Gary Lineker is to host a brand new gameshow on ITV, below a deal that may deliver him again to screens after his departure from the BBC, in line with experiences.
The previous Match of the Day presenter and former England soccer captain, who was the highest-paid on-air star on the BBC, parted methods with the broadcaster in Could, days after apologising for amplifying on-line materials with antisemitic connotations.
Filming has but to start on the brand new present, which known as The Field and includes totally different celebrities being put into packing containers and given challenges, in line with the Sun.
The present could be anticipated to be given a outstanding Saturday night time slot and play an analogous flagship function to ITV's in style Ant & Dec's Saturday Evening Takeaway.
A spokesperson for ITV declined to touch upon the report when approached by the Guardian.
A supply advised the Solar: “The Field is huge in Norway, and the rights had been rapidly bought to Denmark and now the UK. ITV are actually enthusiastic about it and consider they've lastly discovered a worthy successor to Saturday Evening Takeaway.
“They've lengthy been sniffing round Gary and simply wanted to seek out the best format for him. They're assured they've discovered that now, and the BBC's loss is their acquire.”
Pleasure about The Field has been constructing round Europe as networks seek for a successor to exhibits corresponding to Traitors and Vacation spot X. Over the course of 10 episodes, 12 movie star contestants are positioned in separate packing containers. When the field wherein they've been positioned opens, they discover themselves within the midst of a problem.
Lineker bade farewell on the finish of Could to Match of the Day and his 30-year relationship with the BBC amid strain over his feedback on social media.
A call had been made final autumn that Lineker would start to step away from his BBC tasks, with expectations that he would current the 2026 World Cup
Nonetheless, his reposting of content material regarding the Gaza battle that contained an antisemitic image put an finish to these plans for an prolonged farewell.
The 64-year-old apologised after it emerged he had reposted a pro-Palestine video on Instagram that criticised Zionism and included an illustration of a rat.
There had lengthy been criticism of Lineker, notably from rightwing figures, over his social media output. He has 1.2 million followers on Instagram.
In March 2023, he was quickly suspended over feedback he made criticising the Conservative authorities's asylum coverage.
In February, he was amongst 500 high-profile cultural figures who referred to as on the BBC to rebroadcast a documentary, Gaza: Easy methods to Survive a Warzone, calling it an “important piece of journalism”.
The BBC eliminated the documentary from its iPlayer after it emerged that the movie's 14-year-old narrator was the son of a deputy agriculture minister in Gaza's Hamas-run authorities.
Lineker mentioned in July that BBC ought to “maintain its head in disgrace” over its failure to point out a documentary concerning the plight of medics in Gaza.
In his first criticism of his former employer since leaving the BBC, he mentioned individuals at “the very high of the BBC” had been failing over the battle, after the company's choice to drop Gaza: Medical doctors Beneath Assault.
