I still think that when Aaron was on The Wright Stuff and referred to starting work on BOTS "next week" (ie the week before Christmas) he may well have been meaning doing some filming for inserts for the show (sketches or some such) so it's possible he could still be featured on the show even if not actually live in the studio. The down side of course is that we probably wouldn't know in advance what episodes any such clips would be shown during so will have to endure the whole thing every night just on the off chance!
I'd actually be kind of pleased if Aaron isn't actually on the panel tonight, it would be nice for him to have a leisurely few days away with his son rather than have to clash back to be on the telly. There's plenty of time for that over the next three weeks.