The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Friday, December 7

Hi, people!

For Harry Redknapp, suffering in the jungle paid off in episodes 17 and 18.

Ramble of the Day

It almost comes without saying now, which is impressive considering my concerns at the start of I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, series 18. If you ask Harry Redknapp to perform a task, he will not let you down, becoming one of the many incredibly reliable members of this group. He eventually did, though, reap the rewards of his hard work, multiple times over.

Episode 17 began with him, Emily Atack, and Nick Knowles volunteering for the next Bushtucker trial. Knowles and Redknapp had to lay in crates while Atack dropped creepy critters on them, from toads and spiders on their faces to rats on Redknapp’s midsection. Rats, he said earlier, “are the only thing I don’t fancy,” but he quietly persevered. While Knowles’s approach was to encourage Atack, Redknapp barely made a sound, but was resilient, and stayed in the crate with the animals until time was up.

The group’s reward was buffalo sausage for dinner, and possibly a new daughter-in-law for Redknapp. After the trial, he and Atack were chatting with Rita Simons about being related to famous people, and Jamie Redknapp naturally came up. Redknapp said from the age of six, he knew his son would be a footballer, but Atack had a question: “Is Jamie single?” Redknapp said yes, and all three agreed that Atack would make a “fantastic” daughter-in-law. Simons asked to be invited to the wedding.

The buffalo sausage was the best dinner Redknapp enjoyed in the jungle, and most of them, including him, got to enjoy a letter from home afterwards. Redknapp’s letter came from his wife Sandra, and the story of their most perfectly simple love grew. In the morning, Simons was voted out, but she and Redknapp will see each other again; he expects to visit her in Bournemouth for a reunion over breakfast one day. Before she finally made her exit, though, she noted her affection for the “ledge” and predicted he’d win the whole show.

Redknapp started episode 18 with a saga involving a cutting board. He lost while on dishwashing duty with Fleur East, but found it the next morning while he wasn’t looking for it. He dropped a few more food related opinions, saying that he hopes to never see anohter bean for the rest of his life and that red fish is not enjoyable if not filleted properly, before getting settled into a challenge.

Another reward was coming for the members of the camp, as a trip to the Jungle Arms was up for grabs. They had to wait in line and individually answered trivia questions, though, before they entered. Second on line, Redknapp was the last to enter; he faced three questions, waiting too long before answering the first two, but he did finally make his way into the pub.

Luckily for us all, the I’m a Celebrity twitter account has a decent summation of what happened upon entrance. Of note, there were french fries/chips and dancing, and Redknapp sounded off on grinding.

What did not make the cut, though, was that the camp mates eventually did some karaoke. Atack and John Barrowman did “Summer Nights” from Grease, Anne Hegerty did ABBA’s “Mamma Mia,” but Redknapp stole the show with his rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.” By “stole the show,” I mean he did what Atack called “Harry-oke” — he basically spoke the lines of the song except for the “my way” bit. I so wish you had video of this. It’s ridiculous and hilarious and so entertaining in the classic Redknapp way.

At the end, Redknapp was safe another day, but it was Hegerty’s time to go. As she left, she said Redknapp would crack the top three with Barrowman and Knowles, with Knowles winning the whole thing.

I think I’m going to say it: my (metaphorical) money’s on ‘Arry.

tl;dr: Trials and tribulations in the jungle with Harry Redknapp.

Links of the Day

Danny Rose has said that it is no longer an honor to play at Wembley.

Liverpool’s Joe Gomez will be out for six weeks after fracturing his leg against Burnley.

Today’s longer read: Marina Hyde sounds off on Martin Solveig’s poor apology after asking Ada Hegerberg to twerk at the Ballon d’Or ceremony for The Guardian