Jimmy White could face disciplinary action after withdrawing from the UK Championship to take part in ITV’s ‘I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here.’
White was due to play in the second qualifying round on November 25 but will instead be in the jungle.
I think it would be wrong to fine White. He may be damaging his own ranking position by pulling out but he isn’t harming the game as a whole.
However, I suspect he will hate the experience. Anyone who knows Jimmy knows he hates sitting around doing nothing, which is 90% what this programme is about.
The list of ‘celebrities’ for the show reads like a who’s that? of the entertainment industry.
White will be joined by former page 3 girl Sam Fox, interior designers Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan, former EastEnders actress Lucy Benjamin, Kim Woodburn, who appears on a TV show in which she cleans houses, a chef, a dancer and various other barely known faces.
Veteran actor George Hamilton is also in the line-up and glamour model Katie Price is rumoured to be joining the show later in its run.
It starts on Sunday.
29 comments:
It is every snooker fans duty to vote White off early before he can make a fool of himself and to ensure he gets back in time for the UK qualifiers!
This is purely a money thing as Jimmy cannot turn down the large fee he will get for appearing. Maybe with the proceeds he can get back his Snooker club in Epsom!
He's 6/1 to win it, gotta be worth a shout!
Tell a lie, his best price is 5/1 and he's the favourite. First time he's been favourite for anything for a while!
"The list of ‘celebrities’ for the show reads like a who’s that? of the entertainment industry."
Hahahahah....
Yes, so true. God, TV is the pits these days.
I think its silly he is missing the UK. Not just because its the 2nd biggest event, but it could jeopardise his main tour place. Also he did gradually rise in the rankings last year. This is a sign that despite what he says about still being able to win the World title still deep down he knows that he won't return to the big time. Imagine if he loses his place at the end of season, just because he didnt play the UK.
Given Jimmy's track record he'll probably finish runner up.
@ anon 10:44
That won't help much as Jimmy now has officially withdrawn from the UK qualifiers, also confirmed by worldsnooker.com.
@RichP
I only got 3/1 :-(
Good luck to Jimmy. If the man gets offered a ridiculous amount of money to do this, then would any of us say no? Its not as if he is flush anymore.
Jimmy has put enough into Snooker to warrant such an invite. A Top bloke which will be a good watch too....
John
Dave - can you confirm or deny that White has been given a Jimmycard into the Masters ahead of the obvious choice Liang Wenbo?
If so, what are your feelings on this given that he's withdrawn from the UK?
I'm not aware that he has and I'd be surprised if he had been
I bet nobody has thought of this but how will Jimmy get on in keeping his hair looking pristeen in a jungle environment?
Its not his you see.
"...but will instead be in the jungle."
Maybe he can be lured back with some free Pukka Pies.
Withdrawing from a tournament can cost someone else their place though, especially when you're near the cut-off point. Someone gets free points from the bye and that puts them ahead of someone else who earned their points by actually playing. In that sense I think there should be a small mandatory penalty to discourage the practise, like a £1000 fine or something along those lines.
Jimmy in an interview commented that he has "the Masters in January" so it looks like he's got the wild card. You could argue there are more deserving players around, but he's won three events so far this season and been runner-up in a couple of others so it's not like it's completely undeserved, and the Masters may benefit from Jimmy's current media profile.
He's not going to fall off the tour as a result of this, and he probably isn't that bothered whether he's 40th or 60th in the rankings.
I feel sorry for him to some degree. He's surely going in there just for the moneyt after a career where his on table earnings are around £4.5 million and he probably made the same in side deals, cue endorsements, adverts exhibitions and so on. Therefore before tax his global career earnings are £9 million and as he has been active since 1981 if you had but even a small percentage of this into property early on it would have gone up 200-300% I feel sorry for him in the sense that in his heart he knows he has no interest in TV work and/or accepts he is not that good at it. A few years back he did some commentary work for the BBC and that hasn't been repeated. A shame that there wasn't a little less drinking and card playing and betting on horses in the 1980s and 1990s and he had a few more quid. Without being unkind he is a short fat man who wears a hair piece and appearing on TV in light summer clothing won't flatter him.
