Update on The Saturdays

WOW! What an amazing new year it has been for the Saturdays! So much amazing news.

Their third single, Issues, has reached number 4! Their third top 10 and second top 5!! The best news is their album "Chasing Lights" which debuted in October at Number 11 has since fell out of the top 75, but this single has meant the album has climbed to number 9!! Higher than their original entry.

They have recently announced their next single to be Work. However, the best news of all, this has been postponed and they will now be releasing the comic relief single!

Such great news for them :D

Tamar, the old site owner

I've had a few people ask me how to get in touch with Tamar, the site founder and old owner of the site. You can e-mail her at diamondoasis.tl@googlemail.com.

Rachel third place in Strictly special

Last night the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special aired. Rachel and Vincent performed a romantic rumba to the Spice Girls hit "2 Become 1". Rachel came second in the main series, broke three Strictly records and scored more 10s than any other contestant. Her performance in the special was up to her usual standard, recieving high praise from the judges and an almost-perfect score of 39 points.

As reported before, three other couples also scored 39 points. This meant that the head judge Len Goodman needed to rank these four couples so that a winner could be chosen. Len awarded Rachel third place. When combined with the audience votes, previous winner Jill Halfpenny was the winner and Kelly Brook from last year's series was in second place.

Rachel posts on official forum

Hi Everyone

I am just coming back down to earth after Saturday night. WOW! What an amazing night!

Although I didn't win, I was quite emotional after 4 months of fun, madness and all sorts of feelings! I had a fantastic night and loved the dances and the atmosphere. Vince and I have had so much fun together. Not only has he been a great teacher, he has also become a true friend and I feel very lucky to have met him. Strictly has been a great show to be part of and I've loved every minute of it. Its sad to think that I won't be doing it next weekend but I've been getting ready for the Christmas show this weekend and tour rehearsals start first thing in the New Year which I'm really looking forward to - and to being on the road again - so it's not over yet!

I never dreamt I'd get this far, even though I hoped I would (!) so thank you so much for voting and for all your messages of support, they've really spurred me on and its great to know that you're all there with me!

I can now start my Christmas shopping - all be it, a little bit late! - and spend some downtime with my family and friends before 2009 starts.

As you know, my website was scheduled to be launched by now but because I did well in the competition, things have got a little delayed so please bear with us .... I'll work hard in the new year to sign off the designs etc as quickly as possible and hope you like it!

Its been a wonderful end to the year and I'm really looking forward to next year already. Thanks again so much for your constant support, it really does mean such a lot to me. Sending you lots of love and I wish you all a really happy Christmas and New Year.

Here's to more fun in 2009!
Much love
Rachel x

Rachel refutes judges claims that she is shy

Strictly Come Dancing runner-up Rachel Stevens has criticised the show's judges for labelling her "shy". The former S Club singer admitted that she became annoyed when the panellists commented on her personality following her weekly performances. Speaking to The Sun, Stevens insisted: "I'm not a shy person, I can't tell you how frustrating that was when the judges kept saying 'she's shy, she's shy'. It was so hard to stand there every week and be told I had no personality. I'm not in your face at all and I'm not a loud person, I admit, but I hate labelling people."

The ex-popstar added that she was finally able to show her true personality on the BBC One ballroom show after being carefully guided by record label chiefs when she was releasing music.
"With Strictly, my biggest challenge was to let go and lose control and the show gave me the opportunity to do that," she explained. "I hope people saw the real Rachel. I was really myself on the show."

Audience walks out of delayed Strictly special

Strictly Come Dancing has waltzed straight into a new voting fiasco.The latest shambles came during filming of the Christmas special – when judges tied FOUR of the contestants. BBC chiefs – still reeling from the embarrassment of the voting problems of the semi-final – were thrown into chaos. They were forced to hastily rewrite scripts and ask head judge Len Goodman to re-mark the dancers. But it meant the stars of the show – this year’s three finalists and former contestants Jill Halfpenny, Kelly Brook and Alesha Dixon – were all left waiting around for hours to find out who was crowned champion of champions.

Problems started after the judges gave four of the six celebs and their partners the same score. So instead of being ranked from six points down to one, four of the acts all had six points – giving the other two no chance of winning after the audience vote. One source at Monday night’s filming said: “Eventually they realised this wouldn’t work, so they asked Len Goodman to decide. He was told to put the four tied dancers into an order, so they got scores of six, five, four and three points. Everything had to be changed, scripts were rewritten and the presenters had to explain what was happening. Everything was delayed – it was a total shambles.”

Onlookers described scenes of 'utter confusion' as the studio audience, which was to pick the winner, was asked to vote a second time. At the recording on Monday, men and women cast their votes - but were told there would be a delay because of 'technical difficulties'. After an hour's hold-up, they were told they would have to vote again. As the BBC tried to keep them entertained, some were invited on stage to dance, while the band played and host Bruce Forsyth sang. Not all of them had time to spare. Up to a quarter of the 300-strong audience left before producers decided what to do, according to one audience member, although the BBC said only a handful walked out.

Ironically, the show featured Tom Chambers, Rachel Stevens and Lisa Snowdon who were involved in the previous voting farce just over two weeks ago.In the semis, Lisa and Rachel had the same top scores with the judges, meaning actor Tom could not avoid the dance off even if he won the public vote. At the time they decided to let all three acts go through to the final and described the circumstances as “extraordinary”. Now less than a month later, a similar problem has arisen – though this time no wasted phone votes were involved. A spokesman for the BBC admitted the four-way tie in the show, which goes out tomorrow night, caused problems. A spokesman said: “The show was stopped to give Len a chance to reach a decision and for producers to brief the presenters and dancers on changes to the running order.”

