Gary Lineker is to host a new gameshow on ITV, under a deal that will bring him back to screens after his departure from the BBC, according to reports.
The former Match of the Day presenter and former England football captain, who was the highest-paid on-air star at the BBC, parted ways with the broadcaster in May, days after apologising for amplifying online material with antisemitic connotations.
Filming has yet to begin on the new show, which is called The Box and involves different celebrities being put into boxes and given challenges, according to the Sun.
The show would be expected to be given a prominent Saturday night slot and play a similar flagship role to ITV’s popular Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.
A spokesperson for ITV declined to comment on the report when approached by the Guardian.
A source told the Sun: “The Box is massive in Norway, and the rights were quickly sold to Denmark and now the UK. ITV are really excited about it and believe they have finally found a worthy successor to Saturday Night Takeaway.
“They have long been sniffing around Gary and just needed to find the right format for him. They’re confident they’ve found that now, and the BBC’s loss is their gain.”
Excitement about The Box has been building around Europe as networks search for a successor to shows such as Traitors and Destination X. Over the course of 10 episodes, 12 celebrity contestants are placed in separate boxes. When the box in which they have been placed opens, they find themselves in the midst of a challenge.
Lineker bade farewell at the end of May to Match of the Day and his 30-year relationship with the BBC amid pressure over his comments on social media.
A decision had been made last autumn that Lineker would begin to step away from his BBC responsibilities, with expectations that he would present the 2026 World Cup
However, his reposting of content relating to the Gaza conflict that contained an antisemitic symbol put an end to those plans for an extended farewell.
The 64-year-old apologised after it emerged he had reposted a pro-Palestine video on Instagram that criticised Zionism and included an illustration of a rat.
There had long been criticism of Lineker, particularly from rightwing figures, over his social media output. He has 1.2 million followers on Instagram.
In March 2023, he was temporarily suspended over comments he made criticising the Conservative government’s asylum policy.
In February, he was among 500 high-profile cultural figures who called on the BBC to rebroadcast a documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, calling it an “essential piece of journalism”.
The BBC removed the documentary from its iPlayer after it emerged that the film’s 14-year-old narrator was the son of a deputy agriculture minister in Gaza’s Hamas-run government.
Lineker said in July that BBC should “hold its head in shame” over its failure to show a documentary about the plight of medics in Gaza.
In his first criticism of his former employer since leaving the BBC, he said people at “the very top of the BBC” had been failing over the conflict, after the corporation’s decision to drop Gaza: Doctors Under Attack.
