The Switch with Sanjeev Bhaskar starts on Monday.
If you can’t be bothered to read the press release (and you should for some classy #hostholdingaquestioncard and top notch Boring Press Release Quote from Bhaskar), it sounds basically like the Cashbuilder from The Chase, followed by three questions in the style of 101 Ways to Leave A Game Slow, with a final that’s a little bit like Bother’s Bar Alternate Timeline Favourite The Fuse. We’ll have a Show Discussion post ready on Monday morning. Bhaskar seems like a good choice, the sort of name you wouldn’t have really considered but now it’s happening you think “yeah, why not?”
Speaking of Switches, there was a BBC press release a while ago suggesting there was a Nintendo Switch adaption of Pointless coming in November. What happened to that? Might well have been a decent family round the telly Christmas thing.
EDIT: In other news:
So we had Eggheads does The Chase, now it’s The Chase does Eggheads. Although I’ll I’m sure they’ll do something a little bit more interesting with the format.
And in other news, Rachel Riley’s maternity leave might be longer than we thought…
https://www.google.com/amp/s/news.sky.com/story/amp/rachel-riley-facing-calls-to-be-sacked-over-edited-jeremy-corbyn-image-11866683
Graeme Cole has responded to this with a post on c4countdown that is absolutely spot-on.
Here are some of the points he makes:
“When did this mass delusion start, that people who work in TV aren’t allowed, or shouldn’t be allowed, to make political statements away from TV? When Gary Lineker posts something pro-European or pro-immigration, it brings out the gammon brigade chanting “stick to football”. And when Rachel posts something anti-Corbyn, that brings out some of the more vocal Corbyn supporters who demand that she both stick to Countdown and be sacked from it.
Whether you agree with Rachel’s views on Labour and Jeremy Corbyn – and it’s fine to hold either view – her views are clearly motivated by honest reasons and nothing to do with Countdown. Demanding that someone be sacked from their job because they voiced a legitimate opinion you strongly disagree with outside of that job is just absurd.
That doesn’t mean everything Rachel says or does is necessarily always right, and I can certainly see why people are upset about the photoshopped placard on the T-shirt. But it’s at least a good reason not to dismiss her views without a second thought.”
And here’s the corresponding thread:
http://www.c4countdown.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13767
Even in the highly unlikely event that Rachel is sacked, I’ll still be giving the ‘Down one of my Golden Five votes in the 2019 Poll. This year has already seen new records set for the highest individual score (twice), the highest aggregate score in a game, and the highest cumulative score in an octorun – and now the current series looks well set to have its ninth octochamp. (Should Paul Anderson complete his run next Monday, however, then Corrina Attwood faces the unfortunate distinction of becoming the first-ever contestant to win eight games and still fail to qualify for the finals – unless, of course, one of the other octochamps pulls out or she’s allowed to participate in the next series’ finals instead…)
And then Paul goes and loses his seventh game.
There are still 13 games before the finals, however…
And, sure enough, Paul’s conqueror Jamie Wing becomes that ninth octochamp. 😀
Which, of course, also means that Corrina makes dubious ‘Down history. Jamie and the other seven seeded octochamps haven’t had to withdraw from the finals, it appears – and it probably wouldn’t be all that fair to allow Corrina to take part in next series’ finals instead, no matter how much compassion Damian and the team showed, because she didn’t qualify in the first place. (And anyway, one can’t rule out the possibility of the next series – or indeed any future series – also featuring more than eight octochamps, with the top eight all scoring more points than Corrina’s 681.)
She can legitimately say, however, that she’s never lost a televised game of Countdown – even some of the greatest-ever contestants, like Harvey Freeman and Conor Travers, can’t say that. 😉
Meanwhile, it looks like the heat went out of this Rachel story pretty quickly. Can’t say I’m surprised, TBH. 😉