Ant ‘n’ Dec Wanna Bet On America
THE networks and their production factories have made a mint importing game and reality shows from Europe, so why bother looking through headshots of washed-up comedians to host them, writes Tabloid Baby?
Despite the performances of Denise van Outen as Billy Bush’s gurning, face-pulling second banana on Grease: You’re The One That I Want, Éamonn Holmes‘ cancellation after a single episode on Fox, the prospect of the unlikeable though one-legged Heather Mills tomorrow night on Dancing with The Stars, and Craig Ferguson, ABC is importing a pair of tiny British TV stars to host the pilot of their much-heralded variety-gambling-game show hybrid, Wanna Bet – the rip-off of the hit German series, Wetten Dass….
Ant & Dec, hosted Pop Idol, the orignal version of American Idol. They are a peculiarly British taste, like Robbie Williams, David Beckham or Pete Doherty… which is why you’ve probably never heard of them and why if they stick it out they’ll wind up divorced and in rehab.
No, they’re not gay! Yes, one of them is married! Just because they’re British – Jeez!
Anthony McPartlin & Declan Donnelly, both 31, have been stars in the UK since they were kids. They’ve starred in kiddie shows, had hit records, hosted lots of variety and game shows (including I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! featuring David Gest) and played themselves in the movie Love, Actually.
They even have their wax figures on display in Madame Tussaud’s museum in London.
But a Sunday Mirror poll a couple of years ago found that 70 percent of viewers couldn’t tell them apart, So photographs are always taken with Ant on the left and Dec on the right. And they’re part of that peculiar British tradition of cutesy, nonthreatening, asexual panto boys that hasn’t caught on here in the States.
The producers of Wanna Bet? are the same ones who brought over old Anne Robinson with The Weakest Link. And we know how her American career flourished…
And we were pushing David Hasselhoff…
Posted: 19th, March 2007 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
