Comic Relief Does Fame Academy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Comic Relief Does Fame Academy |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Reality / talent show |
| Presenter(s) | Cat Deeley (2003-2005) Patrick Kielty (2003-present) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 3 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Endemol, BBC |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC One, BBC Three |
| Original run | March 2003 – |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
Comic Relief Does Fame Academy is a spin-off of the original Fame Academy show where celebrities (students) sing as students of the Academy. The programme was launched in 2003 to help raise money for the charities supported by Comic Relief, with the final of the show occurring on Red Nose Day. Coverage of the show is widely shown on BBC One, BBC Three, BBC Prime and the CBBC Channel.
Many consider the celebrity version of the show to be far more successful than its predecessor. The Comic Relief series returned in 2005 and again in March 2007. It was announced by the BBC that Cat Deeley would not return because she is hosting American Idol. However, Patrick Kielty has returned this time with co-host and host of the former spin-off show Claudia Winkleman.
Contents |
[edit] Format
Each day, in the two weeks leading up to Comic Relief, the remaining students would perform a song of their choice, with guidance from vocal coaches Carrie Grant & David Grant, to a live national audience. The judges then gave their comments on each performance. After all of the students have sung their songs the voting lines opened for around two hours.
In the results show, the students are told who is safe from the sing-off for that day and the remaining three have to perform their song again. After this the judging panel choose which student they wish to save and return to the Academy. Of the remaining two left, the students then vote who they want to stay with them in the Academy and the remaining student is eliminated from the competition.
During their time at the Academy the students are given vocal lessons by Carrie Grant and husband David Grant, whilst Kevin Adams leads the dance classes. Richard Park is the "headmaster".
[edit] Comic Relief Does Fame Academy (2003)
The first live show took place on March 7, 2003 and lasted until Red Nose Day on March 14, where the final show was presented and the winner was announced. Nine British celebrities moved into the Fame Academy. The celebrities were (in order of elimination): Paul Ross, Fearne Cotton, Jo Brand, John Thomson, Ulrika Jonsson, Doon Mackichan, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Ruby Wax and Will Mellor.
Most of the original Fame Academy teachers were back, including Richard Park, Carrie Grant, and Kevin Adams. David Grant was a newcomer, as a second voice coach.
The same elimination mechanism as the 2002 series, with the teachers putting three on 'probation' each night, with the public saving one and the students the second.
However in the 'semi-final' with only three students left the producers decided to change the student vote to include all expelled students as well as the contestant saved by the public. Will, who was saved by the public, voted to save Kwame, while all six of the expelled students voted to save Ruby, changing the lineup of the final two.
Will was the eventual winner of the show.
[edit] Comic Relief Does Fame Academy (2005)
On February 26, 2005, Comic Relief Does Fame Academy returned for a second live airing. The production and broadcasting for the live shows was done from a new location on the south bank of the River Thames, between Tower Bridge and London City Hall.
The celebrities that took part were, in order of eviction: Al Murray, Jenny Eclair, Konnie Huq, Jon Culshaw, Christopher Colquhoun, Gina Yashere, Nick Knowles, Dawn Steele, Debra Stephenson, Reggie Yates, Adrian Edmondson, Kim Medcalf and Edith Bowman.
There were changes for this series. Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood and opera star Lesley Garrett were brought in as judges. Singing coaches Carrie and David Grant were no longer on the judging panel, but were present during the live shows and were invited to give their views when necessary.
The elimination mechanism was the same as the second series proper, however Park no longer had a casting vote in the event of the Judges' vote being tied, with the public vote resolving any deadlock.
The five remaining students were given a masterclass courtesy of McFly, who released All About You as Comic Relief's official single that year.
The series had its fair share of drama and conflict. As with series two of the main show, host Patrick Kielty and headteacher Richard Park clashed continually throughout the series. While it was assumed by some that the arguments were staged to build up interest for the show, this appeared to be disproved when Richard Park was spotted making a rude hand gesture towards Patrick Kielty, as co-host Cat Deeley was attempting to introduce the next act. The BBC received over 400 complaints, although Kielty joked about the incident in a subsequent episode. A spokewoman for the programme said: "Richard Park did not realise he was on camera at the time. It is a live show and tensions were running high but we are really sorry if any offence was caused." [1]
The feud between Kielty and Park spilled over into the press after the show had ended. Park claimed that Kielty's presenting skills had been "sub-standard" and speculated that he would never be seen on BBC screens again. Kielty was later announced as the host of ITV's Celebrity Love Island.
