Take Stars In Their Eyes, make it about musicals and the contestants are celebrities from different backgrounds.The winning premise of All Star Musicals means it’s back for a second special.
The previous spectaculars have featured Fern Britton, Ben Miller and Anita Rani battling it out to be crowned champion, accompanied by a healthy dose of jazz hands and falsetto for good measure.
This year’s line-up includes Good Morning Britain’s Alex Beresford, wildlife presenter Michaela Strachan, Coronation Street’s Lisa George, James Bond actor Colin Salmon, and rugby star Danny Care.
Former EastEnders star Jacqueline Jossa is also among those trying to impress the West End panel including Elaine Paige, Les Misérables actress Samantha Barks and Aladdin star Trevor Dion Nicholas.
Having starred in the BBC soap, before winning I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!, Jossa, 29, wasn’t nervous about taking the stage… until about 20 minutes before the performance.
“EastEnders, if you mess up, you can go again,” she said. “And then in the I’m A Celebrity… jungle I was just being myself and I found that quite natural. I kind of realised about 20 minutes before going on, ‘Oh, this is the first time – apart from a karaoke session, a little bit drunk with my pals – I’ve actually sung a whole song on my own in front of a live audience’. I started panicking a little bit then. Stupid idea, really, but it was like 20 minutes before going on. I psyched myself out a little bit. And it was really scary. It was really nerve-wracking.”
The song Jossa will tackle is being kept under wraps until tonight but she did say the producers purposely took her out of her comfort zone.
“This is a song I’ve never sung before and never would have attempted to sing,” she said. “No thank you. It’s not me at all. I had hopes and dreams; I really wanted to do a different song. I was hoping for a bit of, you know, Eponine or something because it’s something I know well and I enjoy.
“I felt a lot more comfortable singing other songs but I guess that was the challenge of it. They wanted each of us to have our own challenges, and not make it easy for us. And that definitely worked; I think we were more proud in the end because of it.”
Jossa has critics quite close to home who judge her performances, and they can be unexpectedly tough.
“My harshest critics are my daughters, genuinely, I’m not just saying that,” she laughed. “They’re very, very honest with me. If I’m singing around the house, I get told to shut up quite a lot.”
All Star Musicals, ITV, tonight, 7.30pm
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