It is fair to say former Keeping Up With the Kardashians regular Caitlyn Jenner is not overawed at the prospect of appearing on Virgin Media One on a random Sunday in October. She has not previously heard of Lucy Kennedy, who has rocked up to her door in Malibu for the latest season of Living With Lucy (Virgin Media One, Sunday) – a sort of cross between a Louis Theroux documentary and a friend who needs to crash at your house and then says thanks so often you begin to regret your generosity.
The presenter admits she’s nervous during the long drive to Jenner’s house, which overlooks the sea and was nearly consumed by the LA wildfires last year. As well she might – in a series dominated by Z-listers (Ivan Yates, Amy Huberman) Jenner is a gold-plated, stone-cold C-lister.
The former Olympic gold medallist doesn’t quite seem to understand what she has signed up for. She comes across as quietly baffled as the chatty Kennedy arrives – and is soon introducing herself as Ireland’s Kim Kardashian (ridiculous: everyone knows Ireland’s Kim Kardashian is Mattress Mick).
Kennedy holds her own during a brief tour of Jenner’s vast house, and Living With Lucy generally avoids the second-hand embarrassment often a feature of an Irish host interviewing a global celeb.
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She meets Caitlyn and her live-in best pal, Sophia Hutchins. They play golf and tour the hangar where Jenner stores a private plane. Jenner is a Trump supporter, and the conversation inevitably turned towards the tangerine potentate.
“I’ve known him for a long time. You would love him if you met him, everybody does when they meet him, he’s such a great guy,” she says. “Donald Trump doesn’t have any problems with trans people. I transitioned, I get along great with him.”
They also have opposing views on Israel and Palestine – though Jenner talks about Jewish people more than Israel. “I know a lot of Jewish people. We should take an example from Jewish people and how they keep their family together with strong family values. We don’t have that in the United States.”
[ Caitlyn Jenner on Donald Trump, her family and life after BruceOpens in new window ]
Jenner has surprising views about transgender issues, feeling the trans community has been monopolised by the “blue hairs”, with rings in their noses. Why, Jenner continues, are we so obsessed with the subject anyway? “We talk too much about the issue,” she says. “Every day on the news, there is an issue about trans issues, when it’s such a small group.”
The episode ends with a brief farewell, during which Jenner reveals that she’ll miss Lucy – until she reaches the golf course in five minutes. Kennedy doesn’t seem too miffed. Above all else, she appears relieved to be going home.
