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The Great British Menu judge Tom Kerridge has shared an insight into life with his rugby-loving son Acey, describing the youngster as a ‘monster’ and an ‘absolute unit’

Tom Kerridge says he has “monstrous fireworks” with son Acey as he shared a candid family insight. Tom, 52, shares 12-year-old son Acey with wife Beth Cullen-Kerridge.

Beth is a sculptor by trade and last year took part in two shows in the United States. While Tom says rugby-loving Acey, who still attends the local state primary school, is like a “mini me”.

The two share a love of motorbikes and a passion for cooking. Tom has previously described Acey as an “absolute unit” and revealed he could deadlift 80kg by the time he was aged nine.

Tom, who grew up in a single-parent household in Wiltshire, says he is “learning to be a dad”. It comes as he opened up about his relationship with young Acey.

Speaking to The Times, Tom said: “We have monstrous fireworks but we also have the best laughs. The best way I can describe my relationship with him is I am like his big brother, just with money.

“So we will play the same games. We’ll do daft things. And then we’ll fall out like brothers as opposed to a father and son relationship.

“I grew up in a single-parent family so I’m learning to be a dad at the same time as he’s learning to be a son. I haven’t got anything to base it on so we’re both learning as we go along. And I think so far we’re doing all right.”

Tom has previously explained that Acey found his “space” on the rugby pitch. Although the chef says he has a “red mist” and “hates losing,” taking inspiration from former England star Joe Marler.

Speaking on the Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner podcast, Tom said: “My son is an absolute unit, rugby is his space, rugby is his game, rugby is where he is going to go. He plays number one, number three.

“He suffers from red mist. We have a conversation about it quite a lot, he can be the most gentle, wonderful human but he’s also got this streak of, he hates losing, he has a temperament that explodes and I love that, I try to control, to enhance it.

“My son is unnaturally strong, he’s nine years old but he can deadlift 80 kilos, he’s a monster and Joe is his hero. Joe is the greatest thing that’s ever been.”

Tom also says that his arguments with Acey drive Beth “nuts”. On the Rugby Lives podcast Tom disclosed that young Acey mirrors many of his characteristics.

When questioned if his son ‘takes after him’, Tom responds: “Yeah, in a lot of ways, he does massively and it drives my wife nuts because sometimes just like, two of us. And we do fall out quite a lot because we argue about the same thing and it’s almost like having an argument with yourself and then afterwards we both laugh about it.”

Tom will return to screens from 7pm tonight (April 3) with The Great British Menu on BBC Two. This week’s episode will see the top two chefs from Northern Ireland cooking a six-course meal in a bid to impress the judges, including Tom, Great British Menu Champion of Champions Lorna McNee, and comedian Phil Wang.

Gemma let the cameras follow her as she and partner Rami had IVF and planned their wedding but she says the results show ‘a real nightmare’ of a year

Gemma Collins’ new series Four Weddings and a Baby will see her breaking down in agony after fearing that her mother Joan was at death’s door last year.

Launching the new show Gemma, 45, said it would give a warts and all look at her life over a year. Speaking to Dermot O’Leary at a Sky event in London, she explained: “During making the show my mum nearly died, my relationship was obviously taking a bit of a hit, I was trying to have a baby – my whole world just fell apart.

“Because I was going through so much trauma and struggles, there was no performative person there. Everyone gets to see the real me – you’re in my home. It’s what people don’t see. I was broken.”

She explained that the reality series would be very different to TOWIE and other programmes she has appeared on. “I’m used to being very performative. The camera goes on, The GC comes out, boomshackalack, that’s really how it is. Hold on to your seats because you never know what’s going to happen!

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“But this is a show where I’m trying to have a baby, I’m trying to get married and none of it goes smooth. It’s a nightmare. But it’s not a comical nightmare it’s a real nightmare.”

The series is due to launch on Sky Max later this year. In one clip, Gemma is seen weeping while driving as she explains to the camera how Joan is in hospital and in a very bad way, having caught pneumonia and suffering from a “build up of fluid”.

She explains: “My mum has suffered with chronic illness for 10 years. This is not my first rodeo with her. However, this one has to be the worst. It’s making me realise that mum might not have a lot of time left.”

Viewers will also be able to follow Gemma’s attempt to conceive using IVF, with fiancé Rami Hawash, and also their attempt to organise a wedding. But in another clip she sobs: “Having a baby is not easy. You don’t want to be making the wrong decisions in your life. Then I think f*** it – if mum hasn’t got long left – do I just spend my life with my mum, you know? And then just not have a baby, not get married.”

She told Dermot that the aim of the series was to be “a bit more vulnerable and honest”, adding: “It’s me not having any control over my life, any control over the cameras. It’s very raw.

“Family have always been everything to me, which people haven’t seen, but I think it’s OK to show people you are human? Nothing’s perfect, life’s not perfect and maybe that will resonate.”

Asked how Joan, 70, is doing now, Gemma said that she has moved in to her house and has carers who come regularly. “I’m just so grateful for every day I get to spend with her,” Gemma said. Another clip from the upcoming series shows how the Essex favourite tried to prepare for her second stint in I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.

