Weaver's Week 2026-05-10

Last week | Weaver's Week Index | Next week

Who will have the intelligence of Rachel? Who will have the fashion sense of Jade? Who will have the poker face of Alan Carr? Who will have the early bath of Tom Daley? Who will waddle through the halls dressed as a grandfather clock? And who is stopping the team from completing their missions?

ITV's latest attempt to find another Saturday night hit has not been an unqualified success. Nevertheless, we think that Celebrity Sabotage has enough going for it to be a decent watch.

The basic setup is simple. A group of contestants think they're taking part in a new ITV programme, we guess it's been sold as a short pilot that could be fleshed out into a series. Everything takes place over two days, generally with just the one challenge each day.

The basic setup is a lie. The actual challenge is for a group of familiar ITV faces, who are to sabotage the show without being seen by the civilian players. Resident sabs are Joel Dommett (from Popatron and Survivor), Judi Love (Loose Women and Out of Order (2)), GK Barry (I'm a Celeb), and Sam Thompson (Made in Chelsea and Celebs Go Dating). They're joined each week by a guest saboteur, including football manager Harry Redknapp, comedian Jo Brand, and footballer Jill Scott. The sabs can also count on the help of whoever's hosting the fake show they're pranking.

Many of the fake shows were reasonably familiar ideas, with enough differences to avoid copyright problems. The series included:

• The Applicant, a business contest hosted by Sara Davies
• Couple Goals, relationships tested by Emma Willis and her husband Matt
• The Great Kitchen Cook Off, making food in a tent with Monica Galetti
• SOS Survive Or Surrender, physical challenges with former commando Jason Fox
• The Perfect Pooch, dog-related fun with everyone's favourite Clare Balding.

We're going to follow one episode in some detail, The Backstabber with Rylan.

Who's the Guest Saboteur this week? Fay Ripley, a proper acting talent from shows like Cold Feet. Throughout the series, these fifth wheels have added some extra gravitas, perhaps invited more people to try watching the show.

And then we see the contestants come in. Pairs of them, in large black vehicles, complete with numberplates reading "Backstabr". And the suit of armour in the hall, and the painting of the group on the wall. And the assistants in cloaks and masks. Lots of little details, tiny touches that might not be noticed at first glance, but help to add to the realism. The Backstabber looks like it's a real television show, and that helps the civilian contestants think that it's a real television show, and in turn makes the celebrity contestants' job a little bit easier.

Rylan is introduced as the host, and introduces the concept to anyone who hasn't worked it out. The contestants work together as a team, except that one of them is sabotaging the missions, and money the contestants don't earn goes to the titular Backstabber. At the end of the competition, they'll be asked who they think is the Backstabber; it's implied that this will determine which side wins, but Rylan never actually says that.

Each player is sat at a banqueting table, and underneath the cloche is a card revealing whether the player is "Loyal" or the "Backstabber". In turn, each player lifts their cloche to see that they are "Loyal". Yes, all of the players are Loyal, and the Backstabbers are in the secret room behind the bookcase.

Here's our show: what if The Traitors, but with Claudia doing all the bad deeds?

Contestants on The Backstabber are told the way to win money for the group is to complete tasks. For the contestants on Celebrity Sabotage, the way to win money for the group is to stop the group from completing tasks. They're split into small groups, and told to find the key to open a treasure chest, because in the chest are some gold bars which mean money for the group.

The names on Celebrity Sabotage have access to a well-stocked dressing-up cupboard. It allows Judi and Fay to turn into the demon guards, all cape and mask. And it allows Sam to turn into a scarecrow, straw boater and checked shirt and dungarees. At a glance, he's indistinguishable from the real scarecrows standing stock still in the field.

Sam's challenge is shown first. He's with a group who are asked to visit various scarecrows in an area of the woods, and dig up a small box buried at the scarecrow's feet. In one of the boxes is the key to open the treasure chest. Sam's task is to find the key first and make sure the group fail the challenge. Their failure will add £2000 to the pot.

Sam isn't entirely on his own: he has help from Joel and GK back at headquarters, and they're being shown a live feed of all the cameras in the area. They can tell Sam when it's safe to move, and when he's got to stand stock still like a scarecrow. "That's a very scary boy," says one contestant when looking at Sam. Of course, Sam does successfully find the key, then stays stock still as a contestant unearths the box – to find it empty.

