I’ve been doing a rewatch of the seminal 2001 British reality show Popstars and it really was the most unhinged reality show ever seen on British television.
🧵
It still makes me laugh that Sugababes asked their fans to send in photos of themselves for “a special project” and it turned out to be the video backdrop to Ugly
#Glastonbury
…which led to him being eliminated from the competition - but he clapped back by saying he “would have a
#1
single by the age of 35”. Spoiler - he did it. Darius, a true reality TV legend.
There was a contestant who they did a reverse Nadine Coyle to and removed her from the competition because she was aged 30 and too close to receiving her state pension.
If this has made you want to revisit Popstars, it has now been uploaded in full to YouTube. I would recommend viewing along with copious amounts of wine. Or Smirnoff Ice if you really want that 2001 feeling.
They made the contestants do mock press conferences where they got Jessica from Liberty X to admit smoking weed and then treated her like a major criminal for it.
One final addition - just done a search for where people are now and came across news that ‘Nasty’ Nigel is facing multiple claims of sexual assault. This thread is in no way an endorsement of Nigel Lythgoe’s behaviour or should act as any form of support towards such behaviour.
But they succeeded. Their debut single went in at
#1
, sold over 500,000 copies in its first week and was the 3rd fastest selling single in history, only beaten by Band Aid and Candle in the Wind.
Bold suggestion for
#BRITs
- move it to a different UK city every year. Build up buzz in that city, move the BRITs Week gigs to there, channel bursary funding into that city and showcase local talent. Take the awards to the people and let them get excited about
#BRITAwards
again.
I’ll end this thread with the moment where ‘Nasty Nigel’ (not a singer) welcomed the contestants to Bootcamp with a strange rendition of ‘I Will Survive’.
A programme of its time, never to be repeated.
I’m going to miss these 3 just talking about life. It’s proper comfort listening. Like you’re the 4th friend in the pub, or the person sitting alone at the next table wishing you were sat with them.
#PornoDay
@dadwroteaporno
The Wanted are back. Great 1st show back. Setlist was just banger after banger. Tom was missed but the boys brought it. Felt like it was 2011 all over again.
#MostWantedTour
@thewanted
@Chris_Stark
I have a table from the T in the Park VIP area which acts started signing. Little Mix, Bastille, Rudimental, Jake Bugg to name but a few. Took the legs off and it’s now hanging at the top of my stairs.
@2000sChartShow
It comes into its own once the band is formed and you see the making of the debut single/album and the work that goes into launching a pop group. So of course they dropped that for series 2 and it became another singing competition… (although yes, it did give us Girls Aloud)