OMG Episode 3 : The Review

"Aiyaaa!"

Aiya indeed! That one colloquial expression so summed up everyone's thoughts the minute Judge B uttered it. It was my favourite comment all night! She said it in response to BottleFlipz' rather unfortunate performance last night, and as usual, Judge B was on the money.

Dan's The Man

Before I move on to the review proper, I just realised in my haste to congratulate those that made it through to the next round, I forgot to give Challenger Dan Thompson a pat on the back for winning his first challenge - good on ya mate! Its a pity he didn't get to stay longer on the show - who'da thunk Jill Marie would choose to challenge him? Well, first time for everything....

Ok on to the review ....

Tonight's four Challengers are all single performer challengers, ie no groups. So you'd think they'd aim for similar numbers. Two of 'em took on groups, for varied reasons, despite the risk that visually and in terms of energy, they could have been at a great disadvantage. As Judge Irene would say, "Confidence maaah!"

Challenger #1 : Dan Thompson

Contender : Jumping Jewels

I loved Dan's lil video clip before his performance - haha, so drama. Hands down the best scripted (and executed - cos we all know corny lines are not easy to execute!) VT so far. Dan's reason for picking the rope skippers was that he wanted to see what else they could do with their routine. He sang Josh Groban's 'You Raise Me Up' pretty flawlessly. Host Michelle Chong even commented that when she closed her eyes it was like Josh Groban was singing.

What did the judges say?

FD : Dan, you enjoy what you're doing and you connect with the audience. Jumping Jewels, you guys have so much fun on stage, I love your choice of music, always fun to watch.

Beatrice : Dan, you're a good looking guy, you're confident, but I wonder what else you're gonna bring to keep yourself in the game. Jumping Jewels, you sell a great feeling.

Jeanette : Jumping Jewels, I love your energy levels. Dan, you're a very polished peformer but your pirouettes at the end threw me off a balance. (summerr says : Word sista! I thought it was a little out of place too!)

Irene : Jumping Jewels, you guys are like anti-depressant pills! Dan, you're good looking, you sing well, but I felt you weren't singing to the audience.

summerr says : As much as I like their energy and all the bouncing around - its entertaining to watch - I felt that JJ's routine was pretty similar to the week before. Granted I don't have a trained eye and they could have added more technically difficult tricks and moves etc, but thats the thing, to the untrained eye, its pretty much the same routine from Ep1 - loud music, leap frogging, some somersaults and thats it. I would have liked to see them speed up like double time. (So easy to judge right? I bet you I can't even do half time on those ropes *pfft*)

Dan's a crooner. That was my first impression. He sang the song very well, but I don't know, something about him is just too polished. I'm inclined to agree with Irene. Maybe he's too polished. Maybe its cos he's tall? Can't put my finger on it. But the guy definitely has a good voice.

RESULT : Dan Thompson

Judges felt that Dan brought showmanship, brought a great song and had a great voice. But had Jumping Jewels upped their game, he wouldn't have gotten through.

Challenger #2 : Fatema

Contender : Danny Koh

Belly-dancing vs Fire. How sexy is that? I have to give Fatema props for challenging a fire artiste because fire is naturally very visually entertaining, fire always has the 'wow' factor (if you don't screw up la and burn your hair). I guess Fatema believed her routine was also very wow (actually imo it was very WOWza), the girl definitely 'brought it'.

What did the judges say?

B : Fatema you're a truly sexy girl and I think you should have capitalised on that. There's nothing wrong with the routine, it just lacked drama compared to Danny who was so intense.

J : Fatema, I wasn't getting the vibe from you.

I : Danny, the poi (the two string thingies he was swinging around that had fire balls attached at the ends) technique was very basic and I preferred what you did previously.

FD : Danny, you were very impressive, but did you bring enough? Fatema, you're dancing and you're loving it.

summerr says : Super tough decision to make. When Fatema chose Danny my heart sank a little cos I knew she was a really good belly dancer and I wanted her to be on the show. I also wanted to Danny to stay on the show cos his fire act is just so riveting to watch. Sigh, but since she chose to challenge him - one had to go. And unfortunately, as gorgeous and sexy and wow her routine was, its hard to beat fire and lemmetellyou, Danny was seriously INTENSE. He FOUGHT to defend his place, and he fought hard - I was like holy crap that fire is all kinds of burning him and flyin' around. That move, bringing the fire up close to the judges was inspired - a bit risky - but inspired nonetheless.