Off course without sounding too cynical he could walkout before the UK or be evicted
He's withdrawn from the UK Championship, so regardless of whether he walks he can't play in it.
And Jimmy doesn't need anyone's sympathy, neither does he deserve to be insulted. He's been one of the best things about snooker for the last quarter of a century and if he wants to use his celebrity to get a few quid, good luck to him.
Okay I actually might back him as he seems a good guy and when I met him once he was very pleasant. I actually think in a way it is good you put up the insults as it expose their silliness, I know I go on a bit, but I never insult the people on here or any of the players. That said we can still criticise their decisions and for me this is the wrong one as I said earlier because of his ranking. If the show didnt clash with a big event then you cant blame him going in there for 65,000 pounds for doing not a lot. Also I would agree with the Betty that if it does affect another player he perhaps should be fined, and anyway he can afford it now. If that Masters decision is true then I dont agree but I can't wait to see him there though.
To clear up a few points here. Jimmy doesn't wear a wig he had a hair transplant so i guess he washes it like you and I wash our hair so it shouldn't be a problem.
Secondly Jimmy White has got the wildcard for the Masters.
I don't think anyone has insulted him and ultimately only he himself can say I don't want your sympathy. He has had cancer, gone bankrupt, been arrested 3 or 4 times since his pinch in 1981 around time of Brixton riots, he has lost a brother at a comparitively early age and been divorced. So apart from 6 world finals he has lived a life wherein if someone felt sympathetic to all or part of it that is up to them. Factually he does have his vanities and wears a hair piece- his early 1990s pronounced bald spot has 'gone' He is also a stocky man and kind 'hide' this a little in snooker matches wearing evening dress. The point made earlier was this Tv show takes no prisoners and it is hard not to be presented in an unflattering manner unless you are a skinny 20 something. Lastly by dint of the fact he was made bankrupt he has gone through money at some rate. Most people who earned in and around £9 million wouldn't do this show.
Rich P.
Jimmy's hair doesn't grow and isn't his own.
The transplant went wrong.
Its a woven thing which doesn't exactly take 2 mins to arrange in a nice quiff.
My bet is he wears a baseball cap 24/7 in the jungle.
Hi Dave,
A couple of earlier posters brought the subject up, but White has definitely been quoted as saying that he'll "lose weight in the jungle in time for the Masters."
Unless he was being incredibly ironic or sarcastic, he seems to think that he will be at Wembley. Maybe White's new management company have someone on the inside?
He also has a huge fear of snakes...
With O'Sullivan's participation in the Championship League, any lingering hope of seeing him in the Celebrity Big Brother house has evaporated.
Thanks, Joe
Dave - aren't all the players contractually obliged to play in all the ranking events, unless they have had express permission not to appear (or can produce a doctor's note)?
What a punishment that would be - granting him the Masters wild-card! Surely, not even the WPBSA wouldn't do that...would they? Then again, if he wins in the jungle, the media interest for the Masters would be massively increased, so maybe it's a master-stroke from the Bristol bunglers!
3:26PM
David Gest isnt short of a few bob but he also did this show.
Surely the classiest person to enter was Martina Navratilova. I don't know how ITV pulled that one off - maybe they lied through their teeth like Channel 4 did to Jackie Stallone for Celebrity Big Brother by telling her she was going to live in a palace!
Snooker The Fine Art Method
A secret is wasted if not shared
Dear Dave
This is a good post about Jimmy every one likes a say.
Yes the wee man has made and squanderd a few bob but always honestly earned. Granted Jimmy has not been a roll model for alter boys but still no regretes.
If Jimmy White had "Bottled" his early technique with a copyright the whole world would now be playing the "Jimmy White" method and Jimmy would be snookers top earner perpetually with or without a cue.
Mr hey you
3:24 PM
i dont see the problem with jimmy getting a wildcard i no who i would most like to see in him and wenbo and the media attention he would bring after the jungle can only be good for the game
Watching the 1st programme in the series. Jimmy ain't gonna last long with these numpties.
Why has he no sponsor logo badges ?
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