For the past eight weeks ITV2 has basically been running a free advert for our island which came to a climax last weekend when more than 3.8m people tuned in to watch Love Island’s Amber Gill and Greg O’Shea be named the surprise winners of the Dating show. A further 400,000 fans streamed the episode on non-TV devices such as phones and tablets.
This was up from the 3.56 million who tuned in to watch Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham win last year. This year’s audience made it the most watched Love Island final ever and the most watched episode of the series, which has been a ratings triumph for the channel. Two series are planned for next year with South Africa added in January to deter those post Christmas blues and Mallorca again in June.
For those of you who’d like to meet a few of your favourites then some of them are making appearances at Pirates & Gringos in the Pirates theatre this month.
Monday 12th of August Michael will be at Gringos, Monday 19th of August Curtis will be at Gringos, Wednesday 28th August Molly Mae will be at Reloaded. For tickets please go to http://www.piratesreloaded.com and http://www.gringosbingo.com
This weekend football finally returns with the Championship, League 1 and 2 and the Scottish leagues too. The Premier League starts next week and the Spanish La Liga the week after. It’s been a long summer break with no World Cup or Euros to enjoy. So I’ve had to look for other sporting fixes instead. I’ve enjoyed Wimbledon, The Open Golf, the Cricket World Cup and the F1 but I also found a few slightly more eccentric events too.
Two members of the same family have taken home championship titles in an annual thumb wrestling event.
The men’s title was pinned down for the fourth year by Paul Browse, while his mother-in-law Janet Coleman won the women’s competition.
She took the title from her daughter, Mr Browse’s wife, Becky, who could not attend.
The thumb-to-thumb combat at The Locks Inn, Geldeston, Norfolk, is played in rounds on a wooden board resembling a wrestling ring.
The winners each won £350 and were presented with trophies.
A new world stinging nettle champion has been declared after one hungry participant ate 58ft of the painful plant.
Tony Jeyes devoured 29 2ft-long stems to take the title and was one of dozens of competitors to take part in the annual event, held at the Bottle Inn pub in the village of Marshwood, Dorset.
Mr Jeyes was joined in the winner category by Lindy Rogers, 68, who took the women’s title after eating 46ft of nettles.
Ms Rogers, 67, had only entered the eccentric contest at the last minute but her method of dipping nettles into cider before eating them proved a winner.
She said “I had a nice glass of pear and apple cider which I dunked the rolled up leaves into to make them more moist and easier to go down.
‘I am thrilled to have won. My tongue is black today but I feel fine.’
The nettle-eating record stands at a phenomenal 104ft and is held by three-time winner Phil Throme, who did not take part this year. The trophies were presented by John Nettles and Sting and next year apparently you can watch it on Nettlefix. Sorry I made that last bit up but the rest was true I promise.
It was once again a pair of familiar faces who won the 2019 Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. Joey “Jaws” Chestnut claimed a victory for the men’s title, chowing down 71 hot dogs in 10 minutes. This is his 12th year winning the eating contest.
In the women’s division, Miki Sudo, also the defending champion, clenched the Mustard Belt again with her sixth consecutive first-place finish. She ate 31 hot dogs.
Chestnut’s 71 hot dogs comes close to the record he set in 2018 of 74 hot dogs, but the pro eater couldn’t beat his previous feat.
Chestnut’s dog count has risen gradually over the course of his career, probably along with his waistline, starting with 66 in 2007. He downed 70 hotdogs in 2016 and hasn’t hasn’t looked back.
Chestnut, a former construction manager from San Jose, CA, holds 40 titles in Major League Eating competitions around the U.S, which includes the record for most gyozas eaten in 10 minutes (381), the most hard boiled eggs eaten in 10 minutes (151), and the most pizzas eaten in 10 minutes (7.5). Nathan’s website calls him “an American Hero and a national treasure.” Apparently he’s sponsored by Rennie.
I was talking last week about the money that footballers earn. I learnt this fact this week which probably shows you where we are right now.
Novak Djokovic took home £2.35 million for winning Wimbledon.
Tiger Woods took home $2 million for winning The Masters.
16-year-old Kyle Giersdorf took home $3 million for Winning The Fortnite World Championships. If you’ve never heard of Fortnite, ask your kids or grand kids!
It’s been a busy week meeting and greeting celebrities. On Sunday in Pirates we welcomed the reality star Dan Osbourne and his Eastenders actress Wife Jacqueline Jossa with their children. Also in the Show was socialite Tamara Ecclestone Rutland, her husband Jay and all their family. They are regular visitors to the show and said they will be back again next year. I was contacted by Radio 1 this week and asked to do an interview with Scott Mills and Chris Stark for their afternoon show. They were promoting a feature on their show called Holiday T-Shirt Day, encouraging people to wear their old holiday T-Shirts to work. We had a great laugh and they used it as part of their podcast that day which you can listen to online or on the radio Facebook page.
Enjoy your weekend!
Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.comon mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. . If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance!
Feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com
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