Daily Mirror - 03.03.2020

mirror.co.uk TUESDAY 03.03.2020 DAILY MIRROR^23

DM1ST

with Ashleigh Rainbird

[email protected]

IAN HYLAND

on last night’s telly

Tom Cruise sent cupcakes to

Louis Theroux’s grandmother

for her 100th birthday.

Tom is pals with Louis’ cousin

Justin Theroux – Jennifer

Aniston’s ex-husband – who wrote

Tropic Thunder, which Tom starred in.

Tom is famous for gifting coconut cakes

to pals. Louis, who is appearing on The

Great Celebrity Bake Off For Stand Up

To Cancer, says: “They became

friendly, and Justin mentioned to Tom

that it was our granny’s 100th birthday.

Tom sent her cakes when she turned

100. I think he’s a guy who’s incredibly
     proactive about being friendly.
     “I was wondering whether there’s a link
     with Scientology.” A nice Sea Org sponge.

Fiona had a brief

encounter with Fox

Kim’s triple

jumpsuit

People keep

going on

about washing

their hands

to stop getting

coronavirus - just

give them gloves.

As a lot of people

say, I caught

f*** all when I

wore mine.

Former Everton and Wales

goalie Neville Southall

suggests defence tactics

against the disease.

THE DIARY

Balmain

hopefully got a

decent deal on

all this latex

they bought

in for Paris

Fashion

Week. Kim

Kardashian

liked the

designer’s suit

so much, she

wore one in

every colour.

She must have

gone through

kilos of talcum

powder to

get all those

gloved jackets

on, though.

Ready Steady Cook, BBC1

★★★★

Y

ou only need look at Rylan

Clark-Neal’s impressive

chompers to know the man

likes a revamp.

Britain’s hardest-working TV host

has now taken that personal fancy

into his professional life.

Hot on the heels of his sparkling

revival of Supermarket Sweep for

ITV2, Rylan struck gold again

yesterday with another old daytime

favourite.

You can see why he’s so in demand

these days. He makes this TV-

presenting lark look stupidly easy.

The only remotely taxing thing he

had to do here was correctly pace his

walk-and-talk between The Green

Pepper Kitchen and The Red Tomato

Kitchen. With his long legs he could

probably cover the three-to-four-

metre stretch in two steps.

However, if he did that he’d never

have enough time to get his lines

out. Instead, he went for a slow,

follow-the-Hofmeister-bear gait –

and it all looked pretty natural to me.

The same could be

said for everything else

his role demanded.

He bantered with the

contestants, gently

antagonised their

professional chef

teammates and tried his

best to wake up the

studio audience. That studio

audience is really only interested in

one thing, of course – holding up the

famous green pepper or red tomato

voting cards at the end of the show.

I’m pleased to report that the

colourful gimmick to decide the

winner has stood the test of time.

The only question now

is which golden-oldie TV

show Rylan will bring back

next.

If I were a betting man,

I’d be putting a couple of

quid on Play Your Cards

Right or Strike It Lucky.

‘‘Rylan makes

this TV-

presenting

lark look

stupidly easy

Question Time bosses

gave host Fiona Bruce

a briefing ahead of

actor Laurence Fox’s

appearance on the show.

His comments, which included

describing accusations of racism as

“boring”, were branded “offensive” by

many people, and attracted 253

complaints from viewers.

But Fiona says having controver-

sial guests is part of the debating

programme’s “unpredictable” format.

She admits: “I had a briefing about

Laurence, and what he might say.

“But the thing about Question

Time is that it’s entirely unpredict-

able, so people will get into argu-

ments.” During his controversial

appearance on the Question Time

panel in January, 41-year-old

Harrow-educated Fox, who played

Det Sgt James Hathaway in crime

series Lewis, accused an audience

member of being racist for branding

him a “white, privileged male”.

Discussions on the BBC1 show

often turn heated, but Fiona, who

took over from David Dimbleby last

year, insists: “It’s a lot calmer than

last year. There was a level of

anger and toxicity that this

year, so far, is absent.”

But Fiona does admit to

being alarmed at how often

she has to remind guests to

be civil to each other.

She tells Radio Times: “I’m all for

a passionate debate, and sometimes

things can be heated, which is fine,

up to a point.

“As long as we remember that we

are human beings.

“I feel very strongly about that.

“I hadn’t anticipated that I would

spend so much of my time last year

saying, ‘We don’t talk to each other

like this’.”

Read the full interview with Fiona

in Radio Times, out now.

QUESTIONS Fox and Bruce

Olympian Usain Bolt is

getting some practise in,

while girlfriend Kasi

Bennett is pregnant.

Using a cuddly toy bear, Usain

cradled his makeshift baby before

lowering it down gently into a new

pram, as the couple prepare to

welcome their first child later this

year. He’s bearing up well.