‘Why did Zara McDermott and Sam Thompson allow Michael McIntyre’s Big Show to air?’

If the unnamed sources and showbiz insiders are to be believed, reality TV star Zara McDermott called time on her five-year relationship with reality TV star Sam Thompson over his “childish” behaviour. Obviously, with me not being part of their inner circle I can’t really say whether that is a fair summation of events or not.

However, if it is and it turns out that the straw that broke the camel’s back was Thompson’s behaviour during filming of their appearance on The Midnight Gameshow on Michael McIntyre’s Big Show then six million viewers may suddenly find themselves taking McDermott’s side this weekend.

Because I’m afraid Thompson’s main response as McIntyre and his crew were getting settled in was to let one rip. Really loudly. If we were being charitable, I suppose we could speculate that the, um, unexpected fart of the show may have been purely down to nervous excitement.

To be honest, I’m still too busy trying to work out why the hell McDermott and Thompson gave the go ahead for the BBC to broadcast this episode — or how the heck the BBC persuaded them to let it be aired. Surely the last thing anyone going through the pain of a break-up needs is for the final knockings of their relationship to be shown on national TV.

I have two theories, one of which makes for more palatable reading than the other. One, McDermott and Thompson have had an amicable parting of the ways and they had so much fun playing McIntyre’s infamous night-time game they wanted everyone to see it.

Or two, McDermott and Thompson are so desperate to be on television they are not going to let the small matter of a broken heart get in the way of further prime time exposure. I’ll let you make your own minds up on that one. (Watching a few old episodes of Made In Chelsea would perhaps give you a steer.) All I will say is that McDermott and Thompson’s bedroom shenanigans are indeed a lot of fun to watch.

Moreover, had the BBC got cold feet about airing this episode that would have been a great shame for Big Show fans. Not least because, presumably, it would have meant binning the rest of this series eight opener as well.

Which in turn would have meant viewers missing out on a brand new — and highly entertaining — celebrity game called Remember Me?

We would also have been denied the incredibly well-conceived and superbly-executed Unexpected Star Star Of The Show segment, featuring Jamie Oliver and Marti Pellow, which is so good it will surely soon be mentioned in the same breath as the many wonderful hidden camera stunts Ant & Dec pulled off on Saturday Night Takeaway. Speaking of Takeaway, the fact that Ant & Dec have popped it on ice for the foreseeable future is good news for McIntyre.

It means that Big Show is now clear in the battle to be Britain’s best and most popular traditional Saturday night family entertainment show, which kind of makes a mockery of the current promo campaign in which McIntyre bizarrely claims no one even knows what it’s called. The even better news is that if the rest of the series is as good as this opener, he will stay well clear of the pack for a while yet.

It gets straight into the action with McDermott and Thompson’s nocturnal turn and doesn’t let it up until Marti Pellow suddenly finds himself facing a full theatre at the end.

The Midnight Gameshow section is a gift for anyone who might wish to make light of McDermott and Thompson’s current plight. For example, when McIntryre spots a load of full black bin bags outside the front door of their house you may be tempted to muse “Sam’s belongings?”

Then, when their Made In Chelsea colleague Mark-Francis Vandellie pops up to ask “What happens every Thursday night at Wetherspoons?”, the words “Singles night?” may cross your mind. However, by the time SAS man Jason ‘Foxy’ Fox starts screaming “Do you actually love her?!” right in Thompson’s face you’ll probably be at the “Er, this is getting a bit awkward now” stage.

There’s also plenty of potential for awkwardness in McIntyre’s new game Remember Me? It’s a simple idea. A celebrity sits up in the royal box and random people who have crossed their path over the years pop up on stage to ask them “Remember me?”

Alan Carr is the perfect choice as McIntyre’s first victim, but I suspect it would be just as much fun with guests who perhaps don’t look as permanently guilty as Carr does. It might also do the job as a long term replacement for Send To All, which doesn’t work so well now that almost everyone in showbiz knows the game.

The other problem with Send To All is that it doesn’t lend itself very easily to a rejuvenating tweak, unlike Unexpected Star Of The Show which has added a second Star to its title and begun to surprise celebrities as well as talented civilians.

Wet Wet Wet frontman Pellow is the first Star Star of the new series, and it’s fair to say the production team threw everything at this one. It has elements of Blind Date, First Dates, Ready Steady Cook and I’m A Celebrity… Get Out Of My Ear, and it is beautifully played by all involved.

In fact, the only bits that lack subtlety are the rather obvious plugs for Oliver’s restaurant chain and Wet Wet Wet’s upcoming anniversary tour.

Luckily, Big Show is such a joyful tour de force of entertainment that it’s fairly easy to hold your nose for a few seconds when you spot a celebrity guest’s ulterior motive for taking part.

Besides, on this show McIntyre always makes them sing for their supper.

In Pellow’s case, literally.

Michael McIntyre’s Big Show airs on BBC One at 6:50pm on Saturday.

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