Some viewer were glad to have some light-hearted entertainment on their TV
ITV’s newest show aired on ITV1 this evening and featured a whole host of familiar faces. Celebrity Sabotage features “celebrity saboteurs” as they undertake a mission to prank members of the public in order to win them secret cash prizes.
The four main saboteurs are Joel Dommett, Judi Love, Sam Thompson and GK Barry. Each Saturday night, the four stars will be joined by a different guest celebrity, including Jill Scott MBE, Fay Ripley, Olivia Attwood, Jo Brand, Guz Khan and Harry Redknapp.
In each episode a fresh set of unsuspecting contestants will arrive, believing they’re participating in a brand-new ITV show. These range from cooking challenges and relationship tests to business tasks and even murder mystery games. In ITV’s description of the show, it said: “Little do they know that these shows are completely made up.
“To make it even more convincing, these fake shows will have believable hosts, including familiar faces such as Clare Balding, Matt and Emma Willis, Monica Galetti, Jason Fox, Sara Davies and Rylan Clark. Everyone involved, from the celebrity saboteurs and the crew to the famous hosts, is in on the secret.”
Tonight’s episode started with a group of business enthusiasts embarking on a set of challenges under the eye of entrepreneur and Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies. The celebrity saboteurs were joined by comedian Jo Brand as they set about disrupting wedding video filming, deleting the contestant’s filmed footage, and sabotaging a wellness away-day face mask activity by using green food colouring.
Viewers were divided about the new ITV show. One post to X said: “Just can’t make up my mind about this” and another wrote “Am I the only one weirdly enjoying this.”
Others commented: “Ok so the show is a bit disingenuous but hey it’s Saturday night and a bit of silly fun in a currently miserable world” and “I know it’s all very childish but I absolutely love it. This is what Saturday night telly should be.”
Further responses were from people who embraced the Saturday fun. Another viewer wrote: “Just what we need on a Saturday night, just a good light hearted show.”
However, others weren’t as impressed by the show. One unimpressed viewer commented: “The show has just sabotaged Saturday night it’s just an insult to your intelligence”
Another unhappy post said: “Celebrity Sabotage on ITV is one of the worst TV programmes I have ever seen. Repeats of The Weakest Link and The Wheel on BBC One
“Linear TV is slowly dying unfortunately which makes me very sad. Many people of my age have happy memories of watching Saturday night TV.”
Speaking about the show before it aired, Social media star GK Barry said: “This show is iconic. You get two shows for the price of one! It has everything you want in a new entertainment show.
“It has high stakes, high drama and lots of laughs. And we get to win members of the public money. What’s not to love? I can’t wait for everyone to see it.”