Eh all contenders take note - you don't have to stay on the white stage - can move down waaaan. It leaves a bigger impression if you get up close and personal!

RESULT : Danny Koh

The judges admitted that it was a really tough decision and both put up a good fight, but they could see "so much fire in his (Danny's) eyes, so much hunger, you can see that he wants to do so much more".

Challenger #3 : Zul Mystroe

Contender : Bottle Flipz

If I hadn't spoken to him before the show for an interview, I woulda thought this guy was super arrogant. But he's not. He's actually a pretty nice guy. But the way he justified choosing Bottle Flipz when asked by the hosts - Singaporeans call this 'ya-ya-papaya' k.

What did the judges say?

J : To Bottle Flipz, as a performer, you have to see your act through to the end. But you also have to learn not to let your earlier mistake affect the rest of your performance. Zul, that was a confident performance.

I : Zul, you really save a lot of money hor, all the instruments in one voice! I'm impressed. Bottle Flipz, you were very brave, you dropped the bottles but still went on.

FD : Bottle Flipz, there's nothing to comment about, it didn't work for you. Zul, I love the whole beatboxing thing, it was really good. A little more attitude and more physicality would have been good.

B : Zul, you're a good beatboxer. A little more attitude and this place would have been thumping. Bottle Flipz.... Aiyaaa.....

summerr says :

Its so unfortunate that the flairing boys dropped not one, not two, but three bottles AND the stacked glass pyramid. Really quite an 'Aiyaya' moment. Its a pity cos the boys were one of my favourites - they had personality and they had an interesting act. As for Zul, I think he's a good beatboxer, although I felt the parts where he sang (again I know this is tremendously difficult and takes a lot of skill, I wouldn't be able to do it in a million years), was quite distracting for me. It was offkey at points and I was so distracted trying to make out what song it was. Maybe its cos I am spoiled by Charles' impeccable beatboxing. Miss that guy. Anyway, imo, if it hadn't been for the screw ups, Bottle Flipz may have earned themselves immunity. Hello practice more - not just the night before ;)

The Result : Zul Mystroe

No need to explain la. The Judges went backstage and came back out in like less than a minute k. Pretty unanimous that Zul blew 'em away!

Challenger #4 : Jill Marie Thomas

Contender : Dan Thompson

Jill chose Dan cos, "He sing. I sing. We all sing together la." Jill sang 'Nobody' by The Wonder Girls. Dan sang 'Me & Mrs Jones' (my fave version is still Taufik's at the SI Finals). Half way through his er 'seductive' performance, he sidles up to sing to the Judges one by one - kisses Judge B's hand, dances with Jeanette, flirts with Irene's clipboard (cos she covered her face with it - shy meh?) and sat on FD's lap!

What did the judges say?

I : Dan, you sang very well, you're a true showman, its a tough fight. Jill, we saw you on youtube and now you're here, its a joy to see you perform live and you're so cute!

FD : Dan, you're a showman. You have a great voice and you put together a great show. Jill, I wanna hear you sing some more!

B : When Jill came on the show, she changed the game.

J : Dan you're a real performer, a real entertainer. Jill, I loved how you changed the arrangement of the song.

summerr says :

First time on the OMG! stage, a Challenger decides to challenge a fellow Challenger who's just made it to the podium. Haven't even warmed up the footprints, and he's back down on stage preparing to defend his spot. Very strategic move on Jill's part I have to say. On paper it was singer-songwriter vs crooner. But on stage, you could see Jill's bubbly personality winning people over before she even started singing, "I bring FIVE Wonder Girls into...ONE-der girl!" LOL!

I think what Jill had that trumped Dan, because both had good vocals, was her connection with the judges and the audience through her humour and personality. Also, I think Dan's choice of song wasn't suitable for his clean vocals. Imo, you gotta get a little husky with a song like Me & Mrs Jones.

The Result : Jill Marie Thomas

Beatrice : "We loved having Dan on the show. We had to choose between 'polished' versus 'real' performer. We chose the 'real' performer. Jill, you brought heart and soul to the show.

So at the end of Episode 3, we have two new Contenders - Jill Marie Thomas and Zul Mystroe. Congratulations newbies, welcome to the OMG! podium!