The other group have a task to fill up a barrel of water, by carrying water in buckets from a pump to the barrel. Simple, right? Naah, not when the spirit guards are coming to life, and taking water out of the barrel. No wonder it looks like it's going nowhere: all the good work is being undone.

Other familiar sights appear on screen. Confessions from the players are commonplace, and asides from Rylan are almost inevitable. But we've seen a host shouting through a megaphone before. And players getting stuck in coffins? Yes, it's definitely a love letter to the most popular show on telly. And, in a distinct irony that is not lost on fans, it's all being narrated by Siobhan McSweeney, who is the host of the Irish version of the most popular show on telly.

As night falls, the group return to the mansion, and mingle in the various rooms. Who do they think is the Backstabber; who will they vote as prime suspect when the time comes? But that won't be tonight. No, tonight, the Backstabber will remove one Loyal from contention, by scoring through their face on the painting in the hallway.

The role of The Backstabber is played by the celebrities, right? And the host of the fake show is in on the plot and can be commandeered to take part, right? And they've got a massive dressing up cupboard and a bit of money for silly costumes, right?

And that's why Rylan was waddling through a manor house dressed as a grandfather clock.

Celebrity Sabotage has one rule for the saboteurs: don't get caught. The consequences of getting caught are dire: not only is the mission failed (and no money added to the contestants' pot), but the contestant has to be told the whole thing is a bluff, and given the opportunity to walk away now with £2000 cash. Or the contestant could return to the game, and potentially act as an extra saboteur in later challenges.

Whatever the civilian contestant decides, the celebrity is going to spend some time in a little prison cell they've got in the mission basement. Not only is it cramped and horrible and smells of Joel Dommett's socks, but the celeb isn't able to go out and do fun things for the rest of the day.

And that's why Rylan was told to waddle down the corridor as fast as his pendulum would allow, and hide behind a wall when one of the contestants moved from one room to another.

While he's still hiding in the hall, Rylan bangs a large gong to send the players to bed. And none of them suspect a thing.

The second day began by getting all the players into the dining room. Where is Jay? Taken out by the Backstabber. "I'm off to polish my grandfather clock," says Rylan, an audacious mole in plain sight. The players go at each other, all of them reckons the other is the Backstabber.

For this day's challenge, Rylan has been to the costume cupboard, and ends up looking like Raven Of Old from CBBC's Raven. Players have two minutes to find an object hidden somewhere in the house; Saboteurs have to make sure the object is not found, by picking it up, or hiding it, or smashing a vase. Hide a teddy (and GK Barry) in a tiny box? Par for the course. Putting the teddy back on the bed so a player looks suspicious? That'll put the cat amongst the birds!

After all the challenges, the players have found one object and won £2000. They unanimously vote for one candidate as the Backstabber, by selecting names pre-written on card. Names that can't be misspelt, and can't be shown upside down. All the votes are wrong. All the votes are for fellow contestants.

The big reveal happens on camera: slickly-edited highlights of the past two days, showing the briefest clip of each sabotage, and introducing all of the celebrity sabs. And makes sure that the players split a real pot of £25,000. Laughter and hugs at the end.

Celebrity Sabotage works as a satire on contemporary television, it takes an astute rise out of some very popular shows like Bake Off and that SAS show on Channel 4, and some formats that ITV could so easily be developing for real. Even if you don't watch those programmes, Celebrity Sabotage works as a prank show, pulling the wool over the eyes of its civilian players. Behind the scenes, they had to run two full production galleries, one for the celebrity missions, one for the spoof programme the contestants thought they were making. The production had enough budget to make good telly, and it shows on screen.

We'll temper our praise with a dose of realism: having done the low-hanging fruit, it might be difficult to find six more formats ripe for this reworking. And the resulting show was good, but not always the best thing since sliced bread; perhaps the 8pm slot was a bit late, perhaps the show would work better an hour or two earlier. Still, Celebrity Sabotage is good-natured fun, everyone is smiling pretty much the whole time, and we rather hope it can pop back on our screens eventually.

