Category Entertainment News

Darts star Luke Littler has fired a jab at his mate Angry Ginge after the King of the Jungle failed to show up and support him at the World Darts Championship opener

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Luke Littler had some choice words for pal Angry Ginge after the I’m A Celeb star failed to support him at a darts show. The darts star was competing in the World Darts Championship opener to start off his title defence, but his mate was no where to be seen.

Last year, Ginge, whose real name is Morgan Burtwistle, was cheering Luke on from the sidelines. But as Luke took on Darius Labanauskas at Alexandra Palace on 11 December, the recently crowned King of the Jungle was not in attendance, despite having flown back from Australia the day before.

Two members of Ginge’s streaming group The Bov Boys, Tays and Chazza, were in attendance, and when Luke saw they had come without their redheaded friend, he took to his Instagram to fire back at Ginge. “Too big for the darts now I see. Won the jungle have we?” the 18-year-old wrote.

READ MORE: How to watch every game at the World Darts Championship – TV channel and live stream detailsREAD MORE: Luke Littler praised for his reaction to World Championship start at Ally Pally

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Ginge was crowned the winner of I’m A Celeb this year, beating out Celebs Go Dating’s Tom Read Wilson and EastEnders’ Shona McGarty. After watching his friend on the show, Luke made it clear that he would not do the show.

“No I actually wouldn’t. No,” he said, before addressing his prior words about the show. I’d said I would for the right money, but I’ve been watching it now, and no, I just couldn’t. No way.”

He added that he didn’t want to “eat that stuff” that they had to in camp, such as black chicken and ostrich. Luke also said that he felt the first two tasks this year were especially difficult and turned him off doing the show.

In particular, he was put off by the second task that Aitch had to do. The rapper had to crawl through a bunker infested with bugs and snakes to collect stars for the camp dinner.

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Though Ginge was crowned the winner, he did say that he did not do the show in order to win it. “I didn’t do it to become King. I did for the experience,” the streamer said after leaving the jungle.

After his win, he said: ““I’ve always said that I am the master of the mind, but that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. There were so many days that I wanted to throw in the towel. The toughest part was the spiders!”

Ginge was thought to have been paid £100,000 to do the show. This was not the most amount of money a contestant was said to have gotten, as Aitch was thought to have been paid double.

Shoppers seeking the ultimate noise-cancelling earphones to rival the likes of Apple and Samsung, without the hefty price tag, won’t want to snooze on this rare sale that could save £100

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For those seeking to enhance their audio experience, Bose is often the go-to brand. Not only is Bose renowned for its acclaimed QuietComfort over-ear headphones, but in recent years, the earbuds from this range have emerged as a popular alternative to Apple’s AirPods.

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are currently on offer with a £100 discount at Bose, bringing the price down to a cool £199.95. This is about the lowest price these buds have been since their initial launch in 2023.

Bose is also offering an additional 10% off for those who sign up to its newsletter, potentially making for even more savings and bringing the price below the £199 that Amazon is currently selling them for.

READ MORE: ‘Great value’ £74 Estee Lauder gift set that includes ‘best mascara ever’ is slashed to £31

READ MORE: Fans race to snap up Stacey Solomon’s £20 cosy fleece shacket that comes in six colours

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Available in three colours – Black, Smoke White and Diamond 60th Edition – the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are most celebrated for their noise cancellation capabilities. This feature effectively eliminates background noise, allowing users to enjoy their music without the distraction of surrounding sounds.

Of course, there’s also the option to allow ambient sound in, enhancing awareness – a handy feature when walking on bustling streets, for instance. These capabilities extend to phone calls too, with the microphones filtering out background noise so the person on the other end can hear the conversation clearly and distinctly, reports the Daily Record.

These Bose Earbuds are compatible with both iPhone and Android devices, as well as other Bluetooth-enabled gadgets such as tablets and laptops. However, they lack the effortless device-switching capability that Apple’s own headphones provide when moving between iPhone and iPad, for instance.

Those keen to remain within the Apple ecosystem might opt for the Apple AirPods Pro 2, currently priced at £169 on Amazon. Or if you’re seeking a Samsung deal, these Samsung Galaxy Buds3 True Wireless In-Ear Earbuds are now £99, down from £159, at Argos.

The Bose headphones deliver six hours of battery life, with recharging available when placed back in the case, which powers up via USB. Regrettably, wireless charging isn’t included on this model, as the price cut applies to the first generation of Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds.

The 2025 model costs more but includes wireless charging alongside marginally enhanced performance. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds garnered numerous accolades during their heyday, whilst also receiving glowing feedback from buyers: “Can’t find words to express how amazing the sound is from these earbuds,” remarked one purchaser.

Meanwhile, another commented: “Dynamically excellent, with rich immersive sound across the frequency range, bringing new life to old favourite tracks.”

