spotting

EAGLE-EYED Strictly fans have been left baffled after spotting a live show shake up.

Tonight’s show was the Musicals Week special with Wicked star Cynthia Erivo acting as a guest mentor.

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Before the show started, pro dancer Julian Caillon shared a blurry picture of the running order.

But as the show got underway, Strictly viewers noticed that Karen Carney was moved from the fourth slot in the line up.

The former footballer was dancing a Cha Cha Cha to She’s a Lady from Miss Congeniality with her pro partner Carlos Gu.

She was supposed to perform after YouTube star George Clarke, but he was followed by Drag Race star La Voix instead.

The eagle-eyed viewers immediately took to X to question the change, with one writing: “I wonder why they changed order with Karen and Carlos and they weren’t in Clauditorium.

“Maybe some wardrobe problem.”

Another added: “why did we skip karen and carlos in the running order.”

In the end, Karen and Carlos performed seventh and scored 25 points.

However, things went a bit awry when it came to the scores, as Motsi Mabuse almost missed her cue.

Craig Revel Horwood started things off with a disappointing 4.

As he delivered it, Motsi seemed completely surprised as she cried ‘Oh no’, before turning to the back of the desk and scrambling around.

She managed to grab her seven paddle in the nick of time and gave her score.

At the end of the night, Karen found herself in the bottom half of the leaderboard, joint third from bottom with Vicky Pattison.

Meanwhile, former Emmerdale actor Lewis Cope topped the leaderboard after receiving the first 10 of the series – from Motsi – for his Paso Doble.

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Strictly airs Saturdays on BBC One and iPlayer.

SHOPPERS have slammed a bargain retail giant after spotting Christmas decor on shelves four months early.

Many have claimed it is “ridiculous” and an “absolute joke” to see the festive decorations so early in the year.

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Despite this August being sunnier and warmer for Scots than normal, The Range is already preparing for the winter months.

And shoppers were left fuming when the retailer showed off its range of Christmas buys that are now up for grabs.

The Range took to social media to share its brand new collection of festive decor, which is already stocked on shelves.

In one Facebook post, the shop showed a number of festive cushions and teddies, including cuddly Christmas puddings, gingerbread men, candy canes, and snowy trains and villages.

There was also a huge collection of different Christmas bedding sets, each with its own theme, and large Santa toys.

Fan favourite festive candles were also on display, as well as diffusers with classic Christmas smells such as gingerbread and cranberries.

Our Christmas candles have officially landed. Because it’s never too early for a little festive magic

The RangeFacebook post

Other pieces of decor for the home were up for grabs, like little gingerbread house ornaments, green glass trees and gold lanterns.

The Range captioned one post: “They’re here… and yes, it’s still summer.

“Our Christmas candles have officially landed. Because it’s never too early for a little festive magic.”

And another post on Facebook read: “Not to sleigh the surprise… but since you asked for MORE, here’s a little festive teaser.

“Too early? Snow way! Our full Christmas collection is coming soon – stay tuned!”

But the posts led to an outcry from shoppers who said it “spoils the magic” by being in shops so early – especially when the summer is still considered to be in full swing.

Many flocked to the comments to blast the shop for selling Christmas decor before the official start of autumn.

One person said: “Have a day off, it’s bloody August!”

Another added: “Spoils the magic of it. It’s ridiculous”.

Someone else wrote: “Absolute joke…”

While a fourth shared: “Ridiculous, it’s not even Halloween”.

And a fifth chimed in: “I love Christmas, but this is far too early”.

How to save money at The Range

THE Range shoppers can save extra cash by using these tips…

Shop, within a shop – In some The Range stores there’s a ‘secret’ shop within a shop.

You can purchase Iceland products in over 85 of the retailer’s branches.

The budget grocery items are a must for plenty of shoppers with hungry mouths to feed back at home.

Shop the sale – Even some of the biggest ticket items are slashed in price if you know when to shop.

A good tip for online shoppers is to use the “offers” tab on The Range website.

It’s where you’ll find deals like this and all the best bargains are saved in one place so you can browse hundreds of products that have been reduced.

It’s also where you’ll find the “Mega Drop”.

Use Facebook – You can use Facebook to your advantage before you head out to shop at The Range.

Like-minded bargain hunters flock to the social media platform to post all about their latest finds and how they managed to score the best prices.

Others, however, seem delighted to get into the Christmas spirit before summer’s over.

A user posted: “Woop woop, skip Halloween and just have Christmas”.

A second commented: “Can’t wait to see the full range of Christmas stock out in shops”.

And a shopper agreed: “Please hurry, I keep popping in to check”.

While a fourth cheered: “Sooooooooo excited, I love Christmas”.

Someone else added: “YASSSSSS, IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!”

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DESPITE the summer heat still reaching blistering levels in the UK, it seems some stores are already preparing for Christmas.

