Thank the Lord! Possibly the worst TV talent show in recent years (with the exception of Grease Is The Word of course!) has been axed by the BBC.

The One and Only which aired this winter on BBC One, brought us tribute acts from all over the UK, competing to win a performance contract in Las Vegas. But I have to say the whole thing bored me to tears!

Bring back Just The Two Of Us I say!

Actors union Equity are blasting Endemol and the BBC for refusing to pay the contestants on their recent talent show, The One and Only.

In the primetime show impersonators were competing for a performance contract in Las Vegas, however unlike previous BBC talent shows How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do, the participants were not even paid the minimum wage.

Assistant general secretary of Equity, Andy Prodger said: “Endemol is one of the biggest and most profitable independent TV producers, yet despite numerous approaches by Equity they have refused to pay even the smallest possible fee to the 24 contestants which have made The One And Only such a big hit. Read more & comment »

So I tuned in to the BBC’s The One And Only a little late in the series. In fact tonight’s live final was the first of the shows I have managed to watch. I kept intending to watch it week after week, but I was never a big Stars In Their Eyes fan, so I wasn’t holding out great hope for this latest BBC effort.

I was pleasantly surprised by Moni’s rendition of Lionel Richie’s All Night Long, in fact after watching that performance I was sure he would win.

Katy Setterfield sang well, but since I’m not really sure who Dusty Springfield is/was much of the effect of her act was lost on me. Read more & comment »

BBC killjoys have banned members of the The One And Only audience, from throwing knickers at Tom Jones lookalike, Simon Abbotts.

The bosses are said to be worried that Simon may trip on a pair of knickers whilst performing, but his family think it’s health and safety gone mad!

His mum Val told The Sun: “We were a bit disappointed. It’s health and safety gone mad. For as long as he’s been impersonating Tom, Simon’s never once slipped up on any stray item of underwear.”

Tonight the third act to be voted off BBC One’s The One And Only… was Tara Stafford-Allen after she failed to impress with her tribute to Britney Spears.

In the third live show of the series, the remaining ten tribute acts each sang a solo song as they set out to prove that they were every inch the musical superstar that they were paying tribute to.

Following candid feedback from vocal experts Carrie and David Grant the acts waited patiently for the results of the all-important viewers’ vote.

After a tense wait the two tribute acts with the least number of viewers’ votes were Tara Stafford-Allen as Britney Spears and Victoria Jones as Kylie Minogue.

Singing for their survival, Victoria and Tara had to perform once again in the Superstar Sing-off to keep their place for another week. Read more & comment »

Tonight the second act to be voted off BBC One’s The One And Only… was Evelyne Brink after she failed to impress with her tribute to the queen of pop, Madonna.

In the second live show of the series, the remaining 11 tribute acts each sang a solo song as they set out to prove that they were every inch the musical superstar that they were paying tribute to.

Following frank feedback from vocal experts Carrie and David Grant, the acts then waited for the results of the all-important viewers’ vote. After a tense wait the two tribute acts with the least number of viewers’ votes were revealed as Evelyne Brink as Madonna and Siam Hurlock as Diana Ross.

Singing for their survival, Evelyne and Siam had to perform once again in the Superstar Sing-off to keep their place for another week. Then it was down to the Superstar Vote where the nine surviving tributes voted to save the act they wanted to keep in the contest. Read more & comment »

BBC Ones newest primetime show, The One and Only has been criticised for damaging the tribute industry.

Meatloaf impersonator Dean Torkington told The Stage newspaper: “The best tribute acts are that busy that they can’t give up two or three months to be at the beck and call of the BBC.

“We cannot do that. If you can give up two months of your diary and enter a competition hoping you’ll win, obviously you cannot have a lot of work.

“If I was watching this show and owned a big hotel and was thinking of hiring a tribute act, it would put me off booking a tribute show for life. It has set the industry back.” Read more & comment »

The first tribute act to be voted off tonight’s live BBC One show was Greg Dorrell after failing to convince the nation that he was The One And Only… Rod Stewart.

In the first live show of the series, hosted by Graham Norton, the 12 tribute acts were put through their paces as they each sang a solo song, aiming to capture the very essence of their musical superstar in front of a studio audience including their friends and family and the Superfans who chose them.

The two tribute acts with the least number of viewers’ votes who found themselves in the Superstar Sing-off, performing once again and fighting for a place in next week’s show, were Greg Dorrell as Rod Stewart and Evelyne Brink as Madonna. Read more & comment »

Tonight on BBC One Graham Norton will host an exciting new Saturday night entertainment show which spotlights the UK’s leading tribute acts as they battle it out to win a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – a three-month performing contract in Las Vegas with the renowned Legends In Concert, one of the world’s longest-running celebrity impersonator shows.

Imagine the glamour and glitz of swinging Sinatra doing big-band battle with the undisputed princess of pop, Kylie, or the timeless Sir Elton John fighting it out against sexy chanteuse Cher in a bid to take the tribute act crown. Performers must not just sing like a musical superstar, but they must also look like them, dress like them and act like them.

Ohhhh it sounds too camp to be real!

Originally from Germany, Evelyne is 31 and lives in London. She has lived in the United States, where she attended the New York School of Acting and Film. It was there that she was told she looked like Madonna and should consider performing as a Madonna tribute.

She moved to the UK in 2001 and started working as a Madonna tribute. She currently performs her act as often as possible, on average once a month, mainly at corporate events.

Evelyne has always wanted to be famous and says that she has been preparing for fame since she was five years old. She is very determined and ambitious; traits which she feels she shares with Madonna.

She has a natural confidence onstage and shares her confidence with others in her work as a Life Coach.

Evelyne lives with her boyfriend of two years, Thomas, who she says is her number one supporter.

Victoria from Merseyside is 25 and first performed Kylie songs at a cabaret night when she was 15. Everyone saw similarities in her performance straight away and she now performs in tribute act I Should Be So Kylie.

She’s a fun, bubbly girl, who’s full of life and captures Kylie’s onstage cheekiness. Read more & comment »

Katy from High Wycombe is 37 and has been performing in the touring stage show That’ll Be The Day for seven years. The show is made up of music from the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies and she performs songs by Dusty Springfield, Tina Turner and Cher. She is a massive fan of Dusty and has always enjoyed performing her songs as part of her show. Read more & comment »

Siam, from London is 39 and has just finished performing as Diana Ross in the West End stage show Dancing In The Streets. She starred in the show for two years and says she worked really hard to master Diana’s sensitive and beautiful voice.

She lives in London with her 15-year-old twin boys who she has brought up single-handedly. Read more & comment »

Although people had been telling Joanna, 35, from Hertfordshire that she looked like Cher since she was 16, it wasn’t until ten years ago that she became a Cher tribute act. She now performs both nationally and internationally doing around four shows per week and she also occasionally appears in local musical theatre productions.

Joanna describes her family as the “Von Trapps” as they were five children who performed together for their family and synagogue shows. She says that she has never wanted to do anything other than perform after attending performing arts college and has always felt she was destined for stardom.

She is due to marry her partner, Steve in Las Vegas in February. He also happens to be a singer, occasionally working as an Elvis tribute.

Greg from East London is 41 and has been singing for ten years. He has been performing as Rod Stewart at weddings, birthday parties and corporate events for the past six years.

He discovered he could sing like Rod when an ex-girlfriend commented on how good he was when singing along to one of Rod’s classic songs. Following that, he secured two charity gigs as Rod at the London Palladium and since then he has made a career as a professional tribute act. Read more & comment »