Michael McIntyre is back with his Saturday night gameshow The Wheel, a host of celebrity experts and a few surprises.
The first episode, which aired last Saturday, saw Gethin Jones, Jonathan Ross and Judi love among the experts in the chairs.
But there will be new faces on the show.
McIntyre said: “We have lots of lovely new celebrity experts spinning around in the new series.
“I heard from a friend of mine who was working with the extraordinarily brilliant actor Michael Sheen that he was a massive fan of The Wheel.
“So, we invited him to come on and were thrilled when he agreed.”
Series five also sees the introduction of a hall of fame for the most successful celebrities and a double chair, to add an extra expert to proceedings.
And there is even a celebrity surprise for the host himself.
In a previous show, Penny Lancaster had come on and had husband Rod Stewart as her specialist subject.
This time Ayda Field joins the show with husband Robbie Williams as her area of expertise.
“Ayda came on, the show had started, and we were all enjoying ourselves”, said McIntyre, “but what I didn’t know was that Robbie had come with her and surprised me and everyone by coming up on The Wheel first as a contestant!
“It was a total shock for me – and not to be missed.”
Who is appearing in this series of The Wheel?
The Wheel normally has seven celebrities seated on chairs mounted around the wheel, each designated as an expert in a different subject.
This year, there is a new feature, a double chair, which means one extra celebrity expert on the wheel.
McIntyre said: “For a while I thought it would be fun to book celebs who are a couple, related, a double act or known for working together, so we built a chair for two.
“For people who think contestants may benefit from having an extra person on the wheel, thus far this has not proven to be the case, due to instant bickering between the pairings.”
First dual spinners for this series will include: Danny Dyer and daughter Dani on the East End, Torvill and Dean on ice skating, newlyweds Jamie and Sophie Laing on weddings and Chris and Rosie Ramsey on Super Mario.
Some of those set to appear across the series include:
Jonathan Ross
Veteran broadcaster Jonathan Ross is back on The Wheel this series and hoping to improve his record to reach the new Wheel Hall of Fame.
He has come top of the leaderboard twice previously on the show for correct answers, a third time would see him enter the hall of fame.
Ross, 63, has presented chat shows such as the Last Resort, Friday Night With Jonathan Ross and The Jonathan Ross Show.
He has also hosted Comic Relief, the British Comedy Awards and the Oscars Live.
And he has been a judge on both The Masked Dancer UK and The Masker Singer UK since they started.
Judi Love
Comedian Judi Love is no stranger to The Wheel, having appeared in previous series.
The 44-year-old is a regular panellist on ITV talk show Loose Women and also one of the celebrities on Celebrity Gogglebox alongside journalist Charlene White.
She took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2021, coming 10th the the series and she came third in Celebrity Masterchef in 2020.
As an actor, she had a recurring role as Chidi in the BBC drama Noughts + Crosses.
Gethin Jones
Presenter Gethin Jones appears on this series of The Wheel, as one of the celebrity experts.
The 46-year-old rose to fame as the host of Blue Peter host and now presents BBC One’s Morning Live.
A former graduate of Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Masterchef like Love, he remains a guest presenter and reporter on the spin-off show Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two.
A keen musician, he has also hosted the Young Musician of the Year and BBC Proms in the Park, Wales.
Dermot O’Leary
Dermot O ‘Leary holds the record on The Wheel for topping the leaderboard the most times – three – after getting the most answers correct in an episode.
As a result, this year the show has a new segment – Wheel Hall of Fame.
McIntyre said: “We decided from this series on that any expert finishing top three times would be inducted into the Wheel Hall of Fame, meaning that if a contestant lands on them they will forever be lit in silver and worth double money.”
O’Leary, 51, presents a Saturday morning show on BBC Radio Two, co-hosts This Morning with Alison Hammond on Fridays and interviews music stars on the BBC Two show Reel Stories.
Other celebrities who will be joining The Wheel during the course of this series to share their specialist knowledge include:
- Michael Sheen
- Richard Osman
- Ayda Field
- Joanne McNally
- Niko Omilana
- Clodagh McKenna
- William Hanson
What are the rules of The Wheel?
In each round, the contestant chooses a subject and the celebrity expert’s seat then lights up gold. The contestant also chooses an expert least likely to be helpful to shut down.
The wheel is then spun to fall on an expert at random; if it does not stop on the shut down one, the host asks a question with four multiple-choice answers.
The contestant can discuss it with the expert before answering. A correct response adds £3,00 to the bank or £10,000 if the subject expert was chosen.
If the contestant misses a question or spins an expert who has been shut down, their turn ends and they are lowered back onto the wheel below.
Each subject remains in play until a contestant correctly answers a question in it.
The other six celebrity experts also answer the question, using keypads to lock in their answers.
If an expert gets a question wrong in their own subject, they are automatically shut down for the next round in addition to the expert chosen by the contestant.
If all celebrity experts answer correctly a bonus of £5,000 is added to the bank.
After all celebrity subjects have been used, the current contestant moves on to the final and has the first chance to win the bank.
When was The Wheel first on BBC?
The Wheel first aired on BBC One in November 2020, in the midst of the Covid pandemic.
Conceived by McIntyre, it proved a good working format for a gameshow at a time when live studio audiences were not possible due to social distancing under Covid rules.
The large wheel design was set up at studio at Bovingdon Airfield in Hertfordshire, with celebrities spaced at distance around the wheel and a contestant at the centre.
Since then there has been a new series each year.
Series five is the latest and comprises 10 episodes, with the first broadcast last Saturday 12 October at 8.20pm.
The show will maintain the same Saturday slot for 19 October. Viewers can also stream the show on the BBCiPlayer.
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