Bullseye has had a Christmas reboot at ITV with Freddie Flintoff as host, but viewers were divided over whether the remake was deserving of a full series, or best left forgotten.
Cricketer Flintoff,. who previously hosted Top Gear, made his return to presenting two years on from a horrifying car crash while filming the driving show. He appeared in a new series of Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams earlier this year, but this was his first time back as a presenter.
But while some viewers thought he was the perfect host and deserved a full series of Bullseye, others felt the reboot was a little wide of the mark.
Freddie Flintoff has brought classic gameshow Bullseye back to TV in a Christmas special remake, but his debut as host left viewers divided over how well it had worked.
Flintoff, who was joined by darts star Luke Littler for the ITV show on Sunday evening, even managed to score a bullseye of his own – but viewers couldn’t agree on whether his hosting skills were up to scratch.
The cricketer, who has been in recovery from injuries caused by a crash while filming for Top Gear, has plenty of loyal fans. One viewer commented on X: “Well I’m pleasantly surprised so far by #Bullseye it seems ITV haven’t messed about with it too much and Freddie Flintoff is a natural host.”
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Another Flintoff fan added: “Fantastic to see Freddie Flintoff back on Tv after everything he has been through.” Someone else agreed: “Loved #Bullseye love Freddie Flintoff. More please.”
One viewer wrote: “Loved Bullseye reboot. Freddie Flintoff is a great presenter and as handsome as ever.” Another fan agreed: “Good to see Freddie Flintoff back on our screens and looking so good too. Bullseye is brilliant.”
Someone else compared him to original host Jim Bowen and wrote: “Freddie Flintoff’s jokes are just as bad as Jim Bowen’s and I’m here for it.”
Others called for a full series comeback – one person commented: “New Bullseye was surprisingly pretty dang good. Freddie Flintoff makes a decent host, @LittleRichard was great and they didn’t muck about with the formula too much. Only downside was the lack of the iconic intro but I wouldn’t mind seeing this get commissioned for a series.”
Another added: “@ITV absolutely fantastic to have Bullseye and Freddie Flintoff! Come on, let’s have a full series in 2025!”
However, not everyone was so impressed as another viewer commented: “Enjoyed #Bullseye but not Freddie flintoff… He isn’t a good game show host.”
Someone else wrote: “So Freddie Flintoff is presenting the reboot of Bullseye. I don’t dislike the guy but why did we stop hiring actually trained presenters and start hiring ex-athletes? (the same goes for reality show rejects).”
One person added: “It’s the Luke Littler show, with a guest appearance from Freddie Flintoff, and a bunch of randoms.”
Another commented: “Not sure how I feel about this new bullseye with Freddie Flintoff, I love him and I love the show but it just feels wrong, all of it.”
Bullseye viewers also complained that the reboot was hampered by unnecessary mechanical audience clapping at any given interval.
Over on social media platform X, one verdict read: “@ITV The new #Bullseye show, really looked forward to this, however, please please please if you do another can you stop the compulsory clapping by the audience. So annoying!”
“I get there would be an applause for answering a question right, but why are the audience clapping them for selecting the category before the dart is thrown at the board?” asked another fan, before a third went on to quip: “Needs more clapping…”
Bullseye is available to stream on ITVX.
