Joey Essex asks John Bercow if he is feeling reem on ITV's The Box. Gary Lineker's latest gig puts celebrities into a disused car park and has them hunting for tokens through games with minor twists.
The format leans on simple tasks rather than spectacle. Egg-and-spoon races and rock-paper-scissors are among the games, while Lineker watches from a tower as the contestants stumble around below.
Joey Essex and John Bercow
Joey Essex and John Bercow sit at the centre of the lineup, which also includes Graeme Souness, Shakira Khan and JB Gill. Joey's line to Bercow is the sharpest read on the show’s tone: the exchange is casual, slightly absurd, and built for contestants who know they are being put through a deliberately stripped-back format.
The contestants are described as Z-listers, yet the lineup includes better-known names such as Joey Essex and John Bercow. That split is part of the pitch: the show trades on the mismatch between status and task, then makes the celebrities solve something as basic as a race or a hand game to move forward.
Gary Lineker's tower
Gary Lineker's role is not to sprint or compete but to observe from above while the players search for tokens. The setting matters because the car park is not being used as a backdrop for glamour; it is the mechanism that forces the cast into a confined, plainly functional space where the games can stay cheap, quick and awkward.
For viewers, that means the appeal is not a long setup or a complicated rulebook. The question is whether the tokens turn each small win into any real advantage, and the answer lies in how quickly the format can turn a childlike game into a competition the cast cannot talk their way out of.
Shakira Khan and JB Gill
Shakira Khan and JB Gill give the lineup extra range, with Graeme Souness completing the group named so far. The mix gives ITV's The Box a cast that can carry both recognition and friction, which is useful for a show built around watching public figures lose control over something as basic as a game of chance and timing.
What comes next is simple for viewers: watch for how the tokens are won, because that is the only part of the format that can turn the cast list into a real contest. If the show works, it will be because the games stay small and the personalities do the rest.
