Posts Tagged ‘“amanda holden”’
Friday, March 23rd, 2012
Singer Jessie J: one of the judges on the BBC's The Voice
So the gloves are off this weekend as a new series of Britain’s Got Talent goes head to head with the Beeb’s latest reality TV show, The Voice – in which the deal is you get to hear the singers without actually seeing what they look like.
Yesterday saw the official launch of a new series of Britain’s Got Talent which marks the return of music supremo Simon Cowell to the UK as well as a new judging panel, including comedian and swimmer David Walliams and singer Alesha Dixon – poached of course from the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.
Word on the street is that Britain’s Got Talent is a little slicker than before and the acts – at least from the first episode – are a little less ‘out there’ (which sounds a bit of a shame as I liked the more bizarre ones).
Speaking at yesterday’s BGT launch, Cowell claimed that he is ready for a battle with the BBC and denied accusations that he wanted Tom Jones – one of The Voice’s judging panel – to work for him.
“I think [The Voice] have got themselves in a mess,” said Cowell. “They need to get their sense of humour back.
“I read one thing today and I want to clear the record up. It was intimated that Tom Jones had been offered a role on one of my shows.
“I met the guy once in Vegas and I think the show he must have been talking about was Opportunity Knocks. It wasn’t one of my shows. He might have got the names confused.”
He added: “They are winding this up to be a big battle, but it’s not. The shows go out at the same time and the better one wins.
The Voice airs on BBC1, 7pm and Britain’s Got Talent starts ITV1, 8pm
Britain's Got Talent 2012
Simon Cowell arriving at the press launch for Britains Got Talent at The BFI in London.
Tags: "amanda holden", "david walliams", alesha dixon, Britain's Got Talent, jessie j, Simon Cowell, the voice, tom jones, Will.i.Am
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Wednesday, August 24th, 2011
Amanda Holden is expecting her second child. The Britain’s Got Talent judge – who has a five-year-old daughter, Lexi, with music producer husband Chris Hughes – is three months pregnant with a baby girl, and admits she is “thrilled and terrified” at the same time.
She wrote on her twitter page: “Lexi’s question of the day(and most days) “Mama when are you going to get a baby in your tummy?”Happy to say TODAY Lexi!Mama is pregnant!Yay.
“Am thrilled and terrifed all rolled into one! (sic)”
Amanda and Chris’ baby joy comes six months after the 40-year-old star suffered the tragic stillbirth of her baby son when she was just two months away from reaching full term.
She added in a statement on her official website: “Chris, Lexi and I are delighted to announce that I am pregnant and we are expecting a little girl.
“The first half of this year has been unbelievably difficult for us and so we are beyond delighted to share this news with you.”
Amanda recently spoke out about her desire to have children following the “blackest period” of her life.
She said: “I’m a naturally really optimistic girl and we’re not dramatic people. Although what’s happened is obviously horrifying, we can go on and have more children.
“Our future’s bright and you have to turn negatives into positives, and try and see everything as a blessing. That’s exactly what we’ve done.”
“It was without doubt the blackest period of my life. You never think that it might happen to you. I was an absolute mess. Poor Chris was too but he was amazing.”
Meanwhile, Girls Aloud beauty Kimberley Walsh will take over in the role of Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical from October 5, with Amanda “not taking any risks” over the health of her baby.
She added in the statement: “I will endeavour to continue the show until the October 3. I do however ask you to bear with me as I will be putting myself and this pregnancy first.
“I have taken medical advice and although I am a strong girl and this is ‘once again’ a good healthy pregnancy I will absolutely not be taking any risks.”
Tags: "amanda holden", Britain's Got Talent, pregnancy, Shrek the Musical
Posted in Britain's Got Talent, Reality TV | No Comments »
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011
Simon Cowell and Amanda Holden, judging The X-Factor
Dancer James Hobley and impressionist Les Gibson have made it through to the final of Britain’s Got Talent.
Liverpudlian impressionist Les – who mimicked BGT hosts Ant and Dec during his act – won the public vote to be put through to Saturday’s final. And Simon Cowell joked he could be set to take over from Dec in the showbiz world. “Ant and Les has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? As we know, that’s showbiz.”
