‘It’s hard to believe the BBC gave primetime slot to Gordon Ramsay’s new show’

It’s not very often you get to offer thanks for a celebrity with a rampaging ego, so here goes.

Ol’ big head chef Gordon Ramsay did us a favour by plastering his name all over BBC1’s new gameshow Gordon Ramsay’s Bank Balance.

Now we can all have fun completing the sentence.

As in, Gordon Ramsay’s bank balance was already healthy enough so why didn’t the BBC give this show to a competent gameshow host instead?

Or this one, just in: If the initial ratings are anything to go by, Gordon Ramsay’s bank balance is unlikely to be boosted further by a second series of Gordon Ramsay’s Bank Balance.

The BBC must take some of the blame.

Apart from the prize money and the – yawn – swearing, everything about Ramsay’s vanity projectile screams daytime graveyard slot.

Yet somehow it has been afforded a plum primetime slot on consecutive nights like it’s Beat The Chasers or something.

Still, it is early days. With some minor tweaks to the format (simplify it), the set (less dimly-lit TARDIS, more allow the viewers to see this) and the pacing (more quiz questions, less chat) there could be a fun, play-along at home gameshow in there.

It is, after all, just a basic balancing challenge, the likes of which you might have seen in a fairground, a Christmas stocking or an occupational therapy session.

If I didn’t know better I’d suggest someone at Ramsay’s production company – yes, Ramsay the host is also Ramsay the boss – misheard him ranting in an ideas meeting and thought he was saying Buckaroo.

Either that or they’d been playing the Penguin Pile-Up board game with their kids during lockdown and had thought “Hey, what if we swapped the penguins for cash?”

Minor tweaks are easily done. However, there’s a major problem which needs addressing. And the boss might not like it.

Ramsay is a man of many talents. Sadly, copying Michael McIntyre is not one of them.

He is perhaps the most awkward and unsuitable gameshow host since Robert Kilroy-Silk brought that unfortunate fist-pump to Shafted.

Ramsay may be good at bouncing up and down on his feet but he’s not so great at thinking on them.

The only time he looked truly comfortable was when he was slagging off his showbiz pals Gino D’Acampo and Fred Sirieix.

Which reminds me. There was one good thing about this programme.

It will massively improve Gino and Fred’s banter balance ahead of their next road trip.

Originally from https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/its-hard-believe-bbc-gave-23567303