Latest news with #Pyramid
Spectator
4 days ago
- Business
- Spectator
Glastonbury has become a very posh problem
I'm afraid that when I read that the posh glamping provider for wealthy Glastonbury fans was going into liquidation, I smirked. The company offered yurts that only look luxurious if you compare them with tents – with a beds, a sofa, a loo and a shower, as well as meals. Pretty basic, biatch. The only exclusive thing about it is that guests can access the hospitality area behind the Pyramid tent, like ageing groupies. The company organising the liquidation sent emails to clients who had already paid for this year's Glastonbury to say that no tickets had been bought so, oops, sorry. Wealthy customers complained vociferously to the media. One woman said that her father had paid £40,000 this year for three yurts and six hospitality tickets. I looked at properties in Pilton, the village near Shepton Mallet where the festival is held, and that's about half the cost of a flat. I find the idea of rich people slumming it down for a weekend amusing ('darling, they don't have halloumi and quinoa – only burgers'), but the thought of these people pretending to be festival-goers while actually living in what looks like a hotel room is rather nauseating.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How to watch Glastonbury 2025: BBC announces broadcast plans
GLASTONBURY Festival's exclusive broadcast partner, the BBC, has planned a two-month celebration of the festival, and here's where you can watch and hear the action. Across TV, BBC iPlayer, radio, and BBC Sounds in June and July, audiences can expect a jam-packed schedule that shares Somerset's Glastonbury magic with the rest of the UK. This year's presenting team was announced on Tuesday, June 3, and broadcasting from Glastonbury this year across the BBC's platforms are: Anita Rani, Annie Macmanus, Arielle Free, Cerys Matthews, Clara Amfo, Craig Charles, Danni Diston, Danny Howard, Deb Grant, Dermot O'Leary, DJ Target, Gilles Peterson, Greg James, Huw Stephens, Jack Saunders, Jamz Supernova, Jo Whiley, Lauren Laverne, Matt Everitt, Nathan Shepherd, Nick Grimshaw, Sam MacGregor, Sarah Story, Steve Lamacq and Zoe Ball. READ MORE: Arcadia's dragonfly returns for Glastonbury Festival 2025 Sam Ryder among stars pledging to take the train to Glastonbury Festival Lorna Clarke, BBC Director of Music says: "This year, we're making it easier than ever for millions of music fans to access Glastonbury's standout moments, whilst also giving them the freedom to explore the festival their way - Glastonbury is theirs and the BBC brings it to them. "I would like to thank Emily and Michael Eavis once again for allowing us this exclusive access to their very special creation, as only the BBC can bring the nation together to enjoy their beloved festival." BBC iPlayer - the ultimate place to watch Glastonbury - will bring viewers over 90 hours of performances with its live streams of the five main stages - Pyramid, Other, West Holts, Woodsies and The Park - allowing viewers to make their own list of must-see acts and plot their way through the weekend. Pyramid Stage sets will once again be available to stream live in Ultra High Definition and in British Sign Language. To get viewers ready for this year's event, the Glastonbury Hits Channel is now live, streaming classic tracks from some of the biggest artists to have performed over the years, 24/7, until the festival's main stages open on Friday 27th June. The Glastonbury Channel returns (Friday 27th - Sunday 29th June, 12pm-late). Hosts Clara Amfo, Huw Stephens, Jack Saunders, Jamz Supernova, Jo Whiley and Lauren Laverne will guide viewers through the biggest sets and festival surprises as they happen, the standout moments from BBC One and BBC Two as they are broadcast, and special guests. The Glastonbury Highlights Channel - from late evening on Friday 27th June, viewers can catch up with all the biggest, most-talked about performances from this year's festival, 24 hours a day, until Wednesday 30th July. On-demand, BBC iPlayer provides over 90 sets and over 90 must-watch tracks to enjoy throughout July (for 30 days after broadcast). New and on-demand for this year will be Glastonbury Recap - a short montage of clips released each day of the festival to catch viewers up on the action and Glastonbury Highlights - five compilations featuring tracks from some of the most memorable performances from 2025, available for a year shortly after the festival. Sidetracked by Glastonbury is back for 2025 with three, visualised episodes of Sidetracked - the UK's number one music podcast, presented by Annie Macmanus and Nick Grimshaw - featuring new interviews with Rod Stewart, Loyle Carner and more. Rod Stewart's episode is available on BBC iPlayer now, with two more episodes dropping on Mondays (5am) until 16th June. On TV, there will be extensive coverage over the weekend on BBC One, Two and Four. During the week leading up to Glastonbury, BBC Two will broadcast three, 30-minute specials called Glastonbury: 70s Legends (w/t), Glastonbury: 80s Legends (w/t) and Glastonbury: 90s Legends (w/t). Each will feature classic Glastonbury tracks from performers who made their name in each of those decades. BBC Two then kicks off the first live programme from Worthy Farm on Thursday 26th June, presented by Clara Amfo and Lauren Laverne, who look to the weekend ahead. The One Show helps kick off the Glastonbury weekend on BBC One on Friday 27 June (7pm), with a live link up to the 2025 event. Following a weekend of performances on BBC TV and iPlayer, BBC Two will show a Best of Glastonbury 2025 compilation, whilst more highlights will be shown on BBC Three. CBeebies Bedtime Stories will be returning to Glastonbury Festival with special readings from a host of stars throughout the weekend. Not only that but CBeebies House Party LIVE will delight family audiences in The Astrolabe, Theatre & Circus Field. An effervescent stage show starring the legendary Justin Fletcher, Evie Pickerill, Nigel Clarke and the one and only Duggee. The full TV schedule from Saturday 21st – Friday 27th June will be announced on Wednesday 11th June. The TV schedules from Saturday 28th June – Friday 4th July will be confirmed on Wednesday 18th June. The BBC's coverage of Glastonbury 2024, produced by BBC Studios, won the BAFTA Award for Live Event coverage in 2025. BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music – the radio home of Glastonbury and the UK's biggest digital-only radio station with an audience of 2.6 million listeners (RAJAR, Q1 2025) – hosts All Day Glastonbury from Wednesday 25th June – Monday 30th June. For six days, the schedule will be dedicated entirely to Glastonbury, with all tracks being from artists who have played or will play the festival this year, highlights from Glastonbury sets past and present, and more live shows from site than ever before. The station will be broadcasting 58 hours of live programming from Glastonbury and joining forces with BBC Sounds' Sidetracked, broadcasting two Glastonbury specials of the podcast on the Friday and Sunday, 6-7pm. On Wednesday 25th June, Nick Grimshaw (7-10am) will broadcast his show live from Worthy Farm as the gates open and festival-goers pour in. Nick will be speaking to Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis and hearing from happy campers. Later that day, Deb Grant and Nathan Shepherd will be presenting New Music Fix Daily from site (7-9pm). On Thursday 26th June, Nick, Deb and Nathan will be back at the same times and will be joined on site by Lauren Laverne (10am-1pm) and Craig Charles (1-4pm), getting listeners in the mood with classic Glastonbury sets, themed playlists, interviews and more. On Friday 27th June, following All Day Glastonbury shows from Chris Hawkins in Salford (5-7am) and Nemone in London (7-10am), 6 Music brings listeners broadcasts from Worthy Farm. Lauren (10am-1pm), Jamz Supernova (1-4pm), Huw Stephens (4-6pm), Sidetracked with Annie Macmanus and Nick Grimshaw (6-7pm), New Music Fix Daily with Deb and Nathan (7-9pm) and Steve Lamacq (9pm-12am) will all be on site as the festival prepares to welcome its