13/05/2008
NEWS STORY
F1 fans in Britain of a certain vintage may well remember a much lampooned game show called Mr and Mrs.
Hosted by the super-syrupy Derek Batey, the show tested how well married couples really knew one another by asking one contestant three questions about their partner, while the 'other-half' (blindfolded) was shut away in a glass box, their body moving rhythmically to music pumped in through headphones. After the three questions had been answered the couuple would change places.
Words cannot describe the naffness - though in all honesty most of us have imagined how we and our partners would perform if silly enough to take part.
The series saw a brief revival in the late 1990s with camp comedian Julian Clarey taking the reigns.
Now it is back, and like so many other TV programmes these days, the public have been ditched in favour of 'celebrities'.
Last Friday, moments after the end of the second free practice in Turkey, channel hoppers in Britain - mostly the unemployed and unemployable at that time of days - would have witnessed three celebrity couples throw caution to the wind and risk their last vestige of credibility, all in the name of charity.
The was Bez from the Happy Mondays with his partner Monica, Vic Reeves with his wife Nancy and Formula One's very own David Coulthard with fiancee Karen Minier.
At first, DC looked suitably embarrassed, but as things progressed he looked far more comfortable. Amongst other things we learned - courtesy of Karen - that David drinks a little too much, often fakes enjoyment (on the podium) and doesn't wear underpants beneath his kilt. Furthermore, he is the more vain of the duo, prefers his Swiss home to his Monaco residence, that Spa is his favourite track and that the slight bald patch on the back of his head isn't from wearing his crash helmet.
Despite not having scored a World Championship point in 2008, Pitpass is happy to report that David and Karen won the 'grand final', the Scot handing over his £20,000 prize money to the Bicycle Helmet Initiative Trust.
All in a very good cause, but god help the boy when the Red Bull crew get hold of a copy of the tape.