Why isn’t Adil Ray hosting Celebrity Lingo?
The ITV spin-off is being hosted by Drag Race star RuPaul – but where is Adil Ray?
Celebrity Lingo makes its ITV premiere this weekend with Drag Race's RuPaul fronting the star-studded gameshow.
The upcoming series, which is a celebrity spin-off of ITV's Lingo, sees famous pairs go head-to-head as they try to fill in the blanks and find the missing words.
With the likes of comedian Joel Dommett and his wife Hannah, soap stars Alan Halsall and Andy Whyment, and Good Morning Britain's Andi Peters and Laura Tobin taking on the first episode, it's set to be a tense word-play game on Sunday night.
However, some fans of Lingo may be wondering why Adil Ray – who hosts the regular version of the show – isn't fronting this version. Here's everything we know so far.
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Why isn't Adil Ray hosting Celebrity Lingo?
Fans of ITV's Lingo will know that comedian and broadcaster Adil Ray is the host of Lingo, which was revived last year and sees contestants try to guess words of different lengths for the chance to win money.
However, ITV announced that it would be introducing brand new spin-off Celebrity Lingo with a new presenter – Drag Race star RuPaul Charles.
While neither ITV nor Adil Ray have addressed why the Good Morning Britain presenter will not be fronting the celebrity edition, Ray said in a statement that he would be hosting new episodes of the regular show before adding: "Welcome to the team RuPaul!"
Meanwhile, ITV Head of Entertainment Commissioning Katie Rawcliffe said: "We couldn’t be more excited to welcome the phenomenal RuPaul to ITV as a host of a peak time celebrity version."
RadioTimes.comhas reached out to ITV and Adil Ray's representatives for comment.
Who is Celebrity Lingo host RuPaul?
RuPaul Charles, who is known as RuPaul across the world, is a drag queen and host who is best known for presenting and producing RuPaul's Drag Race.
The multiple Emmy winner has since developed spin-offs across different territories for the Drag Race franchise including RuPaul's Drag Race UK and Canada's Drag Race, as well as shows like RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars and RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race.
RuPaul previously hosted his own talk show for VH1 called The RuPaul Show and has appeared in Someone Great, But I'm a Cheerleader, The Brady Bunch Movie, Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Saturday Night Live, AJ and the Queen and Grace and Frankie.
The 61-year-old American is also known for his numerous albums, including Supermodel of the World which featured the song Supermodel (You Better Work) as well as his singles Cover Girl, Champion, Peanut Butter and Kitty Girl.
Celebrity Lingo airs at 6:30pm on Sunday 4th September on ITV. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.
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