first headline acts across the five main stages. On Saturday 28th June, following Amy Lamé (6-8am) and Radcliffe and Maconie (8-10am) from Salford, Jamz and Gilles Peterson kick off the live shows from Glastonbury (10-1am), followed by Craig (1-4pm), Cerys Matthews (4-7pm), New Music Fix Daily (7-9pm), and Huw (9pm-midnight). Sunday 29th June sees Amy (6-8am) and Radcliffe and Maconie (8-10am) from Salford, followed by Cerys (10am-1pm), Deb (1-4pm), Huw (4-6pm) Sidetracked with Annie and Nick (6-7pm), Matt Everitt and Friends (7-9pm) and Steve (9pm-12am) all live from Glastonbury as the 2025 festival comes to a close. On Monday 30th June, it's the Morning After Glastonbury. Ease yourself into the week with hours of perfectly-curated restorative music, with a brand new Morning After Mix (5-7am) followed by Nemone (7-10am) and AFRODEUTSCHE (10am-1pm) live from London, with reflections and highlights from a glorious weekend complemented by three exclusive new mixes from very special guests, including English Teacher and Maribou State. BBC Radio 1, Radio 1 Dance and 1Xtra Radio 1's New Music Show with Jack Saunders begins the station's live coverage from Worthy Farm on Thursday 26th June (6-8pm). This is followed by Radio 1 Dance's Takeover of the BBC Introducing Stage with Danny Howard, Arielle Free, Sarah Story and special guests, which will be simulcast on Radio 1 and Radio 1 Dance (8-11pm). For the first time, on Friday 27th June (7-10am) Greg James broadcasts his Radio 1 Breakfast Show live from Glastonbury, and later that day, Danny, Arielle and Sarah are back on Radio 1 and Radio 1 Dance from 6pm, before Radio 1 brings listeners live music from site. On Saturday 28th June, Sam MacGregor and Danni Diston (1-4pm) explore what's happening around Worthy Farm on Radio 1, and on BBC Radio 1Xtra, DJ Target presents 1Xtra's Pre-Party show live from Glastonbury (7-9pm). There will be more music from the festival broadcast on Radio 1 and 1Xtra during the evenings of Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th June. In the weeks that follow the festival weekend, Radio 1 Dance will broadcast some exclusive DJ sets, recorded live at Glastonbury. BBC Radio 2 On Monday 9th June, Jo Whiley (7-9pm) presents a Glastonbury edition of her show, with special guests Jake Shears and Jessie Ware, who join to share their Glastonbury memories, favourite sets and ones to watch for this year. Saturday 28th June sees Dermot O'Leary (8-10am) and Zoe Ball (1-3pm) broadcast live from site, both talking to performers, campers and bringing listeners highlights from Friday's day of sets. Zoe's show will feature an interview with Sunday's Legends slot performer, Rod Stewart. Edith Bowman will broadcast a Glastonbury Highlights show that night from London (10pm-12am). On Sunday 29th June, Jo Whiley (5-8pm) will present highlights from the weekend so far and from that afternoon. The following day, Monday 30th June, Jo returns to present at the usual time (7-9pm) to reflect on the weekend. BBC Radio 4 Radio 4's Woman's Hour is back at Glastonbury on Friday on 27th June (10-11am) to bring all the buzz and excitement of Worthy Farm to Radio 4. Anita Rani brings listeners special guests, live music and explores some of the most dynamic women in the music industry. BBC Sounds Glastonbury on BBC Sounds brings listeners live performances, specials, mixes and more across the next two months. The audio edition of Annie and Nick's Sidetracked by Glastonbury episode with Rod Stewart is available now on BBC Sounds, with further episodes - including an interview with Loyle Carner - dropping weekly on Mondays (5am) until 16th June. Plus, for the first time ever, Annie and Nick will record an episode of the podcast in front of a live audience at the festival on Thursday 26th June, available on BBC Sounds the same day. Recorded at the BBC Introducing Stage, Annie and Nick discuss their must-see artists, debate their biggest clashes, share their Glastonbury memories and welcome special guests. Nick and Annie will also wrap-up with a bonus episode for BBC Sounds after the