The Saturdays

Hiya everyone. Tamara has asked me to start adding news about The Saturdays! For those of you who don't know, The Saturdays are a girl band who have been extremely successful in 2008. The band consists of former S Club Juniors/8 members Frankie and Rochelle along with Mollie, Vanessa and Una. 2008 has been a great year for them. We all know how hard it is for new acts these days but they have definately had an amazing year.

In the spring this year the group joined Girls Aloud on their Tangled Up Tour. In July, the girls released their first single "If This Is Love" which reached number 8 in the charts. In October, "Up" was released which reached number 5 and stayed in the top 20 for 6 weeks. Their debut album "Chasing Lights" has just been certified Gold which is great news. The girls produce great dance music and ballads. And the best of all, they can sing live :-)

In 2008, the girls have done so many great things aside from their releases. To name a few, they have switched on Christmas lights, performed at the opening of a shopping centre, performed at the Jingle Bell Ball at the O2 arena, performed at the Childline Concert, headlined at the Clothes Show and performed a great cover on Live Lounge.

2009 also looks bright. On January 5th the girls will be releasing their third single and first ballad called "Issues". Last week, it was number 78 in the chart from downloads alone which means once the actual single and a physical copy is released it should chart well. The girls have confirmed that a fourth single will be released, this is rumoured to be "Work" or "Keep Her". The girls have also spoken about writing their second album and even doing a tour.

I will be adding news when I can about this amazing group! Until then, check out the girls official site and their Youtube channel.

Catch the girls on the National lottery mid-week draws this week!

I hope to add some news about From Above (Daisy's band) soon! I work for the music industry so have a little insiders gossip, but not much. All I can say at the moment is that they have been signed to the same record label as Beyoncé and their record label have big plans for them. They are set to be cracking America before the UK. There are a lot of rumours that the PussyCat Dolls will be dropped after next year and from above will take their place.

And Stacey McClean has recently recorded a single, so who knows what's in store for her!

Strictly special delayed by another scoring problem

In a series marked with so much contraversy, the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special wouldn't have been complete without one more scoring and voting fiasco.

Recording of the Christmas special was delayed after four couples came joint top on the judges' leader board. The tie meant the remaining two couples could not win the show after the studio audience had voted. The audience was asked to recast its votes after head judge Len Goodman re-ranked the relevant couples.

A BBC spokeswoman said the show was stopped to give Goodman "an opportunity to reach a considered decision". The BBC said the recording was stopped for more than an hour while a "contingency" plan was put in place. A statement said: "During the course of filming the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special, there was a four-way tie at the top of the leader board after the judges had voted. "In these circumstances Len Goodman, as head judge, ranks the tying couples and that is what happened on this occasion. In order to allow for this contingency the show was stopped to give Len an opportunity to reach a considered decision and for producers to brief the presenters and dancers on the changed running order."

The BBC said the recording was stopped for more than an hour while a "contingency" plan was put in place. A statement said: "During the course of filming the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special, there was a four-way tie at the top of the leader board after the judges had voted. "In these circumstances Len Goodman, as head judge, ranks the tying couples and that is what happened on this occasion. In order to allow for this contingency the show was stopped to give Len an opportunity to reach a considered decision and for producers to brief the presenters and dancers on the changed running order."

The 2008 series of Strictly Come Dancing sparked controversy after actor Tom Chambers was saved from the semi-final dance-off by a last-minute decision to let all three remaining couples go through to the final. The decision followed a tie between Stevens and Snowdon, who were awarded exactly the same score by the judges, meaning the public vote could not save Chambers. Chambers then won the Strictly final on Saturday in a public vote. Monday night's recording of the Christmas show did not involve a public telephone vote. It features former contestants competing against this year's top three to be named Christmas champion.

Was Rachel's Strictly loss fixed by the BBC?

THE BBC was last night under renewed fire over this year's controversy-hit series of Strictly Come Dancing after fans suggested the result was a "fix". Message boards on the show's official website have been bombarded with comments from people claiming that Tom Chambers, who stars in the BBC's Holby City, should not have won. Many said that despite trying to call repeatedly, they were unable to vote for former pop star Rachel Stevens, his main rival and eventual runner-up. The comments include accusations that the BBC wanted to ensure Chambers, 31, won the show because he works for a BBC programme. Other fans, however, have posted messages on the boards saying that they also had trouble getting through to vote for Chambers.

One comment on the programme's message board from a fan identified only as lovedancing1, under the heading "What a Fix", said: "I'm so angry, and I have never felt that at the end of Strictly. It completely ruined our whole family's enjoyment of it. It doesn't make sense, it's a fix because he is part of the BBC." Someone calling herself sensible_woman said: "Tom should've gone last week. Also I too tried to vote for Rachel, but the lines were engaged all the time whereas my friend voted for Tom twice and got through both times without any trouble." Many of the people posting messages said they would not watch the programme in future because of the problems. There were also calls for the BBC to offer refunds. A viewer called Strictlyavid said: "This fix to keep Tom in as a total farce and I will never watch another series. I want my money back, I feel thoroughly cheated."

Saturday's final saw Stevens, 30, and her dance partner, Vincent Simone, receive a total of 79 points from the judges after two rounds of dancing. Meanwhile, model and radio presenter Lisa Snowdon and dance partner Brendan Cole were awarded the maximum score of 80 after perfect tens from both their rounds, while Chambers and dance partner Camilla Dallerup came last in the first round of the show with 73 points. But Chambers and Dallerup secured a huge public vote which saw them pass through to the "dance-off" with Stevens, while Snowdon and Cole crashed out. For the final dance-off, the judge's previous scores were not taken into account and the final winner was decided purely by a public vote. Viewers' concerns about the final vote follow the controversial semi