Extra congrats in order for Danny who succeeded in defending his spot on the podium :)

Next week, soooo many things to look forward to....

1. New guest judge Tay Ping Hui joins the show. *swoon swoon swoon*

2. Special One-Night-Only guest judge Hossan Leong also joins the show.

3. David Lin and Desert Roses no longer have immunity - will they get challenged?

4. And of course - 4 brand new challengers - we have a local band, an in-line skater, a solo musician and hip hop crew! Will Luminiq Crew finally get challenged? They've been relaxing for

the past 2 weeks and are just ITCHING to be challenged!

So stay tuned to the blog - this weekend, look out for the new Challenger profiles and my interview with Judge Hossan! Plus, I've just been told there are some rehearsals this Saturday afternoon - hrm....

will go. will see. will twitpic!

So follow me on Twitter!

Thats all for tonight folks! Keep checking the bulletin board (top left corner of this blog) for updates on OMG! roadshows/tickets/showtimes etc!

xoxo, s.

ps. Did you notice, the only person who wasn't always supporting a Contender no matter what was C-Murda? Whenever he got interviewed, he always gave a different answer from everyone else! LOL! Either the dude abhors sheep mentality (its still very much Contenders vs Challengers backstage) or he was just being honest. Probably the latter - he's really such a nice boy.

OMG Contender : Jumping Jewels

Lou Lou Skip To My Lou!

Don't be fooled, this rope skipping isn't child's play. Its fast, furious and involves tons of tricks. When a friend first saw the Jumping Jewels, he asked, "Eh what do the garden gnomes do ah?". LOL. I was like, dude, you have no idea how much you're underestimating them! The Jumping Jewels are hardly garden gnomes (although they are very brightly colour-coordinated with beanies), they can hardly stand still. They have so much energy you could bottle it and sell it to geriatrics for a fortune!

Jumping Jewels are made up of Rachel, 17, Kim Ing, 18, Wong Jye, 25, and Kim Swee, 24. They auditioned for the show together at the open auditions at Jurong Point.

Why did you guys join OMG!?

Because its fun, and its a chance for us to hang out and push the limits of rope-skipping.

How do you know each other?

We know each other from various skipping tournaments and competitions. Our coaches hooked us all up too.

So how long have you been skipping together?

We've been together for almost 5 years. We competed at the 3rd Asian Skipping Championships.

OMG airs every Wednesday at 8pm, only on Channel 5!

Think you've got more talent than all of the contenders put together? Well we want to see it! Join the show now - email omg@mediacorp.com.sg now and you could walk away with the cool $50,000 cash!

OMG Episode 1 : The Review

Not One, But Many Moments Of Glory!

Phew! Episode 1 has aired and I'm betting the producers are breathing a sigh of relief. This morning its the Programming and Promotions people who are holding their breaths waiting to see what the ratings are like for last night's show. I'm thinking, forecast should be : Good. Cos the show delivered.

Its a little hard to review a show just watching it in the audience, especially when its not a full live recording. There are a lot of breaks in between, you kinda lose a little steam, (which is what the wubby is for - keep the crowd's energy up!) and its not really representative of what the audience at home will see/feel.

So I waited to watch it on tv last night before committing to a review and boy am I glad I did. Watching it for the first time on tv, edited, with good (ok, better) VTs (the videos they show before each peformance) in between each segment as well as backstage interviews with the contestants after each performance, I found it to be a much tighter show. I have to admit, the contestants look a lot more impressive up close on my tv screen (as opposed to about half a theatre away, with a Zaki yakking into my right ear and an Iskandar yakking into my left! Love you guys still k!) - each gave a totally different vibe when watched uninterrupted by gossip and bitching!

Ok, lets dissect one by one, in order of performance :

(sorry haven't found any youtube vids of last night's episode yet - if you have 'em POST 'em and I'll put 'em on the blog k!)

Desert Roses :

Absolutely loved them. They were sizzling hot. And on tv, you can see all the small jiggly movements really clearly (in the audience, you kinda just see 'em sashay left and right mostly, and you think ...erm...ok so?). I'm talking about the 'isolations' which is key in belly dancing. Plus their makeup, which looked terribly overdone in person, looked fab on tv, and the black and red combo outfits were as Gurms said "THIS IS ALREADY TOO SEXY!".

I'm glad they're through, they promised to deliver even more for the next ep - can they do it?