Dancer James – who uses his passion to overcome autism – soared through to Saturday’s (04.06.11) grand finale by performing a show-stopping routine of pirouettes and plies to Leona Lewis’ hit track Happy. He beat bell ringers Aeolian Chimes by 3-1 in the judges vote. After Amanda put through Aeolian Chimes ahead of James Hobley, Simon was heard to remark that his vote represented a return to ‘Planet Earth’.
Meanwhile, TV mogul Simon has revealed he will introduce a wildcard act and put his favourite lucky loser through to this year’s final in a similar style to 2010′s The X Factor.
He explained: “This is the one thing I am allowed to do on the show this year. I hope it will be popular and it’s the right thing to do.”
Tags: "amanda holden", James Hobley, Les Gibson, Simon Cowell, X-Factor
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Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
As the BGT semi finals continue, the acts seem to becoming more and more obscure.
With the exception of Boyband New Bounce, which were branded “the ones to beat” by Simon Cowell and got themselves the public vote to the final, the other contestants took a walk onto the weird side.
Firstly there was keyboard player Jean Martyn, who with her bright coloured coat and inane smile made us think she was ready for the looney bin more than the final, but that didn’t stop all four judges putting her through over magician act Karen and David.
Amanda even compared the excitable musician to an energy drink, calling her “a can of red bull”.
Meanwhile, Britney Spears impersonator Lorna Bliss was booted off the programme after causing controversy by making it through to the semi-final, despite getting buzzed by judges three times in auditions.
Frankly we’re not sure why she bothered come back. Yes she may have looked like the pop princess but that voice really needs some work.
Then there was Up and Over it, the act that made dance with their hands. We wish we’d thought of an act like this for our five minutes of fame.
In fact their weirdness even beat the Circus of Horrors, a show with trapeze artists, bouncers and weird made up people.
We just want a bit of normality please.
(more…)
Tags: "amanda holden", Bounce, Britians got talent, Circus of Horrors, Jean Martyn, second semi final, Simon Cowell
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Monday, May 23rd, 2011
Britain’s Got Talent’ hopeful Paul Gbegbaje was bullied at school for being religious.
The 19-year-old pianist has revealed he turned to music to escape his cruel classmates, who dubbed him “Jesus Freak” because he read the Bible while they looked at Playboy magazine.
He explained: “I was different because of what I believed in. In year eight I would bring my Bible for reading time and they would bring Playboy and stuff like that. They would call me Jesus Freak.
“I didn’t swear, didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, didn’t bunk. They were listening to things in the charts, whereas me, I was listening to piano.”
However, Paul – who wowed panellists Amanda Holden, Michael McIntyre and guest judge Louis Walsh on Saturday night’s (21.05.11) show – is now glad he ignored the bullies, who have since made contact to congratulate him on his success on the ITV1 series.
He added to The Sun newspaper: “Some of them even emailed me on Facebook saying, ‘Well done’. I feel like I’ve had some form of victory. I had the last laugh.”
“People didn’t understand my passion and they saw it as strange and weird. But now I am so glad I stayed true to myself.”
Meanwhile, new viewing figures have revealed more people tuned in to watch the sixth episode of ‘Britain’s Got Talent than they did in 2010.
While an average of 10 million were glued to their screens watching the talents of the nation on Saturday night, some 9.4 million watched on the same week last year.
Tags: "amanda holden", BGT, Paul Gbegbaje, piano player, talent
Posted in Britain's Got Talent, News | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
Fans of Britain’s Got Talent will be relieved. As rumoured, Simon Cowell will return to the show’s semi-finals, starting Monday 30 May.
The music mogul missed the audition stages of this year’s contest to focus on launching The X Factor in America but will return to take a seat on the panel alongside Amanda Holden, Michael McIntyre and David Hasselhoff for the live stages of the competition, which kick off at the end of this month.
Amanda recently admitted she had missed “flirting” with Simon on the panel – and would love for him to make a spectacular re-entrance to the show.
She said: “Simon won’t like the fact he’s not missed. He will return for part of the live finals. I’d love him to come down from the ceiling on a cloud, wearing a toga and showing off his macho chest. That would be a good way for him to return!
“Hopefully he’ll be draping himself over me again, because I’ve missed the flirting!”
However, the 40-year-old star also admitted she feels in charge of the judging panel at the moment because she is the only judge to have featured in previous years.
She joked: “Michael did ask me for lots of advice and turns to me a lot, so I did feel like the boss, which I liked!
