ITV have today announced the lineup of their judging panel for their newest reality show ‘Grease Is The Word’.

Putting his reputation on the line judging the potential hopefuls, as well as producing the eventual winners in the new West End show, is renowned theatre producer David Ian. Joining David on the judging panel is; I’m A Celebrity favourite, multimillionaire American showbiz impresario and producer David Gest, American choreographer Brian Friedman and The X Factor mentor, 80’s pop icon and West End star in her own right Sinitta (Mutiny, Hair, What A Feelin’).

David Ian said of taking part in the series, “I’m absolutely thrilled and delighted to be working with ITV on this project looking for a brand new Danny and Sandy for the West End production of Grease. It’s so exciting to be looking for genuine new UK talent to fill the boots of John Travolta and Olivia Newton John and to perform in one of the greatest musicals of all time.” Read more & comment »

ITV have revealed that Zoe Ball will be replacing Cat Deeley as host of their newest reality TV, Grease Is The Word.

This deal comes hot on the heels of Zoe presenting the recent series of Soapstar Superstar for ITV. Seems like the girl is hot property at the moment.

Zoe will be joined by previous I’m A Celebrity contestant David Gest, who will be one of the judging panel.

Soapstar Superstar. Fabulous Hayley Tamaddon was the star of the show tonight with the beautiful Gemma Atkinson voted out.
It is anyone’s game now as the voting results are very close. Tupelo Dorgu went head to head with Gemma tonight with Tupela staying another night.
Friday will be semi finals night with Mark Furze (safe thanks to Gemma), Hayley Tamaddon and either Tupelo or Antony Cotton.  Both performed exceptionally well, as did Mark and Hayley and anyone could have landed in the bottom two to suffer the 24 wait to see who will be voted out and then, no recovery time, go on stage to open the show.  (Heartless.)
David Gest was his usual amusing self and brought a bit of humour to the show as did Antony when hitting back at a judge’s remarks. All the contestants were brilliant but  Hayley’s performance, especially her first number, was pure beauty giving chills and goose bumps. What an amazing voice and performance. Even Zoë Ball, hosting the show, remarked on getting goose bumps from Hayley’s powerful, emotional and stirring singing.
The contestants will be dancing in the Friday night Semi Finals as well as singing.
A recent survey of Reality viewers showed Soapstar Superstar with five million ITV viewers on their launch night, Just the two of us (now finished) with 4.3 million BBC1 viewers and BB on their first Friday night with 3.9 million. On Channel 4.

On Saturday BB dropped to 2.8 viewers and Soapstar Superstar (finishes Saturday) got 4.3 million. And Just the Two of Us got tops with 4.6 million.  Competition has been tough amongst the reality shows.
Evelyn Lewis

David Gest, riding high on his success in the I’m A Celebrity jungle, has just been offered his own fly on the wall style show with ITV.

It will be a behind the scenes look at the life of the man who counts Michael Jackson as one of his best friends.

“This is just the kind of show I wanted to do. It’s going to be an absolute blast.

“I really can’t wait for everyone to meet Vaginica,” said Gest, 53.

The David Gest Show will be made by the same team behind I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!.

He said: “I have been astounded by the incredible reaction and the thousands upon thousands of letters I have received since leaving the jungle.

“It has been mind-boggling and I want to thank the public for their overwhelming support.”

The show will be screened later this year.

Layla Smith, ITV1’s controller of alternative programmes, said: “He was the star of I’m A Celebrity - an absolute revelation and completely captivating.

“We can’t wait to go behind the scenes with the man himself - the nation want to see it and we are delighted he has chosen ITV for what is sure to be a fascinating series.”

Fresh from the I’m A Celebrity jungle and David Gest must be rushed off his feet. He has graced our TV screens almost every day on some chat show or other since leaving the jungle, and the latest scoop for Michael Jacksons best friend is reportedly a £1 million book deal!

David’s book will be a tell all autobiography and a source told BreakingNews:

“David’s got no obvious talents. He can’t sing or dance - but he is absolutely charming.

“The book will reveal what his secret is.”

David Gest came out of the I’m A Celebrity jungle with a new lifelong friend. And now it seems he wants to help that friend launch a comeback pop career.

David has publicly said that he will “do everything he can” to help his friend get back into the music world.

John Ashby, a close friend of Gest, says, “David struck up a friendship with Jason and it’ll last for years.

“David knows all the right people. He loves to help friends and get them to play in shows he puts on.”

The king of pop, Michael Jackson, apparently “spent a fortune” calling a premium rate phone line in a bid to help his friend David Gest win I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!