festival. Throughout June, the BBC Sounds Glastonbury Collection will be populated with Glastonbury themed editions of programmes and mixes including: a new interview between Zoe Ball and Rod Stewart called Zoe Ball Meets Rod Stewart; 6 Music's Indie Forever; Radio 2's Sophie Ellis-Bextor's Kitchen Disco and Alternative Sounds of the 90s with Dermot O'Leary; episodes of 1Xtra Salutes… celebrating Busta Rhymes, Doechii & Hip Hop at Glastonbury and RAYE; and classic episodes of Radio 4's Desert Island Discs with past Glastonbury performers Adele, Bruce Springsteen, Debbie Harry, Elton John, Lily Allen, Nile Rodgers, Paul McCartney and festival organisers, Emily and Michael Eavis. During the festival, listeners can follow along with all the live coverage across the radio stations at the click of a button on the BBC Sounds app. Over 30 performances and DJ sets will be available to hear on demand for 30 days after broadcast, in addition to four Glastonbury Highlights compilations put together by Radio 1, Radio 1Xtra, 6 Music and Radio 2 (available from Monday 30th June for 30 days), and the special editions of 6 Music's Morning After Mix from English Teacher, Maribou State and more. BBC INTRODUCING The BBC Introducing Stage opens at 12pm on Thursday 26th June, as Annie and Nick record an episode of Sidetracked in front of a live audience for the first time (available on BBC Sounds later that day). In another first, BBC Radio 3's Georgia Mann will also take over the stage with a specially curated mix of classical music and exclusive live performance (Saturday 28th June, 11am-12pm and broadcast on Friday 4th July at 12pm, as part of Georgia's daily show Essential Classics, on Radio 3). Returning to the stage this year is BBC Introducing Open Deck (Thursday 26th June, 5.45-7pm) - an open call for emerging DJs who are attending the festival to jump on the decks and play a set, and stage takeovers from: Radio 1 Dance with Danny Howard, Arielle Free, Sarah Story, Jaguar and special guests (broadcast on Radio 1 and Radio 1 Dance on Thursday 26th June, 8-11pm); 6 Music's Indie Forever with Nathan Shepherd and Emily Pilbeam on the Friday; and Radio 2's Alternative Sounds of the 90s with Dermot O'Leary on the Saturday. The artists performing on the stage over the festival are Adult DVD, ALT BLK ERA, Beth McCarthy, Chalk, Cortney Dixon, Deeps, Divorce, Fiona-Lee, Jacob Alon, jasmine.4.t, BBC Introducing and Radio 1's Jess Iszatt (DJ set), Jo Hill, Lambrini Girls, L E M F R E C K, Lola Moxom, BBC Radio 1's Maia Beth (DJ Set), Mali Hâf, Mên An Tol, Moreish Idols, MRCY, Native James, Nectar Woode, Nia Smith, Nina Arya, OneDa, BBC Introducing in Scotland's Phoebe I-H (DJ set), Sebastian Schub, Webmoms and Westside Cowboy. There will also be TBA guests on the stage throughout the weekend, which will be announced via @bbcintroducing on Instagram and X and on the BBC Introducing chalkboard at the stage. BBC Introducing will be reflecting the action on-air and on social media. After the event, highlights will be broadcast on BBC Introducing shows across the UK and will be available on BBC iPlayer and BBC Music's YouTube channel. BBC Introducing is a one-of-a-kind platform which supports unsigned, undiscovered, and under-the-radar music talent across the UK. Since its launch in 2007, there have been more than 1 million tracks uploaded to the BBC Introducing uploader and there are currently over 350,000 registered artists. BBC Introducing gives up-and-coming artists broadcast opportunities across BBC radio, television and online alongside the chance to perform at major festivals and showcases. Glastonbury is commissioned for television and radio by Lorna Clarke, BBC Director of Music. The BBC's Glastonbury TV coverage is produced by BBC Studios Music Productions. The Executive Producer is Alison Howe. The Head of BBC Pop Music TV is Jonathan Rothery. The Commissioning Editor for BBC Pop Music TV is Rachel Davies. Viewers will be able to watch live performances from Glastonbury in Ultra HD and HDR on BBC iPlayer, the best picture quality they've ever been broadcast in.
