Welcome!

Welcome to Pop Will Eat Itself – where I will be discussing POP-CULTURAL PHENOMENA, as well as other general ABSURDITIES OF LIFE.

Last week I turned on the television and was confronted with this:



Now – I don't know exactly what it means to "go all Robinson Crusoe", but according to Channel 4, that is exactly what Deal or No Deal went, in a special edition entitled Desert Island Deal.

At no point is it explained why.

If you didn't see it, there is no way of accurately describing the sheer SURREAL SPECTRE of the events that unfolded, but just to give you an idea:

– Noel Edmonds appears dressed as Robinson Crusoe and adopts a Steptoe-esque Cockney accent. (In Daniel Defoe's SEMINAL NOVEL of 1719, Crusoe sets sail from the YORKSHIRE city of Hull and is based on real-life castaway Alexander Selkirk, from SCOTLAND.)

– He lunges around dangerously, evoking the deleterious mental effects of lack of human contact and the delirium caused by excessive seawater consumption.

– He exclaims: "This is the show where we examine each others chests!", which is a weak attempt at INNUENDO.

Noel introduces the first contestant with customary fanfare: "Carly Fullerton from Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire – a Business Support Administrator!".

With admirable humility, Carly brings us crashing back down to earth, saying: "I can't make it sound any more exciting I'm afraid – that's what I do".

Seconds later it is revealed that Carly is afraid of bananas! I don't think I need to tell you what happens next!

I could go on, but you should really see it for yourself.

Defoe's SEMINAL NOVEL examines the theme of CULTURAL RELATIVISM. Despite his disgust, Crusoe feels unjust in holding the natives morally responsible for cannibalism as this practice is so DEEPLY INGRAINED IN THEIR CULTURE.

Do we apply the same thinking to regular viewers of Edmonds' own inimitable brand of early-evening light entertainment?

How do regular Deal or No Deal viewers view the Desert Island special? With genuine mirth? Detached irony? Or, like me, complete bafflement?

Pop Will Eat Itself does not espouse CULTURAL SNOBBERY.

Is it possible that Noel Edmonds is operating on an ALTOGETHER DIFFERENT PLANE to other human beings?

Two bizarre facts about Noel Ernest Edmonds from Wikipedia:

For many years Edmonds has been a believer in Spiritualism, in particular the concept of Cosmic ordering. He has claimed that he is occasionally visited by two melon-sized "spiritual energy" balls, which appear over his shoulders and which he believes to be the spirits of his dead parents. Edmonds further claims that the orbs only appear on digital photographs.

Edmonds claimed that he had stopped payment on his TV licence in early 2008, in response to the sometimes controversial methods used to enforce collection of the licence. Edmonds declared that it is wrong to "threaten" and "badger" people, in response to the collection authority's common assumption that the non-possession of a licence can mean licence avoidance, as well as the large fines which can be used as enforcement for non-payment. However TV Licensing later claimed that Edmonds actually did possess a valid current TV licence.

How does this general weirdness square with Edmonds' AVUNCULAR APPEAL?

Watch this space for more explorations into popular/ist culture and Noel Edmonds.