What an utterly bizarre concept for a TV programme ‘Splash!‘ is. We’ve put ‘celebrities’ in the jungle, on the dance floor, in the Big Brother house and on a skating rink but who on earth came up with the idea of pushing them out onto a diving board and telling them to get on with it?
There must be a point in which the British license-paying public say enough is enough. I mean, it’s not as if the ‘Splash!’ contestants are exactly household names any more. It’s 25 years since Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards was playing the part of the plucky Brit in the Winter Olympics ski-jump, though if anybody is qualified to take a leap off the deep end it’s the short-sighted 50-year-old. ‘The Eagle’ is only 11/10 with Ladbrokes to win the competition having already won one of the heats thanks to the tutelage of Olympic bronze medallist Tom Daley but you would imagine a younger and fitter rival would eventually prevail if able to match the courage of Edwards. Garden designer Diarmuid Gavin clearly didn’t fall into that category, though no-one who saw his exhibit at last year’s Chelsea Flower Show could doubt he has a head for heights.
Boxer Anthony Ogogo may be the one at the general 5/1, though betting on something like this is always a risk as you are relying on the British public to have some understanding of a complex method of scoring that even puzzles those who love the sport. The fact that Jo Brand is on the judging panel suggests the programme doesn’t take itself too seriously but maybe the producers might have looked a bit harder for some glamour – they are all wearing swimsuits for goodness sake! Of course, there’s the obligatory TOWIE contestant (don’t those people every do any work?) but Linda Barker? And Dom Joly (33/1 with Betfred and sportingbet) and Omid Djalili (a general 8/1) look as though they’ve learned their technique from Peter Kay‘s ‘Top Bombin’ advert. The best bet in the market may be Coral‘s 4/11 that a second series of ‘Splash!’ doesn’t see the light of day.
