[Morgan.]

So if anyone didn't know, I went to see the second Auditions of BBC's The Greatest Dancer, coming Jan-Feb 2019.

First of all we saw most of the acts filming their arrivals around Birmingham.

As we arrived we were told that our seats were behind Cheryl but turns out they LIED and we were in front of the judges.

The judges (named Dance Captains) are Cheryl, Matthew Morrison (Glee) and Oti Mabuse (SCD). Theyre all entertaining but our Chezza looks ill again and had to have ha makeup done between every act It's hosted by Alesha Dixon and Jordan Banjo who have great chemistry and Jordan has improved massively since DOI (he didn't have autocue this time).

It hasn't a really unique format too! Basically the judges have no say, it's all in the audience. An act will enter a studio backstage and perform their routine in front of two producers, unaware that the Wall-mirror is two way and we are watching. If 75% of the audience vote 'YES' then the mirror will open and they'll finish the routine, get judges comments etc. If less than 75% vote 'YES' then they're just told they were unsuccessful and go home (not knowing the judges, crowd etc).

The Top 90 will then go to The Callbacks and perform again (later in the year). Each dance captain Picks 3 acts they want to mentor, then normal live shows begin.

We had to leave early because of travel and work commitments (it started at 4 and finishes at 11 ). It was very unorganised and there was a lot of waiting around between cues and links. The BBC really need to work on their organisation and ease of production.

The judges roamed the audience between acts so I got to meet Cheryl and Alesha - but security kept telling me I wasn't allowed photos with them so I didn't get any. Other people snuck one in. All I got was this one from the start when phones were permitted briefly.



I got to see 5 acts in the few hours I was there (basically the warmup took like 2 or 3 hours because all of the reaction shots were taken from our showing so we had to react to all different scenarios) and there were 5 to go. Only one act didn't get through because our audience were way too generous

Spoiler:

I also think we could've seen the winner tonight as his mirror opened in after about 10 seconds (they get a 2 minute slot to perform). He had some disability but did a jazz routine and even though it wasn't the best it was so heartwarming and still had talent.

There was also a guy with an Afro who spent his whole feedback session flirting with Alesha, Cheryl and Oti