AFTER ditching her cheating fiancé, Denise Van Outen created a vacancy on the Celebrity Gogglebox sofa.
Now she is set to fill the space with a man who is unlikely to have his head turned by another woman — Blue singer Duncan James.
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The hunky gay star will replace Eddie Boxshall on the new series of the Channel 4 favourite when it returns later this year.
A TV insider said: “Denise and Duncan have been pals since they both shot to fame in the late Nineties and he has been helping her through her painful break-up this year.
“As bezzies who share a similarly outrageous sense of humour, they have the perfect chemistry to deliver some laughs as they survey TV shows.
“Just a few months ago they were performing together at [London night spot] Proud Cabaret. She was wearing a mini dress while he donned a leather corset and fishnet stockings, though they’ll probably be wearing something a little more comfortable when they share the Gogglebox sofa.”
Denise split from Eddie in January after seven years together, claiming she had caught him having phone sex with another woman.
That left Gogglebox bosses looking to replace him, and rumours spread that Girls Aloud’s Kimberly Walsh, who has been Denise’s pal for years, was a contender.
But producers like the male and female dynamic in their pairings, so Duncan was the perfect solution.
I’d have loved it to be her former Big Breakfast co-star Johnny Vaughan, but given their rocky past, it’s probably too much to hope for.
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WINNER JON BACK FOR BGT
IF one of the contestants on tomorrow night’s Britain’s Got Talent looks familiar, it’s not a case of deja vu.
The show’s 2020 winner Jon Courtenay is returning to surprise the judges and audience with a repeat performance.
Seen here in my exclusive picture, the entertainer returns to the BGT stage with an original song written especially for the show.
The lyrics including: “Alesha Dixon shining brightly, David Walliams stepping lightly, Amanda Holden’s stunning nightly, Simon Cowell all smiling whitely.”
And he adds: “Get a laugh from Dixon or tears from Holden, ANT and DEC might make you golden.”
See it tomorrow on ITV, 8pm.
DEVIL’S RAINE CHECK
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CHILLING new six-part horror thriller The Devil’s Hour looks like the jewel in the crown of Prime Video’s 2022 drama offerings.
It stars Jessica Raine , with Nikesh Patel, as detective Ravi Dhillon, who gets called in to investigate a mysterious case.
It’s a difficult show to describe but Jessica’s co-star Peter Capaldi, put it tantalising by saying it suggested we should, “Listen to our nightmares – they may be communicating with you in some way”.
SUE HAS A KILLER MOMENT
FORMER Bake Off host Sue Perkins nearly had more than a soggy-bottom moment on Who Do You Think You Are?
She was investigating her father’s side of the family on the BBC1 genealogy show, which returns on May 26.
As part of her travels she checked into the Bodmin Jail Hotel in Cornwall, where all the rooms are converted cells, with plaques explaining who the former inmates had been.
Sue said: “Over dinner, people from the production team were saying things like, ‘I’ve got a sheep rustler in mine’ and, ‘I’ve got somebody who served two weeks for illegal gambling’, but I didn’t know who I’d got.
“So I walked back to my room, with the wind blowing in from Bodmin Moor sounding like a wailing child, and the plaque revealed: Selina Wadge, a child-killer.
“I genuinely didn’t sleep a wink that night.”
KISS AND HELL FOR SEANN
SHAMED Seann Walsh is seen discussing his scandalous kiss with Strictly’s Katya Jones on Katherine Ryan’s new Prime Video show.
He throws the Canadian comic a disbelieving look, below, when she brazenly asks him: “So what’s your truth regarding ‘the kiss’ and the whole Strictly thing?”
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Katherine also probes Masked Singer host Joel Dommett on the embarrassing moment he was cat-fished before he shot to fame on I’m A Celeb.
Jimmy Carr, Rob Beckett and Sarah Millican are also in the hotseat on Backstage With Katherine Ryan as cameras follow the comics pre and post-performance.
Her fearless questioning leads to some hilarious and tense moments.
The six-part show kicks off on June 9.
