Challenger #1 : Pretty Boyz

Singapore's answer to the Jabbawockeez?

When I first walked into their dressing area (producers actually gave them a separate room to chill out and change in because there were so many of them), and they all turned around to say hi, I almost took a step back and ran. Six painted faces that looked like Heath Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight stared right at me. It took me a few seconds to recover from the initial shock and as it turns out, they're really sweet boys under all that face cake - but I couldn't help wondering what each of them looked like without the white.

Pretty Boyz is made up of Jr, 19; Isaac, 19; Ruben, 19; Guna, 20; Ragu, 21; Anaz, 20; and their mentor/manager Viknesh, 26. One other manager, David was not available to attend the recording as he had to care for his ailing mum. The original Pretty Boyz crew has 9 members, one other broke his arm during practice and won't be performing - so the boyz had to rework their choreography at the last minute!

How do you guys all know each other?

Isaac (he's basically the voice for the group) : We are secondary schoolmates and childhood friends. We've known each other for like 5 to 10 years. We're a hip hop crew. We danced in school and now we've come out and we're a professional dance crew. We do events and private functions. We get hired through word-of-mouth.

How'd you come up with the name "Pretty Boyz"?

Actually it was kind of given by our fans. Its actually originally my (Isaac's) nickname also.

(I later heard from Suresh that Isaac's pretty cute! Dang! Wish I'd seen his face! LOL!)

Why did you guys join OMG?

We find its the best platform to showcase our talent. We wanna get some exposure for the group too. We are inspired by many crews like MNJ, NPZ and overseas crews like the Jabbawockeez (who wear masks).

So what kind of style will you be presenting?

I'm the choreographer, we all discuss and each of us contributes something to the dance. Basically our dance comes from our feelings for what we want to portray. With our hip hop knowledge, we also add in contemporary, ballet, bhangra and even chinese lion dance moves. Hip hop is street, so we also just freestyle and the guys all chip in.

For tonight, our performance wll be a hip-hop dance with a bhangra flavour and some b-boying. We are using bhangra music, and will be portraying different aspects of hip-hop within the bhangra genre.

What would you do with the $50k is you win?

We are planning to open a studio so that those young aspiring kids who are dancing on the street and doing hip hop have a place that they can come to to practice. We peformed for the kids at the Chen Su Lan Home, and it really inspired us to this. There was a young 2 or 3 year old doing head spins. I taught them some b-boying and really got inspired by them. There are a lot of people out there that don't have a good place to practice. We wanna help out these kids, cos you can get quite hurt practicing on the streets. I also want to teach hip-hop at the studio.

What do you think of the show? Of the Judges?

We find the judges are good and we like the show because you get to see different kinds of talents for the first time on tv. Idol is only singing. In this competition you get to see people who are good at other things.

Who will you be challenging on the show?

Our first choice is Luminiq Crew. We feel that so far, Luminiq Crew is the best and we want to beat the best. Its do or die for us. Our back-up choices will be Desert Roses or C-Murda.

Any strategy going into the show?

If we our best, then everybody should be able to appreciate us, both the Judges and the audience. Lastly, we would like to wish all the contestants all the best and also, would like to thank all our family and friends (aww so sweet!)

Catch the Pretty Boyz this Wednesday on OMG!, 8pm only on Channel 5. If you've got a hidden talent that will blow our contenders away, come join the show - we want YOU! Simply email omg@mediacorp.com.sg today and you could stand a chance to win the prize money of $50k CASH! Did I mention its cold.Hard.CASH! Don't wait, get yourself on the show now!

:: pics courtesy of Shawn Pang, Channel 5 Marketing team ::