Meanwhile fellow BGT judge David Hasselhoff judge claims he is a good judge of character and values certain qualities in contestants, rather than talent.
He explained to Now magazine: “I can pick people out of a crowd and know exactly the person I need to talk to. And I can tell when someone is having me on. I’m pretty good at that.
“I try to vote people through on charisma. People either have it or they don’t – sometimes they’re not the best singers or the best entertainers, but they’re magnetic when you look at them. You can’t draw your eyes away.”
Tags: "amanda holden", David Hasselhoff, Michael McIntyre, Simon Cowell
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Monday, May 9th, 2011
‘Britain’s Got Talent’ hopefuls Girls Roc are confident Prince Philip will be a huge fan of their sexy dance routine, even if it may be too raunchy for Queen Elizabeth.
The fire-breathing group have made it through to the next round of the ITV1 show, and despite their skimpy costumes and x-rated performance, they have vowed they won’t tone down their act if they win ‘BGT’ and perform in front of the queen and Philip at the Royal Variety Performance.
Leader Nicola Wills said: “We actually toned down our act for ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.
“The queen might be shocked but Prince Philip – he’d love it, he would be like, ‘Woo hoo.’ ”
However, Nicola insisted the group’s costumes looked skimpier on stage because they had wardrobe malfunctions which made it appear as if they were wearing thongs.
She added to The Sun newspaper: “We all have dancers’ bums so we much up the leotard. We didn’t have thong leotards on but by the end of it we looked like we had.”
While judge Amanda Holden praised the girls’ “fantastic bottoms”, Michael McIntyre said they were too naughty.
Tags: "amanda holden", auditions, BGT, Girls Roc, prince
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Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
A ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ contestant has angered viewers after it was revealed he has previously had chart success with two different groups.
Pub landlord Herbie Armstrong claimed he had “never broken through as the front man” when he appeared on the ITV1 show on Saturday (30.04.11) but old YouTube footage shows the singer appeared on ‘Top of the Pops’ with his bands Fox and Yellow Dog.
Herbie, 66, was also part of Van Morrison’s backing band after the pair met in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where they both grew up and released his own solo album through his website last year.
However the judges were impressed, with Amanda Holden saying: “I think you’ve got a good heart. I can feel that this is kind of your last shot. I think you can do better. But I think you did a great job.”
Guest judge Louis Walsh added: “You’ve got Celtic soul and I’m saying yes.”
Meanwhile, 12-year-old Ronan Parke has been compared to pop sensation Justin Bieber after he wowed the judges and audience with own version of ‘Feeling Good’.
The ambitious singer – who received over 50,000 hits on YouTube after his appearance – is grateful for the compliment but wants to be known in his own right.
He said: “I take that as a very big compliment because Justin Bieber is one of the biggest pop stars in the world. But I don’t want people to think ‘That’s the new Justin Bieber’, I want them to think ‘That’s Ronan Parke’.”
Tags: "amanda holden", BGT, Britain's Got Talent, cheat, David Hasslehoff, Herbie Armstrong
Posted in Britain's Got Talent, News | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 27th, 2011
A magician claims he was kicked off ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ because he threatened to hypnotise David Hasselhoff.
Chris Richards had initially wowed David and his fellow judges Amanda Holden and Michael McIntyre in the audition rounds for the ITV1 show after jumping off stage to perform an array of magic tricks in front of their table.
They then asked Chris how he could better his magic act if he reached the live semi-finals, to which he replied: “I’ll hypnotise The Hoff.”
The former ‘Baywatch’ star then laughed: “I’ve been hypnotised for the past 16 years, baby.”
But despite Chris being one of the favourites, he has now been told he has not made it through to the live shows and he thinks the only explanation for his axing is because of his plans.
He told the Daily Star newspaper: “I think David was scared. I really did plan to hypnotise him, to make him forget he was on ‘BGT’ and get him doing a silly dance. I can only think I’m off the show because The Hoff chickened out.”
A ‘BGT’ spokesman insisted the decision had nothing to do with Chris’ plans.
Tags: "amanda holden", BGT, Chris Richards, magic, magician, Michael McIntyre
Posted in Britain's Got Talent | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 26th, 2011
‘Britain’s Got Talent’ hopeful Razy Gogonea is desperate to win the show so he can buy his fiancee an engagement ring.
