‘The Olympics isn’t a total event – it’s just not a lot of action’ – Ian Hyland

Ian Hyland says there’s barely enough action to fill nine minutes of new show The Games, never mind the 90 allotted by ITV’s ultra-optimistic schedulers

ITV viewers could have been forgiven for declaring deja-vu when they witnessed a man busy with a kayak on Monday night.

No, it’s not Eddie Marsan reprising his recent role as Canoe Man, John Darwin.

It was Freddie Flintoff who excelled at his famous school sports day in The Games competition.

However, Freddie can now wish he had staged a disappearance and taken it to Panama.

After an early start on Monday, this nightly show’s ratings appear to have held their very own synchronized dive event.

I am most worried about Holly Willoughby. At least Freddie has Top Gear to go back to.

This improvement of a format that Channel 4 eventually dropped in 2006 for accepting it would never make the top flops of Bobby Davro’s 2003 continued a troubling recent string of failures for TV’s golden girl.

This is a good job, her new candle, claptrap and crystal site is doing pretty well. Not that you can really blame Holly, or Freddie, for this.

The game was not a complete event. It just doesn’t have that many events.

There’s barely enough action to fill nine minutes, never mind the 90 allotted by ITV’s ultra-optimistic schedulers.

If it were A-listers wearing their gym kits and doll smugglers, with some big-name guests on set, that lack of activity could have been more likely. Sadly, the competitors were “partners of”, “daughters of” and “nobody else we could think of”, while guest size quickly dropped from the Division Champion. world heavyweight on Monday to become the random javelin thrower on Wednesday.

It also doesn’t help that Love Islander’s Wes Nelson knows the men’s field so well that Freddie has openly admitted: “It’s like watching a professional track athlete.”

The only surprise was that Holly didn’t make it until Tuesday before asking one of the experts: “When you’re expecting something to go better, how do you get started and move on? “

It might be too late for that, Hols. The Olympics have lost their paddle and I think I just spotted a sign for S*** Creek.