Geri Horner: All Together Now won’t change the winner's life
The judge aboard BBC's new singing show says the contest is more about having fun than a life-changing prize
The Voice, The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent: all have struggled to produce a global superstar in recent years. So, could new BBC1 talent contest All Together Now finally gift us a performer who’ll be a household name for generations? Answer: probably not.
Not our words, but the (fairly paraphrased) ones of Geri Horner, who’ll be leading the show’s panel of 100 all-singing all-jazz-handing judges. Speaking to RadioTimes.com and other pressa bout the what the show can offer contestants, the former Spice Girl said: “It's not promising to over-deliver or change your life. It's just a moment. [The contestants] are ordinary people. Maybe they don't look like pop stars, but they just want a go and I love that!
“And maybe they're not that well-trained, but they’ve thought 'you know what, I sing this down the pub and I've been told I did it well' [...] This show is about making people feel good. They're not going to be the best, but that's okay.”
Presenter Rob Beckett also agrees that All Together Now has a more laid-back attitude than other talent shows. “It’s just happy and positive – it's not a big stress!" he said. "There's quite a nice prize at the end, but it's not 'This is a career-defining competition!'. It's 'come on, win a few quid if you want it!’"
But what kind of singer would prefer £50,000 over a major record contract? Won’t All Together Now attract a lower calibre of contestant than you can see on The X Factor? Not necessarily, argues Beckett: “Because there's just a bit of money up for grabs, we get people that are of a really high standard that earn a good amount of money on the circuit doing shows. They won't want to do X Factor and such because it's such a commitment. Instead, they can go into this, show what they can do and then go back to what they do with a bit of spending money.”
In other words, if you want to catch the next performer of the generation making their TV debut then it’s best you don’t tune in. However, if you want to spend Saturday nights having a singsong with Ginger Spice and 99 other excitable judges then All Together Now might just be for you.
All Together Now starts Saturday 27th January on BBC1
