All Star Dance Off
Contents |
Host
Steen Raskopoulos and The Vivienne
Co-hosts
Location reporters: Cole Anderson-James and Helen Bauer
Broadcast
Interstellar for ITV2, 20 December 2021
Synopsis
Broadcast pilot where celebrity feuds are settled in underground dance battles. The more impressive in each pair is deemed the winner.
At least, that's the premise... but wait! There's something a bit strange going on here. Is Pete Wicks really having an affair with Sam Thompson's mum? Did Melody Thornton from Pussycat Dolls really enter into a conspiracy with Karim Zeroual to enter him into quiz shows on five continents, then keep the prize money for herself? In a dance contest, is it really practical to leap spontaneously into your opponent's routine, have your opponent respond with an improvised piece of their own, and then drag random bystanders in as well, who somehow not only know the precise choreography, but can also do solos? Is anything really real at all, or are we just living in a simulation?
The last point may be up for debate, but as for the rest... well, you have to give them credit for maintaining the fiction right up to broadcast. Even the announcement of its commission in the trade press avoided giving away the fact that it was actually a bunch of celebrities playing themselves in a scripted comedy, reminiscent of the sort of thing you might expect to see in a movie with some combination of Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughan and Owen Wilson. Did the show benefit from the deception? Not particularly; as a half-hour late-night one-off on ITV2 it was about as low-key as a show can be, and we could imagine many of those who did bother to watch feeling they had been taken for a ride. Which, after all, they had been. But it was amusing enough, if not laugh-out-loud funny, and the routines were entertaining (the celebrities involved genuinely can dance, so that helps). We're still not really sure what the point was, though.
Participants
Pete Wicks took on Sam Thompson, then it was Karim Zeroual vs Melody Thornton.
