I Wanna Be Famous

Logo used from Series 3

**I Wanna Be Famous** is a talent show that was first shown on Toffa on Saturday 12 January 2019 and would have people from around the country performing a talent they have and battle it out to get to the live grand final to win the hearts of the viewers. This originated as a segment on A Little Late with Joe Haworth.

## History

In 2018, A Little Late aired a segment called I Wanna Be Famous which has people of the great British public perform a short piece of talent in order to get the most votes and win £250 and a spot in the final on the last show in the series. The segment was so popular that Joe Haworth and a writer from A Little Late named Johnny Marvin pitched the idea to Toffa. The channel approved the show and gave it a good slot for Winter 2019.

Richard Arnold was named the host of this show as he was energetic on Good Morning Britain when doing the showbiz. Richard was announced as host on GMB when Joe Haworth was on as a guest. The show would be like an extended version of the segment on A Little Late with people who can sing or dancing or do anything talent worthy performing just to get a high vote on the show and head to the grand final. The grand final would be live on Toffa and would let the public vote. The winner would win a cash prize and bragging rights.

For Series 2, due to COVID-19 regulations, the studio audience was abandoned in favour of a virtual audience made up of 100 people with an increased prize fund of £25,000.

Series 3 was delayed until 2022 due to Toffa wanting to make room for bigger primetime shows and giving the show a revamp. It included a new look, logo, theme music, studio design and tweaked format. The show ran for seven weeks, with seven finalists, six made up from individual shows in which they won, with the other finalist comprised of second-placed acts from the six shows, with the act receiving the most public votes taking part. It was Arnold's last series as presenter and also saw the announcement of children's spin-off *Kids Wanna Be Famous* in the final.

In the final of the first series of *Kids Wanna Be Famous* on 15 October 2022, it was revealed that YouTuber and comedian Stephen Tries would be the presenter of *I Wanna Be Famous* from Series 4 onwards. The fourth series is set to air from January 2023, and retain the format used from Series 3.

## Format

The show's format is loosely based upon that of *Stars in Their Eyes*. It is often comprised of a number of heats in which five (Series 1-2) or six (Series 3-) acts showcase their talents, in which at the end, the studio audience vote for their favourite. The act with the most votes receives a place in the live final. In the live final, the finalists would perform again, this time with a public vote with the act receiving the most votes winning the prize fund. From Series 3, the number of acts performing in each heat was increased to six with an extra heat show included, and an additional twist was introduced. Each of the runner-ups from the heats would return to face a public vote, with the act receiving the most votes getting a place in the final, therefore seven acts would compete there.

## Series 1

Audition began on Friday 7th December in Manchester, London and Birmingham. Over 10,000 applied to be in series 1 of the show and the producers had to whittle them down to just 25 people. The 25 people who made it through would go into the studio and perform in front of a live audience and hope that they'll get a high vote.

**Show 1 - Saturday 12 January** - **Bold** = Winner
 Anna and Dil
 The Amazing Green

**Show 2 - Saturday 19 January**
 William Harrison
 Tim and Anna

**Show 3 - Saturday 26 January**
 Harry Stones
 Magic(ish) Howard
 Debbie Sammie

**Show 4 - Saturday 3 February**
 Freddie Marble
 Romina Norton
 Ethan Peters

**Show 5 - Saturday 10 February**
 Jeremy Fallon
 Joey Norman

**Show 6 - Live Final - Saturday 17 February**
 James Howard
 Ben Carol
 Gordon Lee

Note 1: This was the Live Final meaning the viewers was allowed to vote

Note 2: The final had special appearances from James Arthur and Chris and Maddie from Toffa:AM who said that if 2 singers made it to the final, Chris and Maddie would come on the live final and sing Seven Nation Army.

Note 3: The final was 2 hours long but split into 2 parts. The first show being at 7:30pm and then the second show being at 9:30pm.

The show was won by Freddie Iris who did breakdancing and won with 43% of the vote. Freddie later went on to appear on A Little Late and later fronted his own show on Toffa called Freddie Iris: Breakdancing Class.

## Series 2

Series 2 was announced for June 2020 but was postponed to September 2020 due to COVID-19. This was announced during A Little Late with Joe Haworth on Tuesday 28 July. The show was filmed in front of 100 people in a virtual audience who applied on the Toffa website. Another big change would be the prize money which increased from £10,000 to £25,000. This series is still hosted by Richard Arnold.

**Show 1 - Saturday 5 September**
 London Howorth
 The Great Dave
 Jerry Thomas

**Show 2 - Saturday 12 September**
 Michael Friend
 The Jackson Experience

**Show 3 - Saturday 19 September**
 Andy Kiltion
 Fern Scarlett

**Show 4 - Saturday 26 September**
 The DJ Boys
 Connie Mulby

**Show 5 - Saturday 3 October**
 Debbie Wonder
 Jack and Wendy
 Linda Peters

Note: Due to a technical issue, the final part of the show wasn't shown. The results was announced on the final before the show could begin.

**Show 6 - Live Final - Friday 9 - Saturday 10 October**
 Joel Wilkinson
 Animal and Bone
 ESRR

Note 1: The final was split in two parts; the hour-long main show aired on the 9th, with a 30-minute results show on the 10th.

Note 2: The Friday show featured a performance from Lewis Capaldi, with the Saturday results show featuring performances from Little Mix and Series 1 winner, Freddie Iris.

## Series 3

In July 2021, Toffa announced that the third series would be delayed until Winter 2022. The first of the main details were released on 15 November 2021. It was announced that it would be the last series with Arnold as the presenter, the show would receive a new logo and set, there would be six acts in each show and the prize fund increased to £50,000. It was later announced that a studio audience would return as well as a twist which would be unveiled on the first show. Series 3 debuted on 19 February 2022.

**Show 1 - Saturday 19 February**

During the first show, it was announced that the new twist was there would be seven acts competing in the final. The way it worked was alongside the six winning acts, those who polled second place in each show would face the public vote on the sixth show, where the act with the most votes will compete in the final. The results were announced on the night before the live final in a special show.

**Show 2 - Saturday 26 February**

**Show 3 - Saturday 5 March**

**Show 4 - Saturday 12 March**

**Show 5 - Saturday 19 March**

**Show 6 - Saturday 26 March**

**Show 7 - Second Place Public Vote Results - Friday 1 April**

## Kids Wanna Be Famous

*Main article: Kids Wanna Be Famous*

Announced on the night of the Series 3 finale, a spin-off show for kids was revealed to air in the Autumn. It would follow the same format as the parent show, but was eligible for kids aged 5 to 12. Applications opened following the announcement, closing on Sunday 12 June. It was unknown whether Arnold would present the spin-off having left the main show, but it was confirmed at the end of April that he would not present the show and that he was finished with *I Wanna Be Famous* altogether. On 11 July 2022, it was announced live on Toffa:AM that the show's presenters, Chris Joy and Maddie Burnley would present the spin-off and that it would adopt the original format of the parent show except with the whole series being pre-recorded. Series 1 aired on 10 September 2022 and continued for six weeks, running up to 15 October 2022. Two days later, a second series was confirmed.