Unemployed Razy – who wowed judges Amanda Holden, Michael McIntyre and David Hasselhoff and the audience with his body-popping routine on Saturday night’s (23.04.11) show before breaking down in tears as he made it through to the next round – proposed to Ruth Lee six months ago but never had enough money to buy a ring.
However, if he is crowned winner of the ITV1 show he has promised to splash out on a sparkler with the £100,000 prize.
He said: “It’s upsetting not being able to afford one. If I won ‘BGT’ the first thing I’d do is buy one. I’ve got my eye on a couple already. She deserves the best and I’ll do my best for her. We’re hoping to get married this year.”
Ruth added: “Razy has always said the first thing he’ll do when he gets some money is get me a ring. I’ve seen a few I like, but they are quite expensive. We really want to get married but it all depends on the money.”
Razy – who originally hails from Romania – also admitted he has been “overwhelmed” by the public support he has received since his Matric-style routine hit TV screens, and he is now keen to make a name for himself.
He added to The Sun newspaper: “It feels fantastic. I am feeling overwhelmed by it. I didn’t anticipate how big it would be.”
Razy is now 10-1 favourite to win the ITV1 talent show.
Tags: "amanda holden", Britain's Got Talent, David Hasslehoff, Michael McIntyre, Razy Gogonea
Posted in Britain's Got Talent, News | Comments Off
Thursday, April 14th, 2011
A scruffy teenager with a traveller-inspired lifestyle has wowed the judges on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.
Singer-guitarist Michael Collings – who lives on a caravan park – impressed Amanda Holden, Michael McIntyre and David Hasselhoff with his rendition of Tracy Chapman’s ‘Fast Car’, despite them ruling him out because of the way the 19 year old looks.
Comedian Michael said: “Most people who look awful are truly awful. Which is why Michael Collings shows up, we think he’s going to be awful, but he is amazing.”
Amanda likened Michael’s audition to that of Susan Boyle, who wowed the judges and audience in 2009 with her rendition of ‘Les Miserables’ song ‘I Dreamed A Dream’, despite not looking great.
She said: “It’s the Susan Boyle moment. When someone like that walks on stage, you judge them. It’s bad but it’s human nature, you look at someone and think about how they’re presented rather than who they are.”
Other acts set to impress viewers of the ITV1 show when it is aired on Saturday (16.04.11) include Alan and Gay Cooper, who do a handbell version of Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’, nine-year-old comic David Knight, martial arts duo Grace and Chloe and Donelda Guy with her dog freestyle act.
Tags: "amanda holden", auditions, Britians got talent, gypsy, traveller
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Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
A man dressed up as a giant hamster has auditioned for ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.
Cameraman Stuart Kettell – whose stage name is The Mad Fool – has tried out for the talent search show with an act which includes him pulling on a hamster suit and running in a giant wheel and he explained he would love to win the show for the chance to perform his unique act for the queen.
He said: “I would like to think the queen would like to see a giant hamster running across her stage one day.”
Judge Amanda Holden has revealed she and her fellow panellists David Hasselhoff and Michael McIntyre are putting through some ridiculous acts on purpose in order to annoy Simon Cowell when he returns for the live shows.
She said: “I can’t wait to see Simon – and I especially can’t wait to see his face when he sees some of the acts we’ve put through.”
Some unusual contestants this year include architect Gary Craig – who calls himself Geordie Pantsman – whose act comprises of him putting on as many pairs of underwear as he can and ‘Sailor Pig’ Andrew Evans who sings while dressed up as a pig in a naval costume.
Tags: "amanda holden", 2011, auditions, Britians got talent, Hamster
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Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
The number of dance acts appearing on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ has been reduced this year.
After the ITV1 show started getting too many entrants similar to 2009′s winning dance troupe Diversity its bosses started welcoming more ‘Glee’-style musical groups.
The change was confirmed by the presenting duo Ant and Dec who said audiences can now expect more variety of contestants on the reality talent show, which starts airing this Saturday (16.04.11).
Ant said: “There haven’t been so many dance troupes as Diversity set the bar so high before. There were a lot of ‘Glee’-inspired acts, groups singing and dancing, but not all of them were that great.”
Dec added to The Sun newspaper: “There has been a lot of very talented singing children, so that will be a competitive area. The illusionists were great too. We really hope some make the semi-finals.”
