We know exactly what TV bosses want from this wife swap show...
Your marriage is going through a rocky patch and you feel as though your other half doesn’t appreciate you any more. What to do?
Well, if you’re a participant in new reality show Seven Year Switch ( Channel 4), you dump your partner to shack up with a complete stranger in Thailand for a fortnight.
Naturally, the producers of the programme were keen to project the idea of the show being a ‘radical experiment’ that would force the couples to scrutinise the problems in their marriage.
Last night, we met four couples whose relationships were in crisis who all agreed to swap partners. After the free Thai holiday they must decide whether they want to stay in the marriage or split up.
We’ve been here before with Wife Swap, although there is a twist with Seven Year Switch.
What the TV rotters didn’t tell the couples was that each holiday villa had just one bed.
By far the most likeable candidates were Simon and Nikki from Bristol. He worked two jobs while she, exhausted and recovering from post-natal depression, was at home with two small children.
They certainly were in need of a holiday. But going on one together might have made more sense. Instead, they swapped partners with Gemma and Tony, childhood sweethearts from Essex.
When Tony learned of the onebed stunt, he threatened to walk off the show, adamant that his wife would be appalled at the idea.
As it turned out, she wasn’t that bothered.
Also taking part were Michelle and George from Leicester, who communicated by screaming at each other, and rachel and her man-child of a husband Tom.
overseeing events was ‘relationship expert’ Lee Valls. He collated MI5- style files on the individuals and drew elaborate diagrams before concluding the bleedin’ obvious to the viewer. For example: ‘These couples need to listen to each other more.’
A version of the show was a huge hit in Australia and the u.S. where couples ended up in bed together.
For all their talk of social experiments, that is exactly what makers of the uK show want as well.
The entertainment was far less tawdry on The Great Celebrity Bake Off For Stand Up To Cancer (C4). Taking part were comedians Harry Hill and roisin Conaty, TV presenter Bill Turnbull and actor and singer Martin Kemp.
In the signature challenge, Martin — who looked like Paul Hollywood’s thinner, better looking brother — accidentally cooked the icing for his cupcakes instead of the batter.
The technical challenge was to make a crepe suzette. ‘I’ll eat my hat if any of them do it,’ said Prue Leith. She had a point, most of the contestants would struggle to make toast. But this five- part series isn’t about discovering a fabulous amateur baker, it’s about raising funds for cancer charities.
Having just revealed his own diagnosis for prostate cancer, the appearance of Bill Turnbull was all the more poignant.
Harry Hill was crowned the winner for his ‘showstopper’ 3D biscuit creation — an imagined scene of him stranded on a desert island with the Duchess of Cornwall — complete with a horse on a surfboard. Silly, yes, but I doubt a TV show will give you a bigger laugh all week.