The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Thursday, November 22

Hi, all!

I’m aware it’s a holiday for many of us, but Harry Redknapp is still on I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, so I must continue. Here’s Episode 3!

Ramble of the Day

Harry Redknapp is building a reputation in the jungle. Again, he wasn’t up to much, though in episode 3, that was hardly his fault — he wasn’t asked to do anything. Redknapp, though, is never quiet. There’s always a story to be told and an opinion to be shared, and in the case of this episode, a duet to be sung.

One of my first Redknapp related notes of the episode was about the aforementioned duet, sung with John Barrowman. It was hardly surprising that Barrowman broke into song after Nick Knowles cracked a joke about relaxing by the seaside — he’s got his own reputation, too — but Redknapp joining him was the notable event here. Perhaps even more noteworthy was that Redknapp wasn’t so bad; he carried the tune well and was seemingly in harmony with Barrowman, making it Redknapp’s most impressive feat in Australia to date.

Eventually, though, you’re here because you want to hear another Redknapp story. Again, he was joined by Barrowman as the two were trading stories about how they met their spouses. As good a storyteller as Redknapp is, it was surprisingly Barrowman that had the better story.

To be fair, it will always be hard to top any story about hanging out with Cher, let alone having your first date with your future spouse with her. I couldn’t help but watch the video again, even though I knew its contents, and it’s mostly because of Redknapp. I genuinely can’t stop listening to his storytelling, and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m still so amused by the fact that Harry Redknapp is on I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! or because he’s quite good at it. It’s probably both.

Finally, he completed the Redknapp jungle hat trick by commenting o that night’s dinner, a quail dish. He didn’t have anything to say initially, though he was skeptical. Emily Atack assured Redknapp that he’d like it, while Barrowman acknowledged that it would help to expand his “gastronomic palate,” but with Redknapp, experimentation with food means something else entirely.

He quickly noted that “all I know is steak and kidney pie” before the show cutaway to a one-on-one where he told another story. It seems as if Redknapp had quail eggs on the mind, and eventually shared with the audience how he will occasionally go to the place across the street from his home and have scrambled eggs, possibly implying that scrambled eggs is his bold meal choice. He enjoyed the quail at the end, but learned something, too: “I thought quail was a fish!,” he shared with the group and world. Laughter followed.

It was only Anne Hegerty and the yellow team that performed in the two challenges of the day, though Redknapp was eligible for episode 4’s Bushtucker Trial. Hegerty was brave in episode three’s trial, essentially trapped in a box with first slime and fish guts falling on her, then a second oen with bugs falling. She ended up as the first to use the famous “I’m a celebrity, get me out of here!” phrase, and I still question why she was voted to go through the trial. Aren’t you supposed to vote for people you don’t like to do them? Is it more about curiosity, wondering how exactly a contestant will perform in a trial? Either way, why Anne Hegerty? She deserved better than this.

At least she was safe when the foursome formerly known as the yellow team because everyone gets to hang out together and sleep at the nicer Croc Creek was tasked with winning luxury items for the group formerly known as the red team. She got to hang out outside untying knots while Fleur East, James McVey, and Rita Simons had to lay down in a cave as a gate trapped them there, and have frogs crawl over them as Hegerty sent them keys to earn those luxury items.

Ultimately, episode three didn’t change conceptions much. Redknapp is a storyteller. Barrowman is a singer. Hegerty is still having a tough time, and the former yellow team is still tight as ever. Everyone continues to be nice to each other, while I continue to be concerned about what Redknapp can actually do in the jungle. I also continue to be entertained.

tl;dr: Maintaining appearances on I’m a Celebrity.

Links of the Day

Didier Drogba has retired after a 20 year professional career.

The Premier League is against the FA’s proposal to decrease the number of foreign players allowed on squads.

FIFA ethics committee judge Sundra Rajoo has been arrested in Malaysia on suspicion of corruption.

PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor has agreed to the independent review after the organization’s chairman Ben Purkiss called for one.

Nicklas Bendtner has dropped the appeal against a court’s ruling that he spend 50 days in jail for assaulting a taxi driver in September.

Today’s longer read: David Conn on the workers building Qatar’s World Cup infrastructure and their poor working conditions for The Guardian
Supplemental reading: David Conn on Qatar’s preparations for a polarizing and seemingly impossible World Cup with four years to go, also for The Guardian