In a bid to become less fearful, she invites a snake-handler round to her house and admits the thing she is most afraid of is “a snake wrapping itself around my neck” The woman gives assurance that Gemma won’t be given “anything that’s going to hurt you”. But when the snake is placed around her shoulders it flicks its tail into her face, leaving her sweating and saying: “F***, f***, f***.”

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OSCARS host Conan O’Brien has taken a dig at Timothee Chalamet in his opening speech after the actor’s controversial comments about the arts.

The Marty Supreme star found himself facing serious backlash after claiming “no one cares” about opera or ballet.

Conan, 62, kicked off the Oscars with a dig at Timothee, 30, as he smiled and laughed next to girlfriend Kylie Jenner, who arrived at the show dressed to the nines in a slinky red gown.

He joked about heightened security amid ongoing uncertainty in the world, pointing to an unexpected source of tension.

The former late night TV host quipped: “Security is extremely tight tonight…I’m told theres concerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities.”

He looked down at Timothee, who was giggling slightly.

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Kylie, 28, shifted slightly in her seat, smiling although she looked slightly uncomfortable.

Conan then added: “They are just mad you left out jazz!”

Later in the show, the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend host circled back with Timothee, seemingly trying to smooth things over.

“I’m vibing with Timothee right now, we’re vibing, right?!” he asked, looking down at the Willy Wonka actor.

The camera did not pan to the star, but it doesn’t seem like he was feeling the same vibe.

Conan added: “He doesn’t think so, alright!”

At this point, Timothee must be somewhat used to the blowback.

He’s been taking heat for his comment for days now.

The Oscar-nominee was chatting with Matthew McConaughey at the University of Texas about efforts to preserve cinema back in February.

“I don’t want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though like no one cares about this anymore’,” he said.

“All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there,” he added.

Since then, he’s taken heat from ballet and opera stars, as well as other big figures in Hollywood.

Steven Spielberg, for example, disagreed vehemently.

According to Page Six, he said of the arts during a 2026 SXSW panel: “At the end of a really good movie experience, we are all united with a whole bunch of feelings that we walks into the daylight with, or into the nighttime with.

Biggest Oscar Nominees of 2026 Academy Awards

Everyone in Hollywood hopes to snag a nod on the industry’s biggest night but only few get that honor. Here are the nominees from the major categories of the 2026 Academy Awards:

Best Picture

• Bugonia
• F1
• Frankenstein
• Hamnet
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle After Another
• The Secret Agent
• Sentimental Value
• Sinners
• Train Dreams

Best Director

• Chloé Zhao — Hamnet
• Josh Safdie — Marty Supreme
• Paul Thomas Anderson — One Battle After Another
• Joachim Trier — Sentimental Value
• Ryan Coogler — Sinners

Best Actor (Leading Role)

• Timothée Chalamet — Marty Supreme
• Leonardo DiCaprio — One Battle After Another
• Ethan Hawke — Blue Moon
• Michael B. Jordan — Sinners
• Wagner Moura — The Secret Agent

Best Actress (Leading Role)

• Jessie Buckley — Hamnet
• Rose Byrne — If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
• Renate Reinsve — Sentimental Value
• Emma Stone — Bugonia
• Kate Hudson — Song Sung Blue

Best Supporting Actor

• Benicio Del Toro — One Battle After Another
• Jacob Elordi — Frankenstein
• Delroy Lindo — Sinners
• Sean Penn — One Battle After Another
• Stellan Skarsgård — Sentimental Value

Best Supporting Actress

• Teyana Taylor — One Battle After Another
• Wunmi Mosaku — Sinners
• Amy Madigan — Weapons
• Elle Fanning — Sentimental Value
• Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas — Sentimental Value

Best Original Screenplay

• Bugonia — Yorgos Lanthimos & Will Tracy
• Marty Supreme — Josh Safdie & Ronald Bronstein
• One Battle After Another — Paul Thomas Anderson
• Sentimental Value — Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt
• Sinners — Ryan Coogler

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Blue Moon — Richard Linklater & Glen Powell
• Frankenstein — Guillermo del Toro
• Hamnet — Chloé Zhao
• The Secret Agent — Kleber Mendonça Filho
• Train Dreams — Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar

Best Animated Feature

• Arco
• KPop Demon Hunters
• The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol
• Zootopia 2
• The Night Gardener

Best International Feature Film

• The Secret Agent — Brazil
• Sentimental Value — Norway
• It Was Just an Accident — Iran
• Universal Language — Canada
• Sujo — Mexico

Best Documentary Feature

• The Alabama Solution
• Come See Me in the Good Light
• Four Daughters
• No Other Land
• The Perfect Neighbor

“And there’s nothing like that. It happens in movies, and in concerts. And it happens in ballet and opera, by the way.”

Timothee is nominated for two Oscars during the 2026 awards show.

He’s up for Best Actor for his role in Marty Supreme and Best Picture.

He will be up against Michael B. Jordan in Sinners; Leonardo DeCaprio in One Battle After Another; Wagner Moura in The Secret Agent; and Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon in the Best Actor category.

In Best Picture, Timothee is up against The Secret Agent, Bugonia, Train Dreams, F1, and Sinners.