Meanwhile the show’s judges Amanda Holden, Michael McIntyre and David Hasselhoff have admitted to deliberately putting through weird and wonderful acts to challenge the show’s boss Simon Cowell when he joins the panel for the semi-finals.
Those who have already appeared on the show include a dancing Darth Vader and Princess Leia, a guitar-strumming dog and a horse and motorbike stunt act called Stallions of Substance.
Amanda said: “I can’t wait to see Simon back and I especially can’t wait to see his face when he sees some of the acts we’ve put through.”
David added: “The young acts are without a doubt going to the finals along with a fantastic dog act and some very funny comedians.
“The worst was a man that did an impersonation of trucks I think he was run over last week while doing a truck sound.”
Tags: "amanda holden", Ant and Dec, Britiain's Got Talent, Diversity
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Monday, April 11th, 2011
Amanda Holden loves being the “top dog” on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.
The ITV1 show returns to TV screens next weekend but following the departures of original judges Piers Morgan and Simon Cowell, Amanda is joined on the panel by Michael McIntyre and David Hasselhoff and is enjoying being in control.
She said: “Simon will return for part of the live finals but we’re getting on fine without him. Piers is old hat. I’m top dog now. Like God.”
Amanda – who is returning to the ‘BGT’ live shows following the tragic loss of her baby son seven months into her pregnancy in February – also revealed she thinks a child will win this series although has been impressed with the overall standard of everyone.
She said: “I don’t want to ruin any surprises but the standards are brilliant and there are an awful lot of amazing children. I think a child will win if I had to put money on it.
“None of the acts are cheesy or cutesy but really heart-warming. These are all the things that ‘BGT’ wants – and we’ve got surprisingly few pushy mothers this year!”
Tags: "amanda holden", Britians got talent, David Hasslehoff, judges, Michael Maccyntire, panel, Piers Morgan, Simon Cowell
Posted in Britain's Got Talent | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
Diversity
The winners of 2010 BGT went on to have a sell out tour, appear in a Brit dance flick and make appearances on a huge range of shows. Ashley Banjo also got himself a stint as a judge on Sky One's Got to Dance.
(more…)
Tags: "amanda holden", "paul potts", 2011, Ashley Banjo, Britians got talent, Diversity, Susan Boyle, where are they now, winners
Posted in Britain's Got Talent, Features, Gallery | No Comments »
Thursday, March 3rd, 2011
He may not be on the judging panel any more but that hasn’t stopped Simon Cowell from sticking his beak into Britain’s Got Talent.
The mogul has apparently arranged for extra auditions following frustrations that his judging aides had been able to find a potential star.
According to the Daily Star Si is “worried” that the show might flop because Amanda, David and Michael have failed to find the next Susan Boyle or – and we’re pushing it – Starvos Flatly.
Cowell is said to have ordered a “massive shake-up” to the show despite it being scheduled to air next month.
In other BGT news, editing staff are also beavering away to make sure any images of Amanda Holden’s bump are not in shot. We can understand that.
Tags: "amanda holden", auditions, Britain's Got Talent, Simon Co, Simon Cowell
Posted in Britain's Got Talent | 1 Comment »
Monday, February 7th, 2011
Our hearts go out to Amanda Holden today. It was announced over the weekend that the Britain’s Got Talent judge miscarried her baby last week.
Today it is rumoured that she and hubby Chris are waiting for test results to confirm what went wrong with the pregnancy and led to them losing their unborn baby.
Amanda was seven months pregnant when she went to hospital last week, after realising that she hadn’t felt her baby move in almost a day.
Doctors gave her the news that the baby boy had very sadly passed away and Amanda had to deliver the ‘perfect and beautiful’ tot.
The couple are of course “completely devastated” by the tragedy and are awaiting test results which will confirm if it was due to an infection passed from mother to child.
Last night a spokesman for the pair said: “Tests on the baby will hopefully shed light on what happened.
“Amanda’s completely devastated and in shock.”
Another source told the Daily Mail that the actress is under sedation and: ‘The worst will come when the drugs wear off and the reality sets in.”
Our thoughts are with Amanda and her family
Tags: "amanda holden", baby, baby boy, Britain's Got Talent, Miscarriage, tests
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
From:Set The Video: NASA: Triumph and Tragedy, BBC Two, Wednesday, 24 June, 9pm