Sunday Brunch's Simon Rimmer makes savage dig at Tim Lovejoy as pair bicker

25 February 2024 , 17:04

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Sunday Brunch's Simon Rimmer makes savage dig at Tim Lovejoy as pair bicker

Sunday Brunch presenter Simon Rimmer made a dig at co-host Tim Lovejoy about his hair.

The pair were co-presenting the Channel 4 cookery and chat show on Sunday (February 25), when talk turned to the League Cup final today. With Tim's team Chelsea going up against Simon's club Liverpool, Tim reminded the audience that whoever loses will face "national ridicule" on the show, with two photos appearing on the screen to explain. One showed Tim pointing at Simon, while he begrudgingly sported a Chelsea kit, and the other saw Tim looking less than impressed while he stood and posed in a Liverpool kit.

The photo that caused Simon's jibe (Channel 4)

Simon, 60, joked: "And that shows how long it's been since Chelsea have won a final because Tim's even got hair." The rest of the studio burst into laughter, with the ex-Soccar AM host adding: "I do miss my hair! I'm so bald now. It's horrible."

Insisting Tim suits his shaven look, Simon tried to console him, but Tim had none of it, and replied: "I don't like it."

Dad-of-three Tim confessed he misses his trips to the barbers and hairdressers, with Simon looking on the bright side, adding: "Think of all the money you're saving."

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Celebrity guest, Married at First Sight star Paul Carrick Brunson, weighed in when Tim asked him if he likes being bald, to which he replied yes, but added he always wanted dreadlocks.

But behind-the-scenes, Simon has been having a tough time, having been forced to close his vegetarian restaurant after 24 years. Greens, in West Didsbury, Manchester, has been open since 1990, when Simon started it with his friend Simon Connolly. But due to increasing costs for rent, raw materials, heating, lighting and power, as well as staff wages, the popular eatery became "unviable.

Sunday Brunch's Simon Rimmer makes dig at Tim Lovejoy who hits back: 'I hate it'

Speaking to Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley on This Morning about his decision, he said: "Post Covid, heat, lighting and power has gone up in the region of 400% on average for most businesses.

"The cost of employing people rises all the time and rightly so, people need to earn a decent wage. As a specific, our lease was up for Greens in West Didsbury and the landlord's increased the rent by 35%. I've been through two major recessions since we've opened restaurants in the last 30 years and during those, you think 'Ok, we'll come out the other side of this'."

Simon continued: "We've hit the point where many hospitality businesses go 'I actually can't afford to open the doors, no matter what I do, I can't charge enough to make a small amount of profit'."

He added that supermarket deals and bundles have added to the quandry: "Say it's cold at the moment, for you to come and eat in my restaurant. We're a medium price range, an average main course is about 15 quid, for me to persuade you guys to get into a cab, come to me, spend say a minimum of £70, come out in the cold and then go back as opposed to going to your local supermarket, spending 20 quid, you get decent food and a bottle of wine and a pudding for £20, its a big, big competition."

Amelia Ward