Line-up for The Celebrity Traitors has been announced, the show started recording last weekend and continues till the middle of the month. This year's line-up is, in categories:

The Big Dogs

• Jerry Hall, she's a celebrity divorcee
• Michael Sheen, host of Michael Sheen's Richard Osman's House of Games (3)
• Miranda Hart, whose lines will be re-dubbed by Sue Perkins
• Richard E Grant, from Withnail and I

The Actors

• Bella Ramsey, they led The Worst Witch
• Julie Hesmondhalgh, from Coronation Street and voice of The Weakest Link
• Myha'la, she plays Harper Stern in Industry
• Ross Kemp, hosts Bridge of Lies and appears in The East Enders
• Sebastian Croft, plays Ben in Heartstopper
• Sharon Rooney, from My Mad Fat Diary

The Comedians

• James Acaster, leading podcaster
• Joanne McNally, comedian and podcaster
• Joe Lycett, he hosted The Time it Takes
• King Kenny, he's a prankster
• Rob Beckett, panel show professional
• Romesh Ranganathan, host of The Weakest Link

The Broadcasters and Singers

• Amol Rajan, host of University Challenge
• Hannah Fry, vital statistician
• James Blunt, singer and raconteur
• Leigh-Anne Pinnock, singer in Little Mix
• Maya Jama, she hosted Walk the Line

A distinct lack of sports people in the line-up, not even a single Gladiator. If we're being very picky there's perhaps a bit more comedian and one more bloke than might be ideal; we might speculate as to who was the late booking, and who they replaced.

Still, we will have forgotten these gripes by the time blindfolds come off. No, stop looking at us like that, we will, promise. Two predictions: no more than one initial Traitor from each of the groups we've outlined above. And we expect to be royally entertained when we see the series in the autumn.

The RTS Ireland awards took place. One game show won, The Traitors Ireland (Entertainment). Spin-off Uncloaked was nominated for Factual Entertainment, but didn't win.

BAFTA Craft Awards also went out. Two for The Celebrity Traitors: Ben Archard, Siggi Rosen-Rawlings, James Tinsley, Stuart Frossell, Martin Adams and Nathan Lindley in the Entertainment Craft Team category, the Sound Team for Sound: Factual.

The Perfect Pooch comes to life in Wagging Rights, made by Boldprint Studios for UKTV's Dave and W channels. Five celebrities (Rhod Gilbert, Harriet Kemsley, Kae Kurd, Sara Pascoe, Vicky Pattison) attempt to train pet dogs to become show dogs. Six episodes later this year.

Pottering on Liza Tarbuck's going to host a celebrity series of The Great Pottery Throw Down on Channel 4. Contestants are Lucy Beaumont, Fatiha El-Ghorri, Richard Herring, Paul Merson, Layton Williams, and Denise Van Outen. All six celebs will remain for the five-ep run.

Tuning up Alison Hammond waited a quarter of a century to host a game show, then two come along at once! Following the success of Your Song on Channel 4, the friend of picnic tables is to host Name That Tune. Live band in the studio, familiar rounds, the half-hour programme squeezed into a full hour slot. That'll be later this year on the ITV network.

It's no secret at all Buoyed by the success of Secret Genius, Channel 4 have recommissioned the puzzle-and-people show. It's a slightly extended order, seven episodes rather than the six from this year's series. Alan Carr and Susie Dent return to present the prog.

A suite of Radio 4 quizzes have been announced, two-episode pilots that might freshen up the Sunday rotation and fill the gap left by Quote... Unquote and The 3rd Degree. Starting at the end of the month, we've got Bookmarks with Clare Balding, about fiction and non-fiction books. Déjà News with Lucy Porter dips into the BBC's extensive news archive. Your Number's Up with Max Fosh is calculation-based fun, we're intrigued by how this will work on the radio. Around the World in 80 Ways hosted by Simon Reeve, sounds like the World Wise revival we didn't know we needed. And if none of that floats your boat, BBC Brain returns at the end of July and takes us most of the way to Christmas.

We're going to review The Neighbourhood next week, and we're pleased to see that ITV has helped by showing all the episodes after News at Ten. The final's going to air on Tuesday, ten days before the TV Times billing, and by Wednesday the broadcaster will have forgotten that it was ever made.

Also next week, The Way Out (Dave channel, Tue) sees various comedians try to escape from escape rooms. Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals (BBC1 and Radio 2, Tue and Thu) go to a lot of fuss and palaver to eliminate five songs. The final's next Saturday

To have Weaver's Week emailed to you on publication day, receive our exclusive TV roundup of the game shows in the week ahead, and chat to other ukgameshows.com readers, sign up to our Google Group.

Last week | Weaver's Week Index | Next week