Gest was evicted from the jungle last week in fourth place, but the music producer’s vote tally was greatly increased by the pop giant, according to Michael’s brother Tito Jackson.

He says, “It was such a shame David went out, but we think he did a great job.

“Michael voted for David to stay in. He spent a fortune.”

It was a really good touch taking us to the six star hotel to see how the celebrities were enjoying themselves after leaving the jungle, seeing the people who were important to them and best of all, their reaction to ‘real food’. Most of them tucked into the enormous breakfast buffet but Jan Leeming settled for a bowl of fruit before heading for the hotel for a luxury bath and then off with her friend on a shopping spree. VIP treatment all the way.

Spoilt and eccentric David Gest had friends and staff running frantically around his luxurious quarters, throwing out unsuitable pillows, blankets, ordering extra towels and everything had to be laid out ‘just so’.

Scott Henshall was worrying about meeting up with Phina Oruche for round two, expecting more bites and scratches, but was pleasantly surprised to be greeted with a hug and a kiss. The paparazzi went wild over both Myleene Klass (whose boyfriend forgot to bring the engagement with him, Myleene had said she would love to get married in the jungle) and Phina, photographing them in various bikinis and glamorous positions.

Faith Brown had to leave the hotel early to return home for her husband’s scheduled hip operation. She said would have loved to stay longer but her husband was her first priority.

The family celebrities were joyously welcomed by the children in their lives, all enjoying the many luxury facilities of the hotel. Lauren Booth radiated happiness at being with her children as did Dean Gaffney.

Matt Willis was a King indeed. King of the jungle and fussed over wherever he went. Although we were all surprised at his winning, as he had not been placed very high by the bookies, he made a great king, excelling in his last trial of bug eating.

Reunited with Toby Anstis, the four musketeers (Jason Donovan, Toby Anstis, David and Matt) were soon romping around boisterously.

We did not see much of Malandra Burrows, but with that gorgeous hunk all over her, can we blame her?

We left the remaining celebrities partying together and eating non stop.

Sad to say, we will just have to wait for the next ‘I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here!’ to be able to enjoy jungle life, safely from our chairs in front of the TV with refreshments, in abundance, close at hand. It will be good to see you again in the jungle, Ant and Dec!!!

This article was written by Evelyn Lewis. Thanks Evelyn!

Fresh from ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here’, David Gest is the latest addition to the illustrious line-up for this year’s Royal Variety Performance at the London Coliseum on Monday 4 December hosted by Jonathan Ross.

This will be the first appearance by the best friend of Tito Jackson since he left camp.

David will appear alongside stars from the worlds of theatre, television, comedy and music.

The line-up includes Rod Stewart, Barry Manilow, Meatloaf, Take That, John Barrowman, Ken Dodd, Sugababes; the casts of Spamalot, The Sound of Music including Connie Fisher, Wicked and Avenue Q; and stand-up from Omid Djalili, Jason Byrne, Lee Mack and Michael McIntyre.

Other guests on the night will include Katie Price & Peter Andre, Paul O’Grady, Vernon Kay, Noel Edmonds and many more.

This year’s performance will air on BBC One on Tuesday 12 December at 8pm.

There is such a happy atmosphere in the camp and it all ends tomorrow night with the crowning of one of the remaining three celebrities. Jason Donovan who played Joseph in the Technicolor Dream coat, Myleene Klass, British classical pianist and TV Presenter and Matt Willis, who is a bass guitarist and was a member of Busted. the British pop idol group. Dean Gaffney, 11 years with Emmerdale, was the first to leave tonight. followed by, shockingly, David Gest. We hope this was not a repeat of the error made when Toby Anstis left. We had been told to push the red button for the wrong vote. All along David has been in the lead and this morning, on This Morning: I’m a Celebrity TV3 1200, he was lying second to Jason with 27 % of the votes to win, Jason with 30%, Myleene 26% and Matt 9% with Dean at the bottom with 8%. What happened????

There was no excitement over the celebrity chest containing cream scones and tea, as the campers were disheartened by their past failure to get the questions correctly answered. This one, although repeated questions from the past, was no different. They had failed to get the strawberry cream cake, ice cream and many other treats on previous occasions.

This is the last night of celebrity jungle but it has been wonderful with many interesting characters, much singing and cheerfulness and a splattering of arguments and bitchiness. The trials have been a real challenge and exciting to watch and the celebrity chest challenges equally entertaining. Ant and Dec are always very entertaining and a real treat.

Tomorrow night we will find out who is to be the next Queen or King of the jungle!!

