Michael McIntyre is back with his hit game show that’s packed with huge stars, big laughs and a giant spinning wheel but his slimmed down appearance distracts one of his celebrity guests.
The latest series of the hit BBC One show has more celebrities than ever before with the introduction of the ‘Double Chair’, as well as a higher stakes ‘Cashout Question’ but can the contestants answer their way to a fortune?
Jonathan Ross, Joanne McNally, Gethin Jones, Judi Love, Niko Omilana, Clodagh McKenna and William Hanson are the first group of famous faces to appear on the wheel and talk show king Jonathan can’t help by bring up Michael’s weight loss.
During Saturday’s (October 12) first episode of the new series, the wheel lands on the comfort foods category. The Masked Singer UK’s Jonathan says to Michael: “You don’t eat at the moment, do you? You look like you’ve lost so much weight.”
The comedian replies: “Thank you Jonathan but you’ve got things under control. You’ve yo-yo’d over years.” Jonathan agrees: “I yo-yo all the time but guess what? I did two days of exercise this week. I did the plank for nearly 40 seconds.”
As the studio clapped, Jonathan got up to take a bow. Michael asks: “40 seconds? That’s not very long.” The host then goes on to demonstrate the “plank” in front of the group of giggling celebrities.
It comes after reports that Michel once lost 14lbs at a top weight loss centre in Austria. However, he also gained a bizarre phobia after his stay at the £4,000-a-week Mayr Clinic. The star previously said he was warned not to eat apples as they would make him “lethargic” and “confused” and came home scared to eat the fruit.
“It was a week of pain and they did all these tests on me, put little probes on the end of my tongue and told me I shouldn’t eat apples,” the host of BBC’s The Wheel said of his 2017 retreat with fellow comic Paul Tonkinson. “Apparently apples will make me very lethargic and confused in my brain. It’s the only thing I’ve taken from it, really.”
The clinic is known to be gruelling and guests start their stay with a salt cleanse. “You drink the Epsom salts first thing and then within 20 minutes, the whole of the clinic – which is full of wealthy fat people – are all rushing to the lavatory,” said Michael at the time.
Michael lasted six days at the retreat and lost a stone in the process but admitted once he had left: “I was so emotional, depressed and confused and Paul was skeletal.” The dad-of-two says he has since put the weight back on to the approval of his wife Kitty, adding: “She wants teddy bear Michael not racing snake Michael”.
Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel returns to BBC One and iPlayer on Saturday, October 12 at 8.20pm