Meat-free holiday for chat show host Ross
JONATHAN Ross has revealed he will be having an alcohol-free and vegan Christmas this year.
The chat show host appears as a guest on Loose Women’s first Christmas Eve special, hosted by Ruth Langsford and featuring some of the ITV show’s regular panellists.
Ross said he and his wife, the screenwriter Jane Goldman, had both given up meat and dairy this year and intended to stick to their decision over the festive period.
The presenter, who turned 60 in November, has also previously spent periods sober across the last two decades.
He told the panel: “This year we went vegan, so this is my first year as vegans, me and Jane, to try and help save the planet.”
Asked about alcohol, he added: “Well, I don’t drink booze, but I really like non-alcoholic pale ale so I will have one to start in the morning and then I feel like I am joining in with everyone else.
“The nice thing is I stay sober all the way through, so I can be the person in charge of the turkey.”
Speaking on a video call from his home, Ross showed the panel his new puppy, a Brussels Griffon breed named Spooky, and said: “We are so in love with him. I even bought him his own Christmas present.
“I had some candles made that say his name on it and it says: ‘Happy Christmas from mummy and daddy’.”
Ross dismissed the idea he might compete in a reality TV show like The Masked Singer, after featuring as one of its celebrity judges.
He said: “The weird thing about all those reality shows is — I am getting older now, I (turned) 60 this year, and you do get more conscious of the time you have got to spend with your family and the time you have got for yourself to do stuff.
“I have worked pretty solidly all my life so I don’t know whether I would feel I had the time to commit to any big reality show, including The Masked Singer.
“Also I am not blessed with the best voice in the world so I don’t know whether it would be that much of a treat.”
The hour-long episode features the panel, which also includes Stacey Solomon, Janet Street-porter, Brenda Edwards and Coleen Nolan, playing various games and discussing their Christmas plans.