite her fraught past relationship with Cheryl, Nadine is shocked by the jibe, saying: “We’ve only just started the show.”
When host Paddy McGuiness brands Jimmy “very naughty”, the comedian replies: “I start as I mean to go on, she’ll be alright.”
This is not the only cheeky moment on I Can See Your Voice, which is on BBC1 at 7.35pm on Saturday.
Nadine shocks everyone by saying, with her Irish accent, that one of the line-up has a “crooner wink”, with Paddy protesting: “This is a family show.”
Jimmy adds: “I don’t think you can say that.”
Not before the watershed, guys.
Sorry Simpson
THE Simpsons actor Hank Azaria has expressed his regret at voicing Indian shopkeeper Apu for 30 years.
He told Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast: “Part of me feels like I need to go around to every single Indian person in this country and personally apologise.”
Return of Mac
Former Strictly Come Dancing star Danny Mac is breathing a sigh of relief that he’s going back to work as he prepares to become a dad.
The ex-Hollyoaks hunk – who played Mark “Dodger” Savage on the soap from 2011 to 2015 – is expecting his first child with wife and former co-star Carley Stenson.
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But now lockdown is lifting he’s returning to star in stage shows Pretty Woman: The Musical and The Mousetrap.
Speaking on yesterday’s Lorraine, he said: “We’re just getting on with it as best we can. It’s just as well I’ve got two jobs to go back to, because I’m going to need them.
“I’m just turning into an official grown-up now.”