We often think of August as the month for summer holidays and beach trips, but one store has other ideas leaving shoppers fuming.

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The shop that is in the firing line is The Range, which took to social media to share the collection of Christmas goodies already stocked on shelves.

In one post, the shop shared a collection of their Christmas candles, shaped Christmas crackers, baubles, Christmas pudding and snowflakes.

They captioned the post: “They’re here… and yes, it’s still summer.

“Our Christmas candles have officially landed. Because it’s never too early for a little festive magic.”

However. it seemed that shoppers weren’t convinced and many accused the store of ruining Christmas.

Another post from The Range’s Facebook page showed that it wasn’t just candles on offer.

Homeware decorations were also up for grabs including Christmas pudding plushies, gingerbread men cushions and giant candy canes.

Many shoppers took to the comments fuming that Christmas was already taking over when it was the middle of summer.

One person wrote: “Give over, you’re spoiling Christmas now, far too soon.”

Another commented: “Oh go away!”

“Seriously, can we just enjoy what’s left of the summer?” penned a third.

Meanwhile, a fourth said: “It spoils Christmas, it’s the summer holiday and by the time it gets to Christmas you’re sick of the sight of it.”

“Absolutely ridiculous,” claimed a fifth

Someone else added: “What a joke! It’s August, pure greed!”

FESTIVE CHEER

B&M has also outraged shoppers after a photo of the Guylian countdown treat was shared on New Foods UK’s Facebook page.

The £12 calendar is filled with three different flavours of the iconic Belgian chocolates.

From December 1 to 24, behind each door is a milk truffle, original seashell, or salted caramel delight.

Destination X fans were left unimpressed by a challenge in the latest instalment of the BBC gameshow with many branding it ‘boring’ and spotting a glaring ‘fake’ detail

Destination X viewers slammed a “boring” challenge on the BBC gameshow, after spotting a “fake” detail.

Rob Brydon’s programme is in full swing, having been labelled a cross between The Traitors and Race Across The World.

It features 13 strangers competing to scoop £100,000 as they’re whisked across Europe and try to work out their location through various challenges.

In tonight’s instalment (Wednesday, 13 August), the participants were challenged with carrying wine glasses across a vineyard on a tray held by one hand, whilst answering questions about one another in an attempt to eliminate their rivals.

The more responses they got wrong, the more glasses they had to balance, resulting in several being knocked out when their trays tumbled, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Yet viewers were swift to spot that whilst the BBC episode featured sounds of glass shattering, the contestants seemed to be using plastic.

“The smashing glass sound effects for them dropping plastic champagne flutes is sending me,” one penned.

Another questioned: “Why have they put a shattering glass sound on when the glasses are clearly plastic? Haha.”

Others branded the challenge as “boring”, as one posted: “Not liking this part… it’s very boring.”

Another raged: “Well this is riveting tv.. Not!”

Someone else fumed: “Sorry that wine task was total c***. I’d rather watch paint dry. switching off.”

Prior to the new series launching, host Rob confessed he nearly wrecked the entire game by almost spilling a secret.

The high-stakes programme only functions if the contestants are genuinely able to participate without receiving any hints about the outside world during their journey.

Despite numerous production safeguards being implemented to guarantee this, Rob nearly sabotaged everything.

Speaking before the show’s debut, the star confessed that although he was “very careful”, he did encounter one close call.

He revealed: “I won’t say where we were, but we were on a hillside, that’s all I’ll say, and we were about to visit a lovely location, and I was looking forward to where we were going next.

“I was chatting to some of the crew and I said out loud, ‘I can’t wait to get to [the place]’ and then I realised that just over there was one of the players and I had a sinking feeling in my stomach.”

He continued: “Luckily they didn’t hear, and I can be sure of that because of what happened next which told me that they’d not heard. That was the only one but it was a constant fear.”

Destination X continues tomorrow night at 9pm on BBC One and is available to watch on iPlayer.

It takes us 38 hours – two trains, a tube, the Caledonian Sleeper, a day in Aberdeen, a hire car and the NorthLink ferry – to reach Shetland from our home in Oxfordshire, and yet the immortal words “Are we there yet?” are not uttered once. When the ferry docks at Lerwick, the kids, Lydia (11) and Alex (eight), are uncharacteristically silent as we take in the view: the town huddled on a low hill, the water shimmering in the morning sun, and islands as far as the eye can see.

We are spending a week in the archipelago, travelling first around Mainland, the main island, and then north to the less populated islands of Yell and Unst, linked by regular ferries. It turns out to be the perfect location for a family holiday: short journey times (it takes 80 minutes to drive from the southern tip of Mainland to the northern) combined with the sea almost always being in view, and the excitement of a boat or ferry trip every day.

