UPDATE, August 8, 3.20am P.T.: ITV has confirmed Gary Lineker will present The Box, Twofour’s UK remake of the fast-selling Norwegian format.
The former soccer star-turned-presenter said in a statement: “I’ve always felt right at home in the box on a football pitch and whilst this is a different proposition, the fundamentals are similar. The contestants will have to quickly and masterfully work out how each game works, whilst also trying to get ahead of the competition to take control. It’s going to be unpredictable and thrilling to watch, and I’m excited that I get to have a front row seat to all the action.”
Katie Rawcliffe, Director of Entertainment, Reality & Daytime Commissioning at ITV, added: “Gary is the perfect fit for The Box, an entertaining, exhilarating and immersive new format.”
PREVIOUS, August 6, 2.28am P.T.: Following his exit from the BBC, Gary Lineker has found a new presenting UK gig.
We understand the broadcaster has signed on to front ITV’s upcoming reality show The Box, in which contestants exit yellow boxes in random locations to compete in games they know nothing about. The Sun was first to report the news.
Lineker’s exit from presenting the BBC’s flagship Premier League soccer highlights show Match of the Day was confirmed in November last year, though he was still due to present FA Cup and FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage for the broadcaster. However, after he shared a controversial post that included an emoji many considered antisemitic earlier this year, his exit was brought forward and he made his final appearance on the BBC in late May.
Lineker apologized and said he “would never consciously repost” an antisemitic trope, but having run into hot water several times over his use of social media, he was duly dismissed. He had been the BBC’s highest-paid presenter for eight years at the time, with a last pay packet of £1.35M ($1.79M).
Since leaving the BBC, Lineker has kept a low profile besides continuing to appear on his podcast The Rest is Football, which he presents with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards. That show and others in the Rest is… franchise are produced by the former England soccer player’s production house, Goalhanger Films.
Lineker has now signed up to present The Box, which has been one of the fastest-selling formats on the international market over the past year.
Deadline has broken several stories on international deals for Norwegian format The Box, which was initially developed by Seefood TV for TV2. ITV swooped to land UK rights to the show in February, and we estimate there are at least ten version of the show either on air or in production.
The format is among a spate of high-profile entertainment shows such as Destination X and The Inheritance that have hit the market in the wake of The Traitors‘ success in the UK, the U.S. and other major territories.
We’ve reached out to ITV and Lineker’s reps for comment.
Paul Mortimer exit
News of Lineker’s hire came on the same day ITV announced Paul Mortimer, its long-serving Director of Reality and Acquisitions, was stepping down.
He had joined ITV in 2012 as Controller of Digital Channels and went on to order the likes of Love Island and The Real Housewives of Cheshire for ITV. The rebooted Love Island became a huge local hit and triggered a massive spike in format deals for the ITV Studios show.
The former Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery exec is also behind commissions such as Love Island: All Stars, Big Brother, The Fortune Hotel, My Mum, Your Dad and The Summit.
He will exit at the end of the year after overseeing the latest season of Big Brother. The reality slate and future reality commissions will then move across to Katie Rawcliffe, who becomes Director of Entertainment, Reality and Daytime from September. Commissioning Editor Amanda Stavri, who oversees the likes of Love Island and TOWIE, will move into Rawcliffe’s team.
ITV’s Content Acquisitions team will report into Craig Morris, who becomes Director of Channels, ITVX and Acquisitions. ITV is currently looking for a Head of Acquisitions to replace Sasha Breslau, who is set to move to HBO Max. The new recruit will report to Craig.
“It’s been such a great pleasure to have spent so long at ITV, working with some great people and having been given so many opportunities, both creatively and otherwise,” said Mortimer. “I arrived with a mission to improve ratings amongst younger audiences and Love Island was a huge part of that. I’m therefore very pleased to see it still going strong- with the latest series growing its audience year on year. More recently, with a talented team of reality commissioners, we’ve landed some big hits on ITV1, ITV2 and ITVX with more coming down the line.
“Overseeing content acquisitions, I’ve worked with all the big U.S. Studios and distributors and been lucky enough to travel with some wonderful colleagues to markets and events around the world.”
