The Games hit screens for the very first time on Monday night (May 9) for a bumper hour and a half special. The new live ITV show sees twelve super-fit celebrities battling it out in a range of sporting events while racking up points and being placed in either gold, silver or bronze medal position.
By the end of the week only two of the show's stars, who have been trained and coached for the events including diving and weight lifting for three months, will emerge victorious as one male champion and one female crowned the winners of The Games.
The programme is hosted by Holly Willoughby and Freddie Flintoff while former footballer and pundit Alex Scott acts as trackside reporter and Chris Kamara, aka Kammy, takes his seat in the commentary box. Among the stars taking part are Corrie star Colson Smith, Emmerdale's Rebecca Sarker, model and TV personality Christine McGuinness, and ex-soap star Ryan Thomas.
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The first episode, which saw boxing champ Tyson Fury join the panel of experts, saw the famous faces take part in their first live events as the women took on the hurdles before the men battled it out in the 400m race. There were also two pre-recorded events, the hammer and diving, that viewers got to see in episode one.
But viewers were quickly left baffled as to why only half of the events had been done live on what is a live show, and felt for the audience in the stands at Crystal Palace.
@riktaylor tweeted: "The poor audience at the Games, sitting in the cold with an hour between live events, is the ice cream van there tonight? #TheGames."
"That poor audience out there behind the hosts. Have they all just basically sat there and watched the pre-recorded stuff we have only on big screens? Yawn #TheGames," @N0_confidence said.
@mikepriestley13 commented: "I feel sorry for the crowd they have only seen 1 event in over an hour #thegames," as @Lisalisey87 echoed: "I feel sorry for that crowd sitting there and all they've watched is one hurdles race #TheGames."
"Imagine sitting In the stadium on a chilly spring night only seen one live race and some boring chat this would of been better with the pace of superstars from the 70s #thegames," @Jimmyboy35 shared.
@Sykesy_Katie added: "Whilst I will of course watch any/all sport, the biggest win here is for the production team on getting this crowd out in Crystal Palace on a Monday night! #TheGames."
And those tuning in were also quick to point out that they witnessed more chatting than they did sporting events and are therefore demanding changes.
@lukehboy said: "90% talk show, 10% actual sport #TheGames." @gillian_shiels commented: "Like the idea of #TheGames but far too much boring chat, 35 minutes in and only seen 1 event that lasted less than a minute. Oh well, back to #Netflix."
@Lisalisey87 complained: "I'd rather see more of the training than all this waffling. All this chat isn't necessary and it's boring!! #TheGames."
"Massive editing issues on #TheGames. Way too much chat. I assumed the events were live but a 3 & a half minute edited fly-through of the men’s hammer? Show us the games. I assure you, nobody’s here to watch Holly & Freddie’s “banter” with the youtuber," @itsmekye shared.
The Games continues on ITV every night this week from 9pm with the eventual winners being chosen on Friday.