Fave part was when Beatrice spoke in half English and half Mandarin - hilarious - "FD yi zhing nose bleed le"! (FD's is already having a nosebleed (because they're so sexy))

OMG! rating : 7.5/10

Danny Koh :

"More showmanship than actual technique." Someone on Twitter said. "He just...ate fire. Thats all." I say, "Hellooo, he ATE FIRE!". True that there was a fair bit of posing and flashy walking around the stage and again posing, but I guess thats what Jeanette meant when she said he had a lot of 'showmanship'. Like FD said, he "brought a show to us, for 90 seconds, and that's what OMG's all about". It was a little painful watching him roll the fire on his arm - yeowtch! - but Danny says its okay, he's used to it, so I just try and remember that every time I see him do that.

Fave part was when Irene said, "I wonder what it would be like to go on a candle light dinner with him - hello darling *voomf!*"

OMG! rating : 6/10

The King :

Not bad waaat this guy. He has a good voice. I actually quite enjoyed listening to him. Visually, he had the wig, the sideburns, the one-piece rhinestoned suit. His moves were pretty much there too. Personally I liked watching him with the sunglasses on, it gave him a bit more of an attitude.

Good enough to get through to the next round, but how is an Elvis impersonator (or Tribute Artiste as Beatrice puts it - she's so classy!), gonna up the ante for the next coupla rounds? Can he keep going til November? He'll have to perform half of Elvis' repertoire to get to the end.

OMG! rating : 5.5/10

Jeremy Tan :

This 19-year old is actually a circus talent. He's got so many tricks up his sleeve (I learned this when I interviewed him), Diablo is but one of the many circus tricks he is adept at. In my opinion, although the Diablo is technically challenging, it wasn't visually as arresting as say, fire tricks. You can't really see how fast the Diablo is spinning, or even that it IS spinning at all. Perhaps if the Diablo was lit, had LED lights or was on fire (something Jeremy apparently also does), it would have been a more impressive show. He made it look so easy and I don't know if that was perhaps his undoing? That it looked too easy?

I have to agree with Beatrice's comment about structuring a routine that tells the audience when each trick starts and ends to rope in more applause for each difficult trick.

OMG! rating : 5/10

Bottle Flipz :

I thoroughly enjoyed this performance too. The music (Starstrukk, ah, reminded me of the Idols) and the bartenders' attitudes, especially Shah who kept flirting with the crowd, really made this a 'show'. I especially enjoyed the tricks and bottle passing back and forth and of course, the fire at the end. It was very entertaining and fun.

Beatrice says it was her first 'wow' moment of the night. Jeanette loved that they engaged the crowd. I'm now wondering how they're gonna up their act for next week.

OMG! rating : 8/10

Jumping Jewels :

These 'skippers' say if they win, they're gonna spend the $50k on ice cream. Thats a lot of ice cream. I wasn't exactly thrilled by their choice of backing music, very loud la. But I guess you need that kind of music to really pump up the adrenaline for a sport like this.

To be honest, when I watched this in studio, I wasn't at all impressed, but watching it on tv, with the diffrent camera angles, it looked a lot more exciting than it did in studio. You could really see their energy, which is good. I would have liked to see them move faster, like in those American jump rope movies, where the feet go so fast they're blurred, and you don't even SEE the ropes! But I guess they're probably saving that for next week.

OMG! rating : 7/10

David Lin :

The 'quietest' performance for the night. Inspired to be a singer-songwriter after a close friend passed away, David performed Coldplay's "Yellow". I got a lot of mixed reviews about this on Twitter. But everyone agreed he's cute. Including the judges. He reminded me a lot of Idol alums MJ Kuok and Teddy Teow. Someone else said he reminded her of Idol alum Douglas Wong. I guess its maybe a combo of all three. He's all sweet boy-next-door with charming good looks to win over the fans.

His singing needs a little work, but at least his performance was honest and sincere. Jeanette said he had boyish appeal. Irene wants to put him through round after round just based on his looks - very unbiased Judge ;). FD likes his voice, and wants to hear David's original music next week. Beatrice said he's 'Suede meets K-pop' and wants him to come back next week and really take their breath away. Looks like the judges all but confirmed his spot on the podium.

Fave part was Michelle Chong's 'wanna hug, don't wanna hug' thing. What was that about?