Teachers Carrie and David were also involved in a feud with Craig Revel Horwood. Horwood regularly criticised the performances of the celebrities, particularly Debra Stephenson and Reggie Yates. In one episode of the show, Carrie accused Craig of trying to kill the spirits of the singers.
There was also some speculation that the students were colluding with each other during the student vote to ensure 'close' results. The contestants asked the producers to be excused of the student vote, however the producers refused.
Because of this, many felt the students deliberately invoked a tie when there was only six left, so that the public would have the casting vote. To stop this happening in the semi-final, where a tie was also possible, ex-students also voted (making 11 votes in total, meaning no tie was possible. Therefore one student was put in the final by the public, another by the Judges and the third by the former and current students.
During the Comic Relief show on March 11 (Red Nose Day), Edith Bowman was announced as the winner. The runner-up was Kim Medcalf and in third place Adrian Edmondson.
[edit] Comic Relief Does Fame Academy (2007)
The third series of Comic Relief Does Fame Academy launched on 3 March and continued nightly until 16 March (Red Nose Day).
[edit] Hosts
Regular host Patrick Kielty is joined by Claudia Winkleman who moves over from BBC Three, to preside over the live event from Fame Academy's new venue, the Debating Chamber in County Hall, London. Caroline Flack replaces Sophie McDonnell (who replaced Holly Willoughby in 2005) and joins Jake Humphrey for CBBC's coverage of Fame Academy. Now flagship host Claudia will be replaced on the BBC Three coverage by Sarah Cawood and Dominic Wood. Cat Deeley did not return to the show due to her ITV2 contract presenting American Idol in the US.
[edit] Judges
- Richard Park - Head Teacher / Judge
- Lesley Garrett CBE
- Craig Revel Horwood
[edit] Tutors
- Kevin Adams - Fitness Coach
- Jeremy Milnes - Personal Tutor
- Richard Park - Head Teacher / Judge
- Carrie Grant - Vocal Coach
- David Grant - Vocal Coach
[edit] Contestants
- Winner Tara Palmer-Tomkinson - Socialite and former I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! contestant
- Runner Up Tricia Penrose - Actress, most famous for starring in Heartbeat
- 3rd Shaun Williamson - Actor best known for playing Barry Evans in EastEnders, and himself (as 'Barry from EastEnders') in Extras
- 4th Colin Murray - BBC Radio 1 and regular BBC Radio Five Live Fighting Talk presenter, also used to work with former Celebrity Fame Academy winner Edith Bowman
- 5th Ray Stubbs - BBC Sport presenter
- 6th Angellica Bell - Former CBBC presenter, and occasional presenter of holiday programmes
- 7th Fred MacAulay - Scottish comedian and radio presenter
- 8th Mel Giedroyc - Comedian of Mel and Sue fame
- 9th Zöe Salmon - Blue Peter presenter and Miss Northern Ireland 1999
- 10th Tim Vine - Comedian
- 11th Linda Robson - Actress, most famous for starring in Birds of a Feather
- 12th Miranda Hart - Comedy actress
- 13th Rowland Rivron - Broadcaster
[edit] The contest
[edit] Live launch night
On the live launch night, the celebrities sang one song each to the usual judging panel; Craig Revel Horwood, Lesley Garrett and Richard Park. The viewers' vote left Angellica Bell, Miranda Hart and Rowland Rivron in the "bottom three". All three celebrities sang their song for a second time, and the judges were asked to save one of them. Both Craig and Richard saved Angellica, while Lesley saved Miranda, which meant that Angellica was through to the next stage of the competition. The eleven "safe" celebrities were then asked to vote to save either Miranda or Rowland. Miranda received ten votes, while Rowland only received one. Rowland, who showed off fake breasts during his performance of "Stand By Your Man," became the first evicted celebrity of the series. Colin Murray, the only celebrity to vote for Rowland, said that the Academy needed more men in it, otherwise "everyone would be talking about Sex and the City all the time."
[edit] Song list and voting
- Note 1: Group collaboration featured Lemar.
- Note 2: Ray Stubbs had a bad respiratory tract infection, but sang solo anyway, though he was excluded from the group performances.