CairoScene
25-05-2025
- CairoScene
This Giza Hotel Understands That the Pyramids Are the Main Character
You've seen the Pyramids. But have you bathed beside them? You know those mornings where you wake up late, roll over, and immediately regret checking your phone? Yeah—this is the opposite of that. At Kove Hotel by the Pyramids, Cairo's newest boutique sleepover-with-history stay, your first view of the day is the actual Pyramids of Giza, just chilling outside your window like it's no big deal. And somehow, you're still wrapped in soft linens, sipping tea, and trying to figure out if this is a dream or just really good hotel planning. This place isn't one of those overdone 'luxury palaces' with shiny marble floors and dramatic chandeliers. It's earthy, cozy, and calm in that boho-Instagram-but-still-comfortable kind of way. Rough stone walls, warm wood, tones that don't shout at you. The hotel's eleven rooms feel like they were designed by someone who owns at least one pottery wheel and has extremely good taste. And, if you're the type to book a place just for the bathtub, this is your moment. Three of the suites come with big freestanding tubs with Pyramid views. That's right. You can literally soak in bubbles while the oldest wonders of the world just stare at you casually, powerfully. And while we're on the subject of absurd proximity: The Pyramids? Five-minute walk. The new Grand Egyptian Museum? Four. The Sphinx? Eight. You're not 'near' the action—you're in it. You can basically stumble out of bed and into 5,000 years of history, possibly still in your pajamas. Here, breakfast happens on a huge terrace where the pyramids photobomb every single bite. The food's fresh, the coffee hits just right, and the staff is warm in that 'we've actually got you' kind of way. It's low-key, easygoing, and surprisingly un-touristy for a place this close to one of the most visited sites in the world. But here's the thing about Kove: it isn't trying to be flashy. It's just really good at being exactly what you want when you're visiting a place like Giza: somewhere that feels personal, peaceful, and maybe just a little unreal.
Scotsman
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
Heartache for Bonnyrigg Rose who are relegated from SPFL
Bonnyrigg Rose will ply their trade in the Lowland League next season after being relegated from the SPFL. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Rose were held to a goalless draw in the second leg of their Pyramid play-off against East Kilbride, failing to overturn a two-goal deficit following last Saturday's 3-1 first-leg defeat in South Lanarkshire. Kilby will now take their place in League Two next season. Neil Martyniuk whips in a cross against East Kilbride. Picture: Joe Gilhooley LRPS. Jonny Stewart's side finished bottom of Scottish football's fourth tier on goal difference having incurred a six-point deduction in November for breaching SPFL rules over the gradient of their New Dundas Park pitch. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Stewart galvanised a squad low on confidence when he took over from predecessor Calum Elliot in March, but it proved too little too late despite Rose winning their last three league games of the campaign. It's a bitter blow for a club that secured promotion to the SPFL in May 2022 via the Pyramid play-off. "I'm massively disappointed," Stewart said afterwards. "Obviously it's never nice being relegated whatever sport or level you're playing at. The boys are gutted and so am I and my staff. It's quite hard to put into words, but over the course of the season, did we deserve to finish bottom? No, with the points deduction but we can't use that as an excuse. Since I've come in we've had the opportunity to keep us in the league but unfortunately we hit form just a little bit too late with winning our last three games. "Credit to East Kilbride they're a good side and done a job on us. They were very professional and changed their style of play with the pitch and, if I'm brutally honest, we didn't do enough to win the game. Aaron (Arnott) had a chance in the first half and then Kerr (Young) hits the bar in the second and if that goes in it maybe changes the course of it. Over the piece I felt that we were just a little bit short. "We need to recover physically and mentally now and go again next season. The fans have been brilliant - the support you get here is different class. It's a real community club so hopefully they stick with us."