On Mainland, we base ourselves at Hayhoull B&B. Mary, the owner, makes us feel like part of her family and cooks us delicious dinners that even my picky son doesn’t turn his nose up at. We wake to spectacular views of St Ninian’s Isle, before heading to Lerwick harbour to join a boat trip with Shetland Seabird Tours. Skipper Phil tells us we’ll be sailing up to Noss island to see the gannet colony. Alex turns to me with wide eyes. “They dive like missiles!” he whispers excitedly.

First, though, we see eider ducks, paddling just outside the harbour, and fulmars in cosy pairs on the cliffs. The latter, Phil tells us, “have a nasty defence mechanism against birds of prey – they vomit on them and ruin their flight feathers”. The kids are delighted and repulsed at the same time. Then there are sentry-like shags inside a cave, crowds of black guillemots and a solitary puffin bobbing on the waves, which sends a ripple of excitement around the boat.

But it is those gannets that steal the show. They appear as we approach the uninhabited, sheer-cliffed island of Noss, unmistakable with their pointed white beaks and yellow head feathers. As the birds (about 600–700 according to Phil’s estimate) circle and call above us, Phil submerges a long metal tube in the water; he throws a mackerel down it and within seconds the first gannets are folding their wings back and in and shaping themselves into bird torpedoes, before plunging bullet-like into the deep blue water. It is a phenomenal sight. The only word I hear out of either child for the next 15 minutes is “Wow!”

In fact, if there’s a word that characterises our visit to Shetland, “wow” is it. At Jarlshof prehistoric and Norse settlement, where thousands of years of human habitation are revealed in the remains of countless buildings, the kids wander off happily with their audio guides, pointing things out to each other with glee; what I had anticipated being a 10-minute visit takes us an hour and a half.

Just down the road is Sumburgh Head lighthouse, where the season’s first puffins have recently arrived. We listen to a recreation of the sound of the lighthouse foghorn that is so loud the kids cover their ears, and climb up the foghorn tower to see the land drop away into the seemingly endless sea.

Another boat trip takes us out to the small, uninhabited island of Mousa, an RSPB nature reserve. A huge broch (an iron-age circular tower unique to Scotland) stands on its south-western shore; though it’s closed on our visit, we peer through the gate to look at the layered stone interior and imagine the people and animals that would once have lived there. We have three hours on Mousa, and spend them wandering the two-mile path around it at a leisurely pace, losing time watching seals play in East Pool and spotting nesting fulmars. “Stay away from them,” Alex tells us. “You don’t want to be sicked on.”

Back on land, we walk the short distance from our B&B to St Ninian’s Isle, reached via the UK’s largest active tombolo (a sand bar). The kids immediately whip off their shoes to submerge their feet in the soft white sand; while they play, my husband and I walk across to the island. From the top, we have a clear view of both the kids and the skerries (small rocky islands and reefs) that pepper the isle’s south side.

Just up the road is West Lynne croft (small farm), where the multitalented Cecil Tait shows us around and demonstrates the skills of his sheepdog, Bess, who is convinced that we need herding too. Tait, who also makes furniture and wool, and runs woodworking courses, tells us that all the while we’re talking he’s translating in his head from his native Shetland dialect into English. I watch the kids digest this. “Wow, Mum,” Alex says afterwards, “I didn’t know English wasn’t everyone’s main language here.”

The next day, we head for Unst, the archipelago’s most northerly island. Getting there involves driving through Mainland and the neighbouring island of Yell, and two short ferry journeys (Mainland to Yell, and Yell to Unst), with the excitement building as we go. Most people come here for the birds and dramatic coastal scenery of Hermaness national nature reserve, on the northern tip of the island, but we decide against a three-and-a-half-hour walk battling the wind (and the children). Instead, we opt to head along the south coast with Catriona Waddington, the chair of Wild Skies Shetland, which has set up interactive “sky stops” to help visitors explore the island.

We walk for a mile along the blue-tinted sands of Easting beach and then above the rocky shoreline to one of the stops, Framgord. A listening post invites us to hear a Norse story or a fiddle tune that Catriona says “always makes people waltz”. The kids are soon doing exactly that. That night, they sleep – much to their excitement – in traditional alcove beds at the elegant Belmont House.

En route back to Mainland, we pause in Yell for the afternoon, spending more than two hours wandering its gentle north-eastern shoreline on an otter-watching tour with Brydon Thomason of Shetland Nature. Armed with binoculars, the kids tramp happily for miles, stopping every time Brydon does, to join him in scanning the shore and water.

There are no complaints about the cold or the distance; there is too much to learn about otters, such as how we have to walk downwind so they can’t smell us, and how to identify their toilets. Brydon has been otter–spotting since he was Alex’s age. “I was excited by the thrill of how hard they were to find,” he tells us. “It’s like being a detective in nature.”

