So Christmas is over, New Year’s Eve has passed and we are all feeling decidedly awful about our profuse levels of consumption over the festive period.
Our big end of year shows such as X-Factor and Strictly have also been and gone, leaving us feeling that although it is a new year which we should look to with optimism and wonder, things are actually looking pretty grim and desolate.
What better time then, to enjoy a fresh series of Take Me Out?
This show is a cure-all for our post-festive ailments, an efficacious remedy to the feelings of depletion and exhaustion that harry us so. This is the third season of the popular series, which allows us to see a panel of 30 beautiful women pass judgment on men of all shapes, sizes and walks of life as they perform a series of tasks, usually cringe-worthy, in order to impress these imperious judges.
Paddy McGuinness returns as host and the format is reassuringly familiar, with everything such as the, “let the X meet the Y” catchphrase still in place.
Sometimes we get a heart-warming episode where a man or woman who may not be traditionally “good-looking” will get a date with somebody beautiful which is one of the main reasons this show makes us feel better, helping us realise that love is possible for all.
The real vicarious thrill however comes when an annoyingly cock-sure, good-looking chap gets shot down for being shallow and vacuous. This, when we are feeling rough, bloated and ready to split with cheap mince pies and budget alcohol helps us to assuage our self-loathing for the way we have behaved for the last few weeks.
Saturday’s episode gives us a personal trainer from Huddersfield, a haulage worker from Birmingham, a Navy seaman from Middlesbrough and a surfer from Somerset, as well as the usual array of stunning women, some alluringly intelligent; some delightfully dippy.
Essential viewing for any of you who, like me, have stuffed yourself to bursting in recent weeks!
Series 3 of Take Me Out begins on ITV1 on Saturday the 7th of January 2012. Episodes will air at 19:30 GMT for UK viewers only.