The audio quality credentials are unquestionable, with What HiFi awarding them five stars as well.

However, some customers report disappointing call quality: “The people on the other end of my phone calls complain that they cannot hear me at all,” mentioned one reviewer. Another noted: “Mic is really poor, especially with Teams and WhatsApp calls”.

Oti Mabuse said she’s been ‘saying for years’ that a rival star has been watching Katya Jones’ routines

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Katya Jones is at the heart of a Strictly Come Dancing plagiarism row.

Former Strictly star Oti Mabuse has joined those hitting out at a rival Dancing With The Stars professional and accused them of copying Katya Jones’ choreography. Oti posted a comment on a TikTok that pointed out similarities between choreography used by this year’s DWTS winner Witney Carson and Oti’s Strictly colleague, Katya.

In a video posted to TikTok on Thursday (11 December), social media user @scdxediits paired clips of dances performed this year by Katya and Emmerdale’s Lewis Cope alongside clips of Witney and her partner Robert Irwin where the dance moves were similar. Over the top, the creator wrote: “How Witney feels after copying Katya’s choreography once again”.

In the comments, former Strictly pro Oti Mabuse agreed with the poster and suggested that Witney had been copying Katya for a while now. She responded: “Been saying this for years…”

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Katya’s two routines that the original poster referenced was her paso doble to The Plaza of Execution and her couple’s choice to Creep by Radiohead. The paso’s final move saw Katya lie on the floor, whilst Lewis leapt in the air and landed in a crouched position with his feet either side of his partner’s waist. The same move was then seen performed by Witney and Robert in their paso doble to Icky Thump by the White Stripes.

Similarly, Katya and Lewis’ couple’s choice involved a move where the Emmerdale star held on to Katya’s head and slowly lowered her towards the ground whilst she remained in a stiff plank. The same move was executed by Witney and Robert during their quickstep to Jet’s Are You Gonna Be My Girl in the final.

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Watch here and see if you agree

Another fan argued Katya may have copied Witney. They said: “Do they realise DWTS started a few weeks before Strictly which means that Katya and Lewis copied Robert and Witney?” However, both dances by Katya and Lewis were performed before each of Witney and Robert’s. The paso was danced on 11 October and the couple’s choice on 1 November, whilst Witney’s paso was danced on 4 November and the quickstep on 25 November.

But a second fan also pointed out that Katya did not invent these moves, as Alan Bersten executed the paso leap last year as well. “Katya did not create either of those moves, and technically, Katya copied Alan who did it last year on DWTS,” they said over a picture of Alan dancing a paso.

Another agreed: “As a dancer this is crazy. Those moves existed long before Katya, pretty sure Alan did the first one last year too.” A third said: “Katya didn’t create those moves tho. If you watch loads of ballroom dances you’ll see those moves in them.”

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Witney and Robert won this series of Dancing With The Stars, after wildlife conservationist Robert became a firm fan favourite, not just with DWTS audiences but with those who did not previously watch the show as well. Clips of Robert dancing trended on TikTok, as did many of his famous animal-loving family.

Meanwhile, Katya and Lewis, who have consistently been top scorers on Strictly, were eliminated from the show in the quarter final. During musical’s week, Lewis failed to impress judges or fans with his salsa to The Dance At The Gym from West Side Story. He ended up in the dance off with Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin, who had scored a perfect 40 for their charleston to Sit Down, You’re Rocking The Boat from Guys And Dolls.

The Mirror reached out to Oti’s representatives for comment.

Bestselling author of the “Aga Sagas”, Joanna Trollope, has passed away at the age of 82.

Trollope carved out a successful career penning popular romance and intrigue novels such as The Rector’s Wife, Marrying the Mistress and Daughters in Law. She died peacefully in her Oxfordshire home, according to a statement from her daughters.

Born on 9 December 1943 in her grandfather’s rectory in Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, England, Trollope leaves behind two daughters, Louise and Antonia, two stepsons and her grandchildren.

Between 1965 and 1967, she served as a civil servant at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. From 1967 to 1979, she worked as a teacher before dedicating herself full-time to writing in 1980. She later transitioned to contemporary fiction, the genre that would establish her reputation.

Trollope began her writing career crafting historical romances under the pseudonym of Caroline Harvey. Born in Gloucestershire, a fifth-generation niece of English novelist and civil servant Anthony Trollope, she studied English at Oxford University before securing employment at the Foreign Office and working as an educator, prior to becoming a full-time writer.

In a heartfelt statement, her daughters Louise and Antonia said: “Our beloved and inspirational mother Joanna Trollope has died peacefully at her Oxfordshire home, on 11th December aged 82.”

Her debut contemporary work, The Choir, appeared in 1987, followed by The Rector’s Wife in 1991, which famously knocked Jeffrey Archer off the top spot of the hardback bestseller charts.