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Brutal reality of sports stars being seriously hurt on TV
Andrew Flintoff glares at the director of his eponymous documentary as he accuses television of treating him like 'a piece of meat'. 'Even you with your questions,' he tells John Dower in a gripping exchange about the horrific Top Gear crash that left him scarred for life and wishing he had died. 'I think that's the danger that TV falls into. And I found out the hard way, eventually,' Flintoff says towards the end of the Disney+ film. 'It's always more, isn't it? Everybody wants more. Everybody wants that thing that nobody has seen before. Everyone wants that bigger stunt. Everybody [thinks], 'Actually, in some ways, let's have that near-miss, because then that'll get viewers'. Everything's about viewers. Always. Always.' That Dower, an award-winning film-maker, agrees makes the exchange feel like a wake-up call to an industry that has long provided a second career for the country's most telegenic sporting stars but has not necessarily done so with their best interests in mind. Flintoff is among a rare breed whose popularity or personality have taken them beyond covering the sport that first made them famous. Before him came John Fashanu and Sharron Davies on Gladiators and Ian Wright, whose TV credits include presenting a reboot of the same programme and his own chat show. There was Chris Kamara, who fronted Ninja Warrior UK and Cash in the Attic. While Kriss Akabusi and Linford Christie both presented Record Breakers. More recently Jermaine Jenas hosted The One Show before sabotaging his BBC career and bid to succeed Gary Lineker on Match of the Day. And who would have thought life after Manchester United, Aston Villa and Coventry City would have involved Dion Dublin fronting Homes Under the Hammer? Of course, none of these names have suffered the kind of life-changing injuries during their broadcasting careers as Flintoff, who is now as famous for his near-fatal stint on Top Gear, and programmes such as A League of Their Own and a revival of Bullseye, as for his Ashes-winning heroics. But neither is the 47-year-old the only British sporting icon to be seriously hurt filming a television show. Olympic medallist Beth Tweddle suffered one of the worst injuries when she broke her back while appearing on The Jump. Davies, the Olympic swimming silver medallist who joined Gladiators in 1995 as 'Amazon', was forced to quit the following year after snapping the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) while taking part in an event called Pyramid. 'With the knee, I just hauled this girl off the pyramid and she landed really awkward on it sideways and, obviously, the cruciate ligament just went,' Davies tells Telegraph Sport. 'I've had 10 operations since. I had an ACL reconstruction, had about 10 ops and I've got really bad arthritis in that knee because of it.' Comparing the likes of Pyramid with the events played in the current BBC Gladiators reboot, she adds: 'It wouldn't get past health and safety now. It literally wouldn't. Nowadays, health and safety is very different, which is why a lot of the games are much tamer than they were in the '90s.' Davies says she received a 'small payout' of around £20,000, which even taking into account inflation, was a tiny fraction of the £9 million Flintoff reportedly got from the BBC after his accident. She adds: 'The health and safety was definitely a lot more lax and we did have quite a few injuries. People falling off Pole-Axe and hurting necks and all sorts of things.' Davies also says she suffered 'two broken ribs and all sorts of issues' while taking part in Dancing on Ice in 2010. 'I carried on as long as I possibly could but the problem is, me being so very tall, the dynamics of what we were doing just, every time I got picked up, they were just squeezing my ribs, so it was absolutely difficult. And, in the end, the hospital were saying, 'Look, if you're not careful, you'll end up with a punctured lung'.' Davies, who did not quit the show but was voted off, adds: 'I had injections in my shoulder. I had all sorts of things going on.' Even her stint presenting The Big Breakfast in the mid-1990s was not without its health challenges. 'I ended up getting bronchiolitis, which I'd never done in my life, because I was getting up at three-o'clock in the morning.' she says. 'It's like a very, very bad chest infection and I just couldn't get rid of it.' Yet, the 61-year-old says she is 'philosophical' about the physical toll all this has taken on her, particularly a knee injury she had a 'clean out' on as recently as December. 'You know what you're saying yes to,' she says. 'And then you have to be aware that things happen.' She blames Flintoff's life-changing injuries on 'whoever's fault it was to not make him wear a crash helmet' while he was driving a three-wheeled open-top roadster. 'That was a serious mistake. I'm not sure that you'd be getting all this from Andrew now if it wasn't for the fact that he'd had that accident.' Indeed, Flintoff's own wife and agent respectively claim he was 'looking for that buzz that he had from playing cricket' and that he became 'a daredevil' on Top Gear 'because he naturally challenges himself'. Davies says: 'Someone like Andrew got offered all of these incredible opportunities to go and do risky things because of the type of person he was. And, because of the type of person he was, he said yes. And he went off and he enjoyed most of them. And, the weird thing is, had that accident not happened, who's to say that he wouldn't still be doing Top Gear?' Davies did quit one show, Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls, which she appeared on in 2017. 