Broadcaster Jonathan Ross returns to television screens this week to present a fresh Channel 4 experiment.
The chat show host, recognised for The Jonathan Ross Show and who recently appeared on the celebrity edition of The Traitors, is the new presenter of Handcuffed: Last Pair Standing.
The new programme features 18 participants handcuffed together as they battle to claim £100,000. The nine pairs must endure being shackled to one another around the clock, performing every task mere inches apart.
Should it become unbearable, they can unlock themselves at any moment, though doing so means elimination from the contest. Jonathan’s launching the competition as he does best, in a television studio before a live audience.
When questioned about who he’d most prefer to be handcuffed to, Jonathan responded: “The obvious answer would be my wife (but I kind of am already) then I would say David Attenborough. Who doesn’t love David Attenborough?”
Jonathan is wed to Jane Goldman, with the duo marrying in 1988. The pair have three children, Betty Kitten, Harvey Kirby, and Honey Kinny, with Honey having appeared alongside her father on ITV’s Romesh Ranganathan’s Parents’ Evening and more recently in the weekly podcast Reel Talk with Honey and Jonathan Ross, reports the Mirror.
Jonathan recently shared insights into his marriage to Jane, a celebrated screenwriter and producer, following his appearance on the celebrity edition of The Traitors. During an interview on Loose Women, the TV star confessed he missed his wife “tremendously,” and revealed they had never spent a day without communicating.
Reflecting on his elimination from the show, Jonathan expressed: “I genuinely felt relief. When I travelled home from Scotland on the plane, that was the happiest I’ve been in my entire life.
“Also I’d missed my wife tremendously, and I’d missed being in contact with my kids. I had been able to speak to my wife, they allowed me to have a brief phone call every morning, but somebody from production would come in with their phone.”
When questioned if this was a special arrangement he had requested, Jonathan confirmed it was, adding: “We’ve never had a day when we didn’t speak to each other, because why would we? And we’re not away from each other very often, but if we are, we speak several times a day on the phone, so it was less than I would have liked.”
Jonathan’s new programme, Handcuffed: Last Pair Standing, is set to broadcast on Channel 4 at 9pm on Monday, March 2.
The synopsis for the upcoming Channel 4 series states: “Could you survive being handcuffed to a total stranger? In a brand new social experiment, Jonathan Ross is challenging 18 brave Brits to do just that, as they compete to win a £100,000 prize.
“The nine pairs will have to cope with being chained to each other 24/7, doing everything – quite literally – just inches apart. If it gets too much, they can uncuff at any time, but if they do they’ll be out of the competition. The last pair standing takes all. Jonathan’s starting the competition as he knows best, in a TV studio with a live audience.
“The competitors represent a complete cross section of British society, and have never met each other before. As the cuffs are locked in position with the duos either side of a special screen, they’ll only discover who they’ve been chained to once the divide goes back.
“In a divided Britain, Jonathan’s hoping living in such close proximity will force these opposites to talk, listen, and maybe even learn from each other. As the pairs set off for each other’s houses, to walk a mile in their partner’s shoes, we focus in on three of the couples.”
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