Martin Lewis has waded in with his thoughts on The Games as viewers continue to be left divided over the format. Viewers are now three days in to the ITV show which sees 12 celebs pushed out of their comfort zones and competing in Olympic-style events.
The programme, which is hosted by Holly Willoughby and Freddie Flintoff, started on Monday (May 9) and has so far seen the famous faces - including Coronation Street's Colson Smith, Emmerdale's Rebecca Sarker, The Wanted's Max George, and ex-Strictly pro Kevin Clifton - take part in synchronized diving, hurdles, the canoe slalom and other swimming and track races.
The various events, with some done live during the show and others pre-recorded, see the celebrities racking up points every night then, after 12 weeks of training and a week of live shows, a male and female winner will be crowned of The Games on Friday night (May 13).
The show has garnered quite a lot of reaction, with many divided over the format of the show which, as mentioned, sees only a small amount of live sporting action during each nightly live show.
And it appears Martin is feeling the same way as the Money Saving Expert founder tweeted: "I am enjoying #TheGames - I love this type of thing (if I were 10 years younger and had more time I'd have wanted to be in it). It just needs a bit more focus on the events and less on the chat (or shorten the show)."
He then added, when asked about BBC athletics by comparison: "Thought BBC athletics is often filling due to scheduling - this is constructed television so slightly different. And yes, while I'm not fast, I would've loved to do track and field".
And Martin, who celebrated his 50th birthday earlier this week while also appearing as a host on Good Morning Britain, was soon flooded with messages from viewers feeling the same way. @Hzy72 replied: "I know what you mean, could easily be 30mins shorter with no impact on what people are there to watch."
@mheadbee said: "Got bored and turned over, all the interviews during training was dull, couldn’t be bothered to wait for the events." @hazeyp54 commented: "I agree @MartinSLewis. Good show, very competitive but far to much chatting and innuendoes, The Celebrities show great determination and the training clips are interesting, but show us the action!"
@Lost_lou shared: "I agree, when channel 4 did it years ago it was much better, we went to the filming of quite a few events in Sheffield, feel sorry for the itv crowd they hardly see anything happening live." @lornski3 added: "Totally agree, after all their efforts to train for the sports they barely showed any of the canoeing. And why is it on so late?"
Wednesday night's episode saw viewers let in on some backstage drama between the contestants. Chelcee Grimes and Phoenix Gulzar-Brown have been showing their competitiveness and things seemed to boil over after Phoenix, who is the daughter of Spice Girl Mel B, pipped Chelcee to the win in the pool (which aired on Tuesday night's show).
Backstage footage showed Chelcee claiming she had finished ahead of Phoenix in the women's 50m breaststroke event, showing a clip on her phone trying to prove she touched the wall of the pool first. However, Phoenix hit back and accused Chelsea of not playing “fair” during the first hurdles event.