OMG! rating : 6.5/10

Jai Ho :

Tons of energy! This Bollywood dance troupe really impressed with their colourful costumes and energy. Lots of showmanship here. I actually really enjoyed it. This performance made FD go 'Wow!', and they got THREE 'Wows' from Beatrice.

Jeanette's comment about everyone having the same energy level was spot on though, because mid way, you could see a few of the members on the sides and the back, kinda lost a bit of steam. The girls in front and Rock (the sole guy in the group), definitely had their game on throughout.

OMG! Rating : 7.5/10

Luminiq Crew :

I have to be honest here, when I saw this group in studio, I couldn't make much sense of it cos it looked soooo messy. But on TV...PHWOAR! SOOOOO ENTERTAINING! The flips and tricks all looked so much better on tv, I guess cos I never knew where to look and once edited, I managed to catch all the important tricks.

Irene said this was her favourite act of the night. And Jeanette said the concept of the dance made the choreography interesting and she loved it. Beatrice was so taken up by it that she thought she saw a football. :)

Good job guys!

OMG! Rating : 7/10

Chii Kwang & Dawn :

How can you not adore this dog? She is SOOOO CUTE! But I have to agree with the judges on this one, after a while, the routine did seem a bit repetitive. Granted she's won many competitions, perhaps the course could have been more elaborate? Actually, she did much better during rehearsals, she was perfect, no mistakes at all. Its a pity she tripped up on the actual show itself.

OMG! Rating : 5/10

RESULTS :

The 2 contenders who didn't make it through to next week's show are Chii Kwang & Dawn and Jeremy "Diablo" Tan.

summerr says :

Unfortunately, compared to the rest of the contenders, despite being non-human, Dawn's performance didn't really stand out. She's well-trained, obedient and VERY cute, but it just didn't wow as much as the others did.

As for Jeremy, I think perhaps a different strategy may have served him better. Perhaps a combo of his various circus talents instead of just the Diablo. Or maybe he should have had something on the Diablo to make it more obvious that its spinning furiously. A stroke of bad luck also meant that Jeremy had to perform with his glasses, instead of his usual contact lenses. IMO, he looked a little uncomfortable with the glasses, having to frequently scrunch up his nose to keep them on. Unfortunate too that he hardly had time to connect with the audience - can we blame that one on the glasses too?

Oh well, its a competition. I wish these two contenders well, hopefully its not the last we'll see of them. As for the remaining 8 up on the podium....I cannot WAIT to see who'll be challenging whom next week, and when challenged, what "A" Game are these contenders gonna bring? Can they defend their spot on the Podium for Immunity?

Jeng Jeng Jeng!

What did the Judges have to say about the show so far :

Irene : I am very proud to be Singaporean, but most important thing I noticed is that we are not biased, we have a lot of foreign talent here tonight, so I would like to see MORE foreign talents come here to challenge them.

Beatrice : I love this show, we've not had two items remotely similar to each other.

Tune in to Episode 2 of One Moment Of Glory next Wednesday, 18 August, 8pm, only on Channel 5! In the meantime, if you missed the show (wth, where WERE you?! Only excused if you were at Padang k!), you can catch up at xinmsn.com!

Also stay tuned to the blog for the profiles of the 8 Contenders over the coming week as we get to know them a little better :)

xoxo, s.

ps. Have you seen this new trailer? Love it. Good job to the trailer producers who did this! And I love Beatrice's funny face and Irene's "liddat lah"! Such a contrast with FD's "serious face". :)

:: Pics courtesy of Shawn Pang and the Channel 5 Marketing Team. ::

:: Ratings are based solely on my whim & fancy, no scientific methods were employed, no braincells were harmed, or used for that matter ::

Congratulations Podium Placers!

Congratulations to the 8 OMG Contenders!

Desert Roses

Danny Koh

The King - Elvis

Bottle Flipz

Jumping Jewels

David Lin

Jai Ho

Luminiq Crew

Next week, these 8 will meet 4 unknown Challengers who will come on the show and pick a Contender to challenge. Who will have to defend their spot on the podium?

I've just watched the show on tv, so look out for my review of tonight's show tomorrow morning...gotta go digest it all. In the meantime, here are some Behind-The-Scenes pics taken during the recording of tonight's show. Enjoy :)

:: Pictures courtesy of Shawn Pang and the Channel 5 Marketing team. Thank you! ::