'I wish I'd said 'no thank you' to Bear Grylls: The Island. That was quite horrible,' she says. 'This is literally where they dump you on an island with a machete and just leave you there. And we didn't have any food for nine days. Nothing. No water for three days, which is way worse. 'We all ended up with swamp hands and swamp feet, where you're so wet that they swell up three times the size. Oh, God. It was horrendous. It really was horrendous!' She claims she quit after programme-makers failed to honour an agreement to let her have contact with home 'every couple of days' due to a family member suffering a bereavement shortly before she was due to take part. 'After three weeks on the island, I just went, 'F--- this, I'm going home', because I am now petrified that something's happening.' The production company behind the programme, which last aired in 2018, did not respond to a request for comment. Davies branded reality television 'absolutely mercenary', adding: 'They are mercenary to members of the general public who want their five minutes of fame, and they will just go on to the next person. And they don't care about the consequences. Because it's fodder. You are fodder.' This is not a view shared by Phil Tufnell, the last England cricketer before Flintoff to make the leap from that sport into mainstream television. That owed everything to him winning I'm a Me Out of Here! in 2003. 'It was great fun! I thoroughly enjoyed it,' he says of his time on the programme's second series. His triumph paved the way for a TV career that included a stint as captain on the original sports-themed comedy panel show They Think It's All Over and a remarkable 13 years in the same role on A Question of Sport before he, Sue Barker and Matt Dawson were axed from the programme by the BBC. Tufnell, who has also made numerous appearances as a reporter for The One Show, says he has yet to watch the Flintoff documentary and sidesteps questions about his former England team-mate's view of the TV industry. Asked if he can recall any negative experiences of his own, he replies: 'Not particularly. Like in sport, you come and go.' He adds of Flintoff: 'I kind of understand what he means that, one minute, you're captain of England and then, the next minute, you're not. And, so, you have to sort of reinvent yourself a little bit perhaps.' Tufnell says he can recall few offers within television that he has turned down beyond one for him to 'pose naked' – 'I thought to myself, 'I don't think I'll do that'' – and another for him to host the Playboy Channel – 'I'm glad I gave that one a miss!' Despite being one of sport's big crossover stars, he says he does not know why he and the likes of Flintoff had managed to move into mainstream television when others had not. He adds of his own transition: 'I just went along, all ears, kept my eyes open, and was enthusiastic. If you're enthusiastic about things, it gets you quite a long way, I find, and if you've got energy and – as my father always said – keep a smile on your face, and you just go along, and if you're doing things that are interesting [that helps].' Jeremy Guscott was among the first stars of rugby union to branch out from punditry duties on the likes of the Six Nations. Starting in regional television, the former Bath and England centre was still playing when he was thrust into Saturday night primetime TV by replacing Fashanu on Gladiators. He also worked on daytime television on City Hospital. Comparing his own experience of the industry with that of Flintoff, Guscott says: 'I was treated really, really well.' He also says that, unlike Davies, he 'didn't see' anything during his own time on Gladiators that was a cause for concern. 'Being a Gladiator, it's hard,' he says. 'But I think you're hoping that your agent's signed you up to something and you might be old enough or wise enough or streetwise enough to know what's good and what's not and what your aftercare might be. I played rugby, you signed a contract. You got a lawyer to read it over and you got your medical insurance in place. Or you didn't.' Guscott admits there was one thing he did not enjoy about the show, and about TV more generally. 'I don't think I'm built to memorise script,' he says, recalling getting the names of contenders 'muddled up' on Gladiators and having to reshoot whole sequences. He also reveals he said no to I'm A Celebrity… – 'I'm not good with creepy crawlies' – as well as to celebrity ski-jumping show The Jump, which he says was due to the risk of getting seriously hurt. No show has injured more of Britain's sporting idols than The Jump, which aired between 2014 and 2017. Sir Steve Redgrave (broken hand), Sir Bradley Wiggins (broken leg), Rebecca Adlington (dislocated shoulder), Christie (hamstring) and Tweddle (broken back) were all forced to quit the programme. Even 2016 winner Ben Cohen (face) was among the 34 celebrities hurt during the show's four-year run (Tufnell took part in 2015 when he was the first contestant eliminated). It never returned after Tweddle sued programme makers over her injury, saying: 'I'm not sure I'll ever be 100 per cent again.' Telegraph Sport has been told production company Twofour admitted liability after initially denying responsibility. It did not respond to requests for comment about a case which, according to court documents, was eventually closed in October 2022, not long before Flintoff's Top Gear crash. Whether television heeds the wake-up call Flintoff delivers in his documentary remains to be seen. But if all that has befallen him fails to convince television that it needs to change then nothing ever will.
