It's hard to keep up with Richard Osman's House Of Games sometimes. After a few weeks of high stakes Champions editions, which turned out to be not so high stakes for me when I realised that some of the competitors had only won one show rather than were overall winners of their week, we return this week to a more regular format with four new players, Jennie McAlpine, Ugo Monye, Joe Pasquale and Felicity Ward.
As usual I'll be putting my smart money on one of the comedians. In some ways this show has been ahead of its time. I have been writing for years about how comedians on this are clearly a clever, smart bunch who excel at thinking on their feet. The fact that the current President of Ukraine is a comedian and is outshining most career politicians underlines my point.
Somehow I can't see Joe Pasquale ever standing for high office, but who knows. He did, after all, win I'm a Celebrity so he clearly has the popular vote already. At the moment, however, Pasquale is busy on the road in a stage production of Some Mothers Do 'Ave Em, recreating Michael Crawford's accident-prone Frank Spencer role.
Australian comedian Felicity Ward has become a welcome fixture of the UK comedy scene in recent years, winning acclaim for candid, personal shows on a variety of subjects ranging from her anxiety about finding a toilet in time to her stress about her wedding. She could easily turn out to be the winner this week.
The comedy contingent is up against sports pundit and former rugby union player Ugo Monye and Coronation Street star Jenny McAlpine, who like Joe Pasquale took part in I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2017, where she finished in fourth place.
Fancy picking a winner out of that bunch? I'd go for Pasquale to pick up Richard Osman's prestigious trophy but the top prize is there for the taking. I wonder if there's a Ukrainian version of house of Games.
Richard Osman's House Of Games, Monday, March 7 to Friday, March 11, 6pm, BBC Two Image Credit (Felicty Ward & Ugo Monye (sorry, no Joe Pasquale): BBC/Remarkable TV/Graeme Hunter