The kids are clearly happy being detectives, too. But when the shout to “Get down!” comes, they are more than ready, dropping straight on to their fronts as we follow Brydon’s instructions to crawl on to the beach. There, in the water, is the slick, dark curve of an otter.

Brydon sets up his camera so the kids can take photos when the otter comes on to the shore. When she does, though, she is not alone; she is with her two cubs and is busy demolishing an octopus she has caught. We watch, through binoculars and Brydon’s camera, in a silence that is broken only by emphatic wows. “This is why I do it,” Brydon says with a smile. “For reactions like these.”

In Shetland, it seems to me, they are the only reactions to have.

The trip was provided by visitscotland.com and shetland.org. Transport to Scotland was provided by Caledonian Sleeper, and transport to Shetland by NorthLink Ferries. The best time to see most seabirds is from May to the end of August, though puffins tend to head back out to sea in August

Tourists are warning fellow flyers to brace for pat-downs especially if you are bit sweaty at airport security especially if it’s hot and your trousers are clinging in awkward places…

Flying is stressful enough. Add unnecessarily hot weather to the mix, and, being a nervous flyer plus a public groin search, it’s chaos. According to travellers online, if you’re even slightly sweaty, especially down there, airport body scanners might just flag it.

One tourist took to Reddit to share their baffling experience after being stopped for a pat-down in the same spot, not once, but twice, while going through a US Transport Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint, UNILAD reports.

They wrote that they were a “5’8″, 169lbs, midsized adult woman”, and explained: “My crotch was flagged twice.” They added that they were wearing “bike shorts and normal underwear”.

READ MORE: Win tickets to see Oasis at Wembley in our fab competition

Another Redditor asked what many were probably thinking: “Were you sweating?” The woman replied honestly: “Probably a little, I’m terrified of flying, so I was nervous.”

While she wasn’t offended by the pat-down, she couldn’t help but wonder why she was targeted and her wife wasn’t.

And she’s far from alone. One man shared a similar saga online after noticing his “sensitive area” kept setting off the scanner no matter what he wore. He tested everything from double-knee trousers to pyjama bottoms in an attempt to get through unnoticed. Still, no luck, he was patted down every time.

Eventually, someone in the thread offered what seemed like the most plausible explanation.

“I’ve flown a lot over the last few years. I’m a bigger guy, and I’ve had that problem. My unscientific testing has told me the following. If I’m sweaty, I’m getting a pat down. The machine triggers on sweat, especially in the lower back and private areas.”

Apparently, sweat can create odd shadows on the scanner image, and that’s when TSA officers step in.

The seasoned flyer continued: “Boxer briefs over boxers, the boys need to be high and tight. Pants material doesn’t make too much of a difference. What does is sag. When you get in the machine, pull your pants as high up as you can. Sagging pants make a shadow or something, and it guarantees a pat down.”

And if you’re thinking this is all a bit much, they did offer one final word of reassurance: “The last thing is to be patient. They don’t want to search you down there any more than you want to be searched, but sometimes it’s just going to happen.”

So, if you’re heading on holiday and find yourself sweating buckets in the airport queue, maybe give those clingy trousers a miss. Or at least hoik them up properly before the scanner. And definitely don’t leave the fan at home to keep yourself cool, or you could be facing a sweaty pat down.

READ MORE: ‘I tried this discounted Karcher pressure washer and my patio has never looked so good’

Love Island fans were treated to even more drama tonight, as it was announced the villa would be holding a shock recoupling – with the power in the boys hands

The Love Island villa was thrown into chaos once again tonight, when the Islanders learnt there would be a shock recoupling. After a dramatic week, the power was in the boys hands – and Toni and Malisha’s fate was left in new bombshell Harrison’s hands.

Bombshells Malisha and Toni were left single after Dejon, who had been getting to know Malisha chose to couple up with original partner Meg. Toni’s partner Conor chose to couple up with bombshell Emily.

When it came to Dejon’s turn, he chose to couple up with “my Meg,” leaving Malisha standing single alongside Toni and Yasmin – who was later picked by Shea. The Islanders were left wondering whether Toni or Malisha would be dumped from the Island – but they were left in shock when they were told they were both vulnerable through a text.

They were then told that their fate would lie in new bombshell Harrison’s hands, as both would date the 22-year-old. Only one would return to the villa, and that choice would be Harrison’s.

The 22-year-old footballer from Derby, but resides in Miami, was left waiting for both just outside the villa – and their fate was in his hands. As both went on a date with Harrison, it was down to him to decide who he’d be taking back to the villa, and who would be sent packing.

Both had a good date, but fans have already worked out who he’d be taking home after spotting a huge clue. Fans believe he’ll pick Toni, as the pair share a connection residing in the US.

“Miami…..yh he’s off with Toni #LoveIslandUK #LoveIsland,” said one, as another penned: “They set up Malisha omg sending in a guy who lives in America and likes American girls wtf #LoveIsland.”