THE BOX: HOW ITV RESCHEDULED AND CUT DOWN NEW ENTERTAINMENT SERIES WITH GARY LINEKER AHEAD OF LAUNCH

ITV's latest new entertainment format The Box launches tonight, Saturday 5th September, at 8:15pm. TV Zone can reveal how the broadcaster pushed back its scheduled air date and how episode lengths have but cut ahead of launch.

Hosted by legendary broadcaster Gary Lineker, The Box plunges 10 celebrity contestants into the unknown. With each celebrity enclosed in a yellow box, they’ll find themselves in mystery locations across the country.

They will never know where they are, or what challenge is facing them on the other side. The challenges could be physical, mental, logical, funny, a bit daunting, or all of those at once.

With minimal or no instruction, they must decipher and work out what to do. At the end of each episode, two players will battle it out in The Duel, a high-stakes head-to-head game to avoid elimination. 

ITV previously revealed the show would be airing within the second quarter of 2026 - thought to be the Saturday 8pm slot what was eventually taken by Celebrity Sabotage. The show would've aired weekly for eight weeks after Britain's Got Talent. Instead, ITV pushed the show back to Autumn, and in a bid to avoid Strictly Come Dancing, episodes will air Saturday and Sundays for the first two weeks before continuing on Sundays only.

ITV previously stated that the series would consist of 1x90 minute episode, 3x75 minute episodes and 4x60 minute episodes. However, TV Zone understands the show has been re-edited down to just 1x75 minute episodes, with all other episodes cut to one hour. ITV declined to comment when approached.

The ten famous faces taking part are Sara Davies, Graeme Souness, Ellie Taylor, John Bercow, Shakira Khan, JB Gill, Ranvir Singh, Jenny Ryan, Danny Aarons and Joey Essex.

The Box begins tonight, Saturday 5th September, at 8:15pm on ITV1 and ITVX.