Gary Barlow will be back on our screens this weekend, with a brand new show, ‘Let It Shine’, and while explaining what makes the new programme different from other talent contests, he’s taken a subtle swipe at ‘The X Factor’.
The Take That singer served as a judge on three seasons of the ITV show, which promises the winner a recording contract with Simon Cowell’s label Syco, but he reckons the ‘Let It Shine’ prize is much better.
The show’s five winners star in a jukebox musical based on Take That’s music, and speaking to The Mirror, Gary explained why this is far better than the ‘X Factor’ prize.
“This is for a job, it is not someone waving a contract,” he said. “The record business is very hard now I can’t even predict what is going to be successful or not. But with this I was able to sit there and say the reason you are here today is a job.
‘Let It Shine’ isn’t the first show of its kind, and previous BBC efforts such as ‘How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?’ and ‘Any Dream Will Do’ have produced musical theatre stars.
The former launched ex-soap star Stephanie Davis’s career, while Lee Mead went on to find fame after the latter.
‘Let It Shine’ will be going up against ‘The Voice’, which will air on ITV for the first time on Saturday (7 January).