This article was written by Evelyn Lewis, a contributor here at Unreality TV. Thanks Evelyn.

When David Gest started his I’m A Celebrity journey, most of us thought he would be lucky to last a week in the jungle. No maids, no cook and no bathroom…how would he survive?

But David proved us all wrong. Not only did he survive, but he thrived and ended up being the bookies favourite to win the show.

Unfortunately though, the bookies don’t always get it right and tonight David Gest was the ninth person to be evicted from I’m A Celebrity.

That leaves Myleene Klass, Jason Donovan and Matt Willis in the final three. king or Queen of the jungle will be crowned tomorrow night….who do you think will win?

The final draws near and Dean Gaffney became the eighth person to be evicted from I’m A Celebrity tonight.

The final 3 contestants will be revealed later this evening as one more person faces eviction.

Bookies are tipping Myleene Klass, David Gest and Jason Donovan for the final three which would mean Matt Willis leaving later this evening.

All will be revealed at 10pm tonight!

Dean and David were selected to go and collect the celebrity chest and when they reached a clearing full of pecking emus, Dean began to panic, much to David’s chagrin.

Their task was to dress in a giant yellow emu costume and work together to collect emu eggs, scattered around the clearing, with the added risk of live emus being around to guard the eggs.

While David was up front, Dean brought up the rear and began to yelp and flinch as an emu walked towards him.

Clearly losing his patience with his cowardly colleague, David told Dean: “Shut up.�

When the emus pecked, David pecked back: “Yeah, you want talk? You want to dance? You wanna boogie?�

While David did all the work, Dean may as well have been sat back in camp for the all the use he was, as he just flinched at regular intervals.

Getting the last egg collected, David gave a rendition of the Jason Donovan song ‘Sealed With A Kiss’ followed by the anthem from I’m A Celebrity Series 6, the rap that he wrote with Toby.

Before heading back to camp, David made a rash decision and as he later explained: “I’ve always wanted emus. I bought two today and paid $1,500 for each one. It really made my day. I can always keep them at Michael Jackson’s house at Neverland. He would love them.�

Courtesy Of ITV

Today’s Bushtucker trial required three people to participate so Myleene, Jason and Matt headed off to win some food.

Before leaving Myleene gave David and Dean lengthy instructions on what needed done around camp while they were gone. She told David how to wash dishes, how to boil drinking water and most of all how not to add washing up liquid to the drinking water.#

Seems easy doesn’t it….apparently not. As soon as the others had left, David decided it would be better to wash teh dishes with shampoo….AND CONDITIONER! David was pleased with his shiny soft dishes, so he took it one step further and used some body lotion to moisturise the cutlery.

David and Dean also managed to let the fire go out for the first time since the show began, but at least they didn’t burn the place down!

With Malandra Burrows leaving last night and Jan Leeming tonight, we have five celebrities left in the jungle. The most popular David Gest, with everyone waiting on him hand and foot. The ever popular, nice but funny guy, Jason Donovan, the handy-man . The beautiful Myleene Klass, everyone’s pin up and really very nice person. The charming Matt Willis who gets on with everyone and is always smiling and lastly Dean Gaffney who has tackled his trials, in sheer audible panic but always returned to camp with a good number of meals.

David and Jan have kept the camp both entertained and irritated with their swinging friendship and enmity. David has been upsetting Jan with his unwillingness to pull his weight, being spoilt by all and unappreciation of her cooking. But they have enjoyed the banter over tooth brushing (David telling Jan that he has some one to brush his teeth for him back home), David encouraging her singing, posing for Play Boy Centre fold and anything else he feels the ‘gulible’ Jan will believe. His never ending amusing games have kept both the viewer and camper, highly entertained. Now the couple have split forever, as Jan has said that in spite of his dinner invitation, she would not be going out with him because he had become boring. ( Anyone agree???). Will she still get the promised diamond-stoned cross?

After Dean’s homecoming with five of the six stars, having braved, with screams of terror, a completely dark cave filled with cockroaches, biting ants, spiders and frogs and a strawberry cream cake that was blown up because the third key for the padlocks was not found within the ten allotted minutes, Jan waved goodbye to her fellow campers to head for the luxury six star hotel, friends and hopefully, family. We will miss her (not her whinging) with the cheeky smile, working around the camp fire and spirited discussions with David. Her final night was spent watching a furious storm, lightning and thunder, sharing dreams (David’s was the best with his shooting of all the staff and walking out with Myleene), sad good bye’s and final interview with Ant and Dec. Who will be the next to go???

This article was written by Evelyn a contributor here at Unreality TV. Thanks Evelyn!