Pete Waterman has said that Geri Halliwell is the reason he decided to quit TV talent shows.
Pete Waterman and Geri Halliwell on Popstars: The Rivals (Copyright: Rex)
The pop impresario was a judge on the 2002 show 'Popstars: The Rivals' with Geri Halliwell, but soon realised it wasn't for him after she turned up to the studio with a dog, which he claims turned the process into a pantomime.
“When she came in and put the dog on her lap, I thought: 'What am I actually doing here?'” he said.
“In our contract with ITV there were all these rules about what you could and could not do on screen. One of them, I always thought, was that no animals were allowed. So all the TV executives were freaking out about there being a dog in the studio.”
Waterman consequently turned down offers to be on 'The X Factor', 'Britain's Got Talent' and 'American Idol', despite huge salaries.
He also claims that the show, which spawned Girls Aloud, was fixed, after his band One True Voice lost out to Louis Walsh's girlband.
“Girls Aloud weren’t put together by the public, I’ll leave it at that. I was naive enough to let the public vote for my artists,” he said.
“To me 'Pop Idol 2' was the end. It was nonsense. I used to think, 'I’m in this for the music, I’m not in it for TV producers stabbing each other in the back and lying to people and deliberately causing arguments on television. I’m trying to be honest to the public, but you’re fixing things that I’m having to live with, so I’m out of here'.” [Daily Mail]
Channel 4 has agreed product placement deals for the new series of Jamie Oliver's '15 Minute Meals'. Products from Uncle Ben's and Yeo Valley will appear on the programmes. [Digital Spy]
Ant & Dec have said that they knew 'Red or Black?' would flop. “We kind of figured it was a Saturday night show last year. We all got that wrong and hold our hands up to that,” said Dec.
“When we had a winner on the first night, we all got back to our dressing room and said, ‘We shouldn’t be doing this again tomorrow, it should be weekly'.” [The Sun]
Pete Waterman and Geri Halliwell on Popstars: The Rivals (Copyright: Rex)The pop impresario was a judge on the 2002 show 'Popstars: The Rivals' with Geri Halliwell, but soon realised it wasn't for him after she turned up to the studio with a dog, which he claims turned the process into a pantomime.
“When she came in and put the dog on her lap, I thought: 'What am I actually doing here?'” he said.
“In our contract with ITV there were all these rules about what you could and could not do on screen. One of them, I always thought, was that no animals were allowed. So all the TV executives were freaking out about there being a dog in the studio.”
Waterman consequently turned down offers to be on 'The X Factor', 'Britain's Got Talent' and 'American Idol', despite huge salaries.
He also claims that the show, which spawned Girls Aloud, was fixed, after his band One True Voice lost out to Louis Walsh's girlband.
“Girls Aloud weren’t put together by the public, I’ll leave it at that. I was naive enough to let the public vote for my artists,” he said.
“To me 'Pop Idol 2' was the end. It was nonsense. I used to think, 'I’m in this for the music, I’m not in it for TV producers stabbing each other in the back and lying to people and deliberately causing arguments on television. I’m trying to be honest to the public, but you’re fixing things that I’m having to live with, so I’m out of here'.” [Daily Mail]
Also in today's press
Women's group The End Violence Against Women Coalition has called for 'Big Brother' contestant Conor McIntyre to be removed from the house after Channel 5 received 1,000 complaints over his bullying of fellow housemate Deana Uppal. “It is highly irresponsible of Channel 5 and ‘Big Brother’ not to have immediately removed Conor McIntyre from the house,” said a spokesperson for the group. [The Sun]Channel 4 has agreed product placement deals for the new series of Jamie Oliver's '15 Minute Meals'. Products from Uncle Ben's and Yeo Valley will appear on the programmes. [Digital Spy]
Ant & Dec have said that they knew 'Red or Black?' would flop. “We kind of figured it was a Saturday night show last year. We all got that wrong and hold our hands up to that,” said Dec.
“When we had a winner on the first night, we all got back to our dressing room and said, ‘We shouldn’t be doing this again tomorrow, it should be weekly'.” [The Sun]