Trollope once famously described the appeal of her novels by stating: “I think my books are just the dear old traditional novel making a quiet comeback.”

She went on to contribute the inaugural title to Harper Collins’ revival of the Jane Austen collection, The Austen Project.

Her interpretation of “Sense and Sensibility” hit shelves in October 2013, though it achieved modest commercial success.

In 1966, Trollope wed city banker David Roger William Potter, with whom she had two daughters.

She remarried in 1985 to television dramatist Ian Curteis, becoming stepmother to his two sons. Following their divorce in 2001, Trollope relocated to West London.

During her 1994 appearance on Desert Island Discs, Trollope noted that men frequently dismissed her work as inconsequential.

Her typical response to such criticism was: “It is a grave mistake to think there is more significance in great things than in little things.”

She received an OBE in 1996, later upgraded to a CBE in recognition of her contributions to literature.

Her father, Arthur, was stationed in India on military duty when she was born at the family’s Cotswolds rectory in 1943, whilst her mother, Rosemary, was an artist and author.

At just 14 years old, Trollope could recite Jane Austen from memory and had already penned her debut novel, which remained unpublished, though she later granted her children permission to read it.

Her stories of love and intrigue set in rural middle England eventually earned her the label “Queen of the Aga Saga”, a description she told The Independent in 2020 that she considered “patronising”.

“Needless to say it was created by a man,” she said, referring to English author Terence Blacker, who coined the term in 1992. She branded it “idle journalism” and voiced her contempt for the tabloid features that recycled it for years afterwards.

Her novels actually explored countless weighty themes, from divorce, bereavement, sibling rivalry, affairs, motherhood, betrayal and depression. She released more than 30 books across four decades, originally publishing under the pen name Caroline Harvey.

Her major success arrived with works such as The Rector’s Wife, followed by chart-toppers including A Village Affair, Next of Kin, Other People’s Children and Marrying the Mistress. She walked down the aisle twice: initially to city banker David Potter in 1966, with whom she welcomed her two daughters.

Her second marriage was to playwright and screenwriter Ian Curteis in 1985; the union ended in divorce in 2001.

Trollope revealed to The Independent that she experienced a “mini-breakdown” following her second divorce and felt “impelled to flee” the Cotswolds for London: “The girls were away at school and I put the dogs and the toothbrush in the car and left. I just needed to get the hell out.”

She alleged that she was told she was “imagining” the problems in her second marriage and that the blame lay with her: “I mean, quite a lot of professionals were saying this to me, as well as the ex-husband.

“And really, I think it was about this subject that fascinates me forever and ever, which is the way some people try to control others. It’s usually because of their own inadequacies that they try and control somebody who they feel is stronger and might elude them.”

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One of the two men facing trial over Liam Payne’s hotel plunge death has been allowed to leave prison. Braian Paiz will have to wear an electronic tag on his ankle as part of his home arrest.

The waiter has been languishing in jail since the start of January after being charged with selling the former One Direction singer the cocaine he snorted and smoked before his fatal third-storey drug-fuelled balcony plunge on October 16 last year.

Paiz, who has admitted to taking drugs with Liam at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires but denies selling him narcotics, lost an initial prison release bid after it was opposed by public prosecutors and a judge ruled he remained a flight risk. But three higher court judges agreed he could swap jail for house arrest and the ankle tag after he appealed, arguing his near year-long incarceration had caused him health problems and his family situation had worsened.

The other suspect, former hotel worker Ezequiel David Pereyra who is also facing drug charges, remains in jail and it was not immediately clear this morning if he would now apply for a similar home arrest regime ahead of their trial.

Public prosecutors have yet to make any official comment on the appeal judges’ decision, said to have been taken yesterday.

Paiz claimed in an interview from prison in October he had been beaten, scalded and threatened with electrocution since being arrested and remanded in custody. He also said he was sharing his remand cell with another 15 people who had nicknamed him ‘killer’ and left him in fear of his life.

At the time it emerged the 26-year-old had to give away some of his food and cigarettes to other inmates in an attempt to guarantee his safety.

Shortly after his interview he was moved from the cramped Buenos Aires police cell where he was held at first to a special LGBT wing in a new prison with better conditions.

His mum Sandra has complained massive legal bills have had a devastating effect on their family, forcing her to sell her hairdressing salon and downsize to a dilapidated home in Berazategui on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

Like 24-year-old Pereyra, Paiz has been accused of selling cocaine to Liam, just 31 when he died, on two separate occasions and warned the prison sentence if convicted could be between four and 15 years.

He met the singer in a restaurant he served him at shortly before Liam’s fatal fall from the balcony of room 310 at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel.

Paiz has previously protested his innocence by claiming he is being scapegoated, but in a prison interview with Argentinian magazine Gente in October he made a series of new bombshell claims about the time he spent with the famous Brit.

Recalling the night they got chatting in Cabana Las Lilas, the restaurant in the upmarket neighbourhood of Puerto Madero Braian used to work at and Liam had picked for dinner, he said: “Liam approached me several times, always asking where the toilet was. But what he really wanted was to interact with me. He asked for my Instagram in front of his girlfriend.

“We started talking on a parallel account that he had created just for that purpose. It had no followers, nothing. We never used WhatsApp, as they said in the case. It was always on Instagram and then on iCloud.

“The prosecutor’s office deleted all my locations, but I have the screenshots.”

Braian said the first visit he paid Liam, on October 2 at the luxury Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt Hotel in Buenos Aires where he was staying before switching to the CasaSur Palermo, lasted an hour and a half.

He said the singer showed him three new songs he was going to bring out and a photo of a young boy he believes was his now eight-year-old son Bear after sketching his face from a snap he took of him.

Speaking of his prison hell at his first lock-up, he repeated his earlier insistence he was innocent in an Argentinian TV interview in November last year: “I’m being accused of something I didn’t do. We shared less than two grams of cocaine that I had for personal consumption.

“I don’t deal drugs. I was just a user. What I experienced with Liam wasn’t a crime, it was a human moment.”

No date has yet been set for Paiz’s and Pereyra’s trial and sources close to the case are saying they don’t expect it to take place now until next year.

Pereyra is being held on remand in Marcos Paz Prison on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. The maximum-security federal prison is known for housing some of the country’s most dangerous men including drug lords.
Argentinian public prosecutors say their case against Pereyra and Paiz is based on phone, CCTV and witness evidence.

Lead prosecutor Andres Madrea said in June when he confirmed the two men would go to trial for selling Liam with drugs: “Based on the information obtained from the mobile phone seized from the late Liam James Payne, it was possible to establish that the defendant Paiz supplied narcotics to the aforementioned individual for consumption in exchange for money on at least two occasions.”

Three other men initially charged over Liam’s death were told in February the case against them had been dropped.

Liam’s close friend Rogelio Nores, hotel receptionist Esteban Grassi and hotel head of security Gilda Martin were accused of his manslaughter by a female lower court judge before her decision was overturned on appeal.

Christmas is just two weeks away and festive songs are in full swing – but which artist makes the most money at this time of year. Here’s the top 10, according to Spotify

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Christmas hasn’t started until you’ve heard Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You – but it might surprise you to know she’s not the highest Christmas earner.

Though the ‘Queen of Christmas’ is said to pocket a staggering £8 million from Christmas streams of her hit song alone, there’s one artist who takes home more every year. So who is the person in question?

It’s the ‘King of Christmas’, Canadian crooner Michael Buble. The 50-year-old is the biggest overall earner during the festive season. Of his total £26 million coming from Spotify streams, £11.8 million is from Christmassongs – the highest total of all artists.

Ariana Grande comes in third place. This is despite only 4% of her music on Spotify being Christmas themed, like Santa Tell Me. Yet the 32-year-old Wicked star is still pulling in £5.8 million for her contribution to Spotify’s favourite Christmas playlists. This is in addition to the £133 million she gets from the rest of her discography.

READ MORE: ‘I tried Wetherspoons’ Christmas dinner and can sum it up in two words’

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Wham’s Last Christmas, released in December 1984 and sung by music legend George Michael – who sadly died on Christmas Day 2016 at the age of 53 – is in fourth place with their huge hit pulling in £4.5 million a year from Spotify streams alone.

Justin Bieber is next on the list, making £3.6 million from his Christmas songs that include Christmas Love, Mistletoe and recordings of All I Want For Christmas Is You and Santa Claus is Coming To Town.

Brenda Lee might be 81 now, but she’s still Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree from the hit she released in 1958 when she was just 13 years old. It’s said to earn her a whopping £3.5 million in streams.

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Kelly Clarkson also earns £3.5 million for her Christmas back catalogue that includes hits like Underneath the Tree, Santa, Can’t You Hear Me, Christmas Eve and Silent Night.

White Christmas and It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year singer Andy Williams passed away in 2012, but his music still makes £3.5 million every Christmas.

John Lennon’s Happy Xmas (War Is Over) rakes in £1.6 million each year. While Elton John’s classic Step Into Christmas adds £1.5 million to his fortune over the festive season.

Libby Mayfield, Head of Marketing for Dark Horse SEO agency who carried out the research said: “When you look at the numbers, Christmas isn’t just a season, it’s a business model. For some artists, one festive hit isn’t just a chart success, it’s the backbone of their entire streaming income. For others, a few Christmas covers can boost their revenue by millions.

“Ultimately, it’s hard to look at this data and not wonder where originality has gone. Sure, some songs are classics, but what is it about recent years that’s made it so tempting to rehash and rerecord instead of writing new music?”

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