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EXCLUSIVE: Amanda Holden has opened up on her friend Alan Carr’s upcoming stint in the Celebrity Traitors castle

Amanda Holden has given her verdict on her friend Alan Carr‘s upcoming appearance on Celebrity Traitors.

Claudia Winkleman returns to the iconic Traitors castle in Inverness next Wednesday (October 8), alongside an all-star cast who are ready to play the ultimate game of deceit and betrayal.

Alongside Alan, the first celebrity series will feature Good Morning Britain host Kate Garraway, rugby star Joe Marler, presenter Clare Balding, legendary actor and comedian Stephen Fry and EastEnders star Tameka Empson.

While production for the new series was underway back in April, Amanda Holden shared her thoughts on her close friend Alan’s appearance on the hit reality show.

“He’s in the castle in Inverness as we speak!” she exclusively revealed on the set of her new BBC gameshow The Inner Circle.

“I think he’d be a terrible traitor and I think if they had any sense, that’s exactly what they’d make him be. It would be hilarious because he is rubbish at trying to keep secrets.

“He told me last year he was doing Traitors. It was like the biggest secret, I was like, ‘Shush, Alan!'”

Amanda’s new quiz show is reminiscent of The Traitors itself, with backstabbing and deceit at its core. BBC viewers will be treated to two versions of the quiz, which has the Britain’s Got Talent judge as its host.

The daytime game will see six contestants battle it out to outsmart and outwit the other players, while on Saturday nights, fans can tune in to see celebrities team up with members of the public to play.

During the game, the players will each be randomly assigned a secret stash of cash, anything between zero and £4,000 for daytime and £5,000 for the Saturday night show.

Each player only knows their value with no obligation to tell the truth as they get thrown into a battle of wits, nerve and strategic gameplay across a series of challenging rounds.

Speaking about the exciting concept of The Inner Circle, Amanda said: “It has elements of other shows that you might recognise; The Weakest Link, Traitors and Golden Balls with Jasper Carrot – all in one!

“It’s all about general knowledge and human nature… It’s complex but it’s fun!”

Amanda concluded: “It’s going to be glamorous and nail-biting with a real jeopardy at the end that I don’t think anybody is going to be expecting while they’re dunking their biscuits in a cuppa!

“The Saturday night takes the show up another level, just before Strictly. I’m their warm-up, which is just a brilliant place to be!”

The Inner Circle premieres on BBC One at 5.35pm on Saturday 4th October, while Celebrity Traitors premieres on BBC One at 9pm on Wednesday 8th October

Jakob Ingebrigtsen described his performance as “terrible” after he suffered a shock exit in the men’s 1500m heats at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

The world outdoor title is the only international 1500m gold medal missing from the Norwegian star’s collection after he was beaten by Great Britain’s Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman at the past two editions.

But the 24-year-old will not have the chance to end that wait inside the stadium where he triumphed in the Olympic 1500m four years ago after finishing eighth in his heat on Sunday.

Ingebrigtsen, a two-time Olympic and world champion, has endured an injury-disrupted season and did not race for six months prior to these championships.

“I was terrible,” Ingebrigtsen told BBC Sport.

“The race itself was perfect, especially how it turned out, it was gifted to me.

“Unfortunately I have lost too much and I have not been able to prepare.

“Of course I’m disappointed but it’s a reality check that it was never really going to happen. I was holding on for dear life because I love to compete.

“I’ve been glued to the floor unfortunately. I’ve not been able to do what is needed, clearly. I just have to look forward.”

Britons Kerr, Wightman and Neil Gourley progressed – and saw their medal hopes boosted further as Frenchman Azeddine Habz and talented Kenyan teenager Phanuel Koech, the top two fastest 1500m runners this year, both also exited the competition.

The men’s 1500m semi-finals take place on Monday (13:30 BST), with the final on Wednesday.

The TV star has revealed they are ‘very pleased’ with their decision to stop drinking alcohol

Gogglebox star Gyles Brandreth has revealed he gave up alcohol because he hated hangovers and feeling “groggy”.

The TV star opened up on ITV’s This Morning, where he is a regular on the sofa, sharing that he didn’t like not feeling “sharp” when he got up and that he also battled migraines after a tipple.

The 77-year-old ended up quitting booze altogether and hasn’t looked back, telling presenters Rylan Clark and Josie Gibson that he’s “very pleased” with his decision.

Opening up during a segment about how much time Brits spend recovering from drinking, he said: “One of the reasons I gave up drinking 25 years ago was because I did occasionally have a hangover. I felt groggy, I didn’t feel sharp in the morning.”

“Yeah, it’s the worst feeling,” host Rylan agreed.

“It is a terrible feeling,” Gyles replied. “I thought, ‘I don’t want this anymore.’ So I actually gave up for a month, then three months.

“Started drinking again and again having migraines , so I gave up forever. And I am very pleased that I did!”

As well as being a staple on This Morning, Gyles has been entertaining Celebrity Gogglebox viewers with his witty comments and observations since 2019.

He has appeared in the Channel 4 series with several different celebs, including Carol Vorderman, Sheila Hancock, Joanna Lumley and Maureen Lipman. Last year saw him do a stint with singer Lulu.

Gyles previously told OK! he’s been impressed with the co-stars that Gogglebox bosses pick for him – and that he’s got his sights set on his next fellow armchair critic.

“They choose the people for me – they choose the celebrity friend and they seem to give me all these Dames which is marvellous. Lovely Dame Maureen Lipman and Dame Sheila Hancock are fabulous – and the singer Lulu of course,” he said.

He went on: “I have a wish list, though, for who I would love for next year if they ask me again – I would love Dame Twiggy… I’m keeping my fingers crossed!”

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player.

A COMMON phone mistake that you think is saving battery life is actually doing the opposite.

Millions of us do it every single day – but even Apple has warned users not to bother.

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Loads of iPhone owners spend time every day quitting their apps.

They’ll swipe them closed, quitting them in order to save a bit of battery life.

But Apple says it doesn’t actually save battery life at all.

“You should only close an app if it’s unresponsive,” Apple said.

The iPhone maker continued: “Typically, there’s no reason to quit an app.

“Quitting it doesn’t save battery power, for example.”

In fact, it could even be making things worse.

After you move to a different app, the old one will be “suspended”.

“After you’ve switched to a different app, some apps will run for a short period of time before they’re set to a suspended state,” Apple explained.

“Apps that are in a suspended state aren’t actively in use, open or taking up system resources.”

They’re kept in a suspended state so that it’s quicker and more power-efficient to relaunch them.

But if you fully force-quit an app, it will need to reboot from scratch, which is slower and takes up more power.

So it’s better to just leave them in a suspended state unless there’s an actual issue with the app – like it keeps freezing or crashing.

HOW TO CHECK WHAT’S REALLY DRAINING YOUR BATTERY

So what are you supposed to do if your iPhone’s battery life isn’t as good as you’d like?

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Well you can very easily check to see which apps and features are draining the most battery.

Just go into Settings > Battery and you can look at a long list of apps order by how much charge they’re using.

If there are any high-drain apps you don’t really care about, consider deleting them.

Or try turning off Background App Refresh for that app if you don’t want it to periodically check for new info (like email notifications). Just note that this might make the app work less well.

BATTERY SWAP

Another option is to check up on the health of your iPhone’s battery.

Over time – as you charge and discharge them – phone batteries get worse. This is just the nature of lithium ion batteries.

That means the more you use your iPhone, the less charge it will hold over time.

So your iPhone will run out of battery more quickly.

IPHONE BATTERY SWAP – HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?

Here’s how much you’ll pay for iPhone battery replacements in the UK and the US..

iPhone 5 Series

iPhone SE Series

• iPhone SE (1st gen) – £N/A / $69
• iPhone SE (2nd gen) – £65 / $69
• iPhone SE (3rd gen) – £65 / $69

iPhone 6 Series

• iPhone 6 – £N/A / $69
• iPhone 6s – £N/A / $69
• iPhone 6s Plus – £N/A / $69

iPhone 7 Series

• iPhone 7 – £65 / $69
• iPhone 7 Plus – £65 / $69

iPhone 8 Series

• iPhone 8 – £65 / $69
• iPhone 8 Plus – £65 / $69

iPhone X Series

iPhone XR/XS Series

• iPhone XR – £85 / $89
• iPhone XS – £85 / $89
• iPhone XS Max – £85 / $89

iPhone 11 Series

• iPhone 11 – £85 / $89
• iPhone 11 Pro – £85 / $89
• iPhone 11 Pro Max – £85 / $89

iPhone 12 Series

• iPhone 12 mini – £85 / $89
• iPhone 12 – £85 / $89
• iPhone 12 Pro – £85 / $89
• iPhone 12 Pro Max – £85 / $89

iPhone 13 Series

• iPhone 13 mini – £85 / $89
• iPhone 13 – £85 / $89
• iPhone 13 Pro – £85 / $89
• iPhone 13 Pro Max – £85 / $89

iPhone 14 Series

• iPhone 14 – £95 / $99
• iPhone 14 Plus – £95 / $99
• iPhone 14 Pro – £95 / $99
• iPhone 14 Pro Max – £95 / $99

iPhone 15 Series

• iPhone 15 – £95 / $99
• iPhone 15 Plus – £95 / $99
• iPhone 15 Pro – £95 / $99
• iPhone 15 Pro Max – £95 / $99

iPhone 16 Series

• iPhone 16 – £95 / $99
• iPhone 16 Plus – £95 / $99
• iPhone 16 Pro – £109 / $119
• iPhone 16 Pro Max – £109 / $119

Picture Credit: Apple

You can get to see how degraded your iPhone’s battery has become by going into Settings > Battery > Battery Health.

Normally you’d expect to be at around 80% capacity versus new after two years – or roughly 500 “charge cycles”, which are full charges and discharges.

That means your phone only holds 80% of the charge it held when it was new.

There’s no way to fix that beyond getting a new battery.

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Apple will replace your iPhone’s battery at the Apple Store. It usually costs somewhere between £60 and £100 / $60 and $100 depending on the model, but it could be more or less than that.

This will give you like-new battery life, and costs far less than buying a new iPhone.

You might even find that your iPhone’s performance improves, as sometimes processor speed can be limited as a protection feature if your battery is severely degraded.

United States President Donald Trump has taken to social media to defend his fellow right-wing leader, Jair Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president who faces criminal charges for allegedly plotting a coup d’etat.

On Monday, Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, that Bolsonaro’s indictment was an example of political persecution.

“Brazil is doing a terrible thing on their treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro,” Trump said.

“I have watched, as has the World, as they have done nothing but come after him, day after day, night after night, month after month, year after year! He is not guilty of anything, except having fought for THE PEOPLE.”

Trump went on to compare his own legal troubles to Bolsonaro’s. Both leaders have been accused of trying to undermine their country’s elections, following losses.

In Trump’s case, the accusations concern his 2020 race against Democrat Joe Biden. Though Trump lost, prosecutors say he and his allies conspired to defraud voters by pressuring officials to say that he won. The lie culminated in an attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, as Trump’s supporters sought to disrupt the certification of the 2020 election results.

Trump later faced a federal indictment in Washington, DC, and a state-level indictment in Georgia over his actions. The federal charges, however, were dropped once he took office for a second term in January.

Bolsonaro, meanwhile, is facing criminal trial for allegedly masterminding a scheme to retain power after his 2022 election loss to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

In the lead-up to the election, Bolsonaro spread falsehoods about the accuracy of Brazil’s voting machines, and afterwards refused to publicly concede defeat. Thousands of his supporters likewise stormed government buildings in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, to protest the outcome.

Prosecutors say police unearthed evidence of a scheme wherein Bolsonaro and his allies plotted to hold onto power by means of a coup, one that would have seen Lula and other officials assassinated.

Both Trump and Bolsonaro have denied wrongdoing. In Monday’s posts, Trump said that both of their cases reflected a politically motivated “WITCH HUNT” designed to dim their popularity among voters.

“This is nothing more, or less, than an attack on a Political Opponent – Something I know much about! It happened to me, times 10,” Trump wrote. “The Great People of Brazil will not stand for what they are doing to their former President.”

He appeared to end his post with a call for Bolsonaro’s re-election: “The only Trial that should be happening is a Trial by the Voters of Brazil – It’s called an Election. LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE!”

Bolsonaro, however, has been barred from running for office for eight years, a period which expires in 2030. Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court issued the punishment in a separate case in 2023 after it found Bolsonaro had abused his power by using government offices to spread doubt about the country’s voting machines.

Trump and Bolsonaro have long faced comparisons with one another. They both took office for a first term in 2017, and both lost their initial re-election attempt. Bolsonaro, a former army captain, has been referred to as the “Trump of the tropics”.

Critics have long speculated that Trump may seek to intervene in Brazil’s prosecution of the far-right leader through political pressure.

Earlier this year, for example, the Trump Media and Technology Group joined a lawsuit in Florida against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, arguing that a recent decision from the judge amounted to the censorship of right-wing voices.

De Moraes has overseen the criminal case against Bolsonaro and is considered a target of ire for Brazil’s right.

In a social media response on Monday, President Lula indicated that Trump’s social media missive could be viewed as an attempt to interfere with the Brazilian justice system.

Though he mentioned neither Trump nor Bolsonaro by name, Lula, a left-wing leader, rejected the advice of those who sought to influence the ongoing trial from abroad.

“The defence of democracy in Brazil is a matter for Brazilians to deal with. We are a sovereign country. We do not accept interference or tutelage from anyone,” Lula wrote. “We have solid and independent institutions. No one is above the law. Especially those who threaten freedom and the rule of law.”

Bolsonaro, on the other hand, took to social media to thank Trump explicitly for his words of support.

“I thank the illustrious President and friend. You went through something similar. You were relentlessly persecuted, but you won for the good of the United States and dozens of other truly democratic countries,” Bolsonaro wrote, reflecting on how “happy” he was to see Trump’s note.

Bolsonaro used the occasion to once again proclaim his innocence and blast his political opponents as puppeteering the trial.

“This process to which I am responding is a legal aberration (Lawfare), clear political persecution,” he said.

The former president could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted.