The Voice’s Will.i.am trash talks new BBC dance show The Greatest Dancer ahead of shows going head to head on Saturday night
IT’S known for the tense battle rounds but The Voice’s toughest fight will be with a rival show.
Tomorrow night it goes head-to-head with The Greatest Dancer, featuring Cheryl Tweedy, Oti Mabuse and Matthew Morrison in the biggest ITV/BBC ratings battle since Strictly Come Dancing and X Factor.
As coaches Will.I.Am and Olly Murs take over Bizarre for the day, they revealed they are relaxed about the competition.
They feel the “pressure is on” their rival to prove itself — because The Voice already has an established fanbase. And Will ramped up the rivalry with some boxing-style trashtalk.
He said: “Is it an ultimate battle? It would be a battle if it was around for a long time. It’s like boxer Floyd Mayweather can never fight Mike Tyson, because they’re two different weight classes.”
The Greatest Dancer, masterminded by Olly’s former boss Simon Cowell and featuring Will’s pal Cheryl on the panel, shares some similarities.
One has “coaches” and the other “dance captains” and each includes a segment where the panel pitch for a contestant after the initial audition.
Tom Jones and Jennifer Hudson also return to The Voice, where bosses have tweaked the format to allow trios to apply.
But, Olly believes The Voice, once a staple of the Beeb’s Saturday night schedule before switching channels, has the upper hand.
He said: “The Voice has obviously been on TV a lot longer so if anything the pressure is on their show more than ours.”
And when it comes to the nation’s dance talent, Olly has a tip for the BBC about next year’s judging line-up.
He joked: “Theresa May, could she be on the panel?”
If Cheryl has a place up there, I don’t see why the Prime Minister can’t be considered . . .
Ora board
RITA Ora will be the first to admit her bikinis don’t fit.
But it can’t bother her that much, as she has been inundating Instagram with endless holiday snaps as she parties in the Maldives.
And they haven’t gone unnoticed by Olly, who worked with Rita on The X Factor.
He said: “She’s awesome. She made me laugh on her Instagram because she said, ‘I need to find a bikini that fits me’.
“Her boobs are hanging out. She cracks me up, she’s great on a night out. We had a lot of fun, all of us on The X Factor that year.”
At least she can trust Olly to ‘like’ her selfies.
Kim K's detox
KIM Kardashian is shaking up her New Year’s resolutions with her ‘flat tummy’ shakes.
And it’s something Will can relate to – as he drinks similar things to keep healthy.
He said: “You want to detox, tone up, and they tell you to stay away from certain foods, so you take a shake to get the supplements.
“I think that’s what that is and I have my version of it.”
Olly’s really embraced healthy living – even undertaking a juice diet.
The hitmaker said: “You know, it’s really weird. I did a juice diet for five days and the idea of not putting something to chew in my mouth was the weirdest sensation.
“Like it freaked me out.”
They really are Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
Hooray for Hollywood
WILL reckons Olly would be “great in movies”, adding of his singer pal: “One day I’m going to watch a film on Netflix or in the theatre and say, ‘I knew he’d be on screen’.”
Will played John Wraith in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and reckons Olly is made for action roles. He said: “He needs to be a superhero or in X-Men, a Guardians Of The Galaxy kind of thing.”
More like Essex-Men.
WILL says you can expect to see the coaches very differently on this year’s series
As well getting to know as a new side of Jennifer, he reckons legend Tom brings more fun this season.
Will explained: “This show is going to show a different light of the coaches.
“You know, we thought we saw a lot of Jennifer last season, I thought I saw a lot of Jennifer the season before.
“I’ve seen a different Jennifer this season, a different Olly, and a funny-as-f*** Tom.
“Tom, I didn’t even know he was freaking hilarious like that.”
Not that Will looked all that amused as the other coaches messed about at the show launch in London’s Leicester Square last night.
Olly over his Brits snub
OLLY pulled out of performing at last year’s Brit awards launch party when he was snubbed from the nominations list.
But it doesn’t sound as if there’s any bad blood between him and the awards organisers.
He said: “The Brits is a great night and awards ceremonies are great but for me it doesn’t sell records, It doesn’t sell tours.
“It doesn’t do anything from a fan point of view.
“It’s an award, it would be great to be recognised.”
And it won’t stop him from returning to the bash at London’s O2 Arena on February 20 with his fellow Voice coaches.
He added: “We were there last year, me, Jennifer and Tom. It was a great night to celebrate English music.
“I’ve had some amazing moments there. I’ve performed at the Brits, it’s great.”
Hopefully they’ll do what’s right and finally give him a gong, too.
Biz meter Voice of reason
WILL and Olly give their opinions on the issues of the day . . .
Theresa May dancing:
W: “If she twerked she would really get some love. Do you know how viral it would go? Maybe she and I should do a song together.”
O: “She came in at a difficult time and people really get up against her. So her doing a little dance – why not? Why is she criticised?”
Snowflakes:
W: “If I give an opinion, that’s going to make them p***ed so I’d rather not.”
O: “I would just like to find that snowflake and give them a cuddle, speak to them, have a one on one and find out why they hate everything.”
Spice Girls reunion:
W: “That’s good.”
O: “Amazing. Fantastic. I’ve got a photo with every Spice Girl apart from MEL B, so I’ll be there, happy days. I was a huge Spice Girls an growing up. I was 14, 15, going through puberty and all I saw were these five hot women on my TV screen. I was a massive fan.”
Dry January
O: “I don’t drink much anyway but Dry January’s probably a good thing to do, just to detox the body so you feel in a better place. I’m thinking about going away next week or the week after to a detox place, just for a couple of days to cleanse myself, do a juice diet, get my body feeling better.”
W: “I don’t really drink.”
Book of recipeas
WILL says his huge weight loss is down to turning vegan – and now wants to release a cookbook of plant-based recipes.
He said: “A book is nice. A book is effortless but the results help more people.”
Olly added: “It could be called Black Eyed Peas, you’ve already got the vegetables in the title.”
He added: “We should do a Come Dine With Me special. Us four coaches should all go round to each other’s houses.
“I’d love to see what Tom would do. He would probably forget that Will was a vegan and cook like a hog roast.”
Better eat before he turns up then.
Little Mix New Year's bash
LEIGH-ANNE Pinnock looks a million bucks in dollar-bill boots as she throws a wild hip-hop fancy dress party.
She hosted the New Year bash with her footballer fella Andre Gray. And Olly certainly approves of her choice of outfit.
He said: “The Little Mix girls always look fantastic.”
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Voice bit
OLLY and Will flex their muscles to get the best acts.
Olly explained: “I said to Will, ‘There’s no point battling, let’s have a workout and whoever wins gets the act’. That’s what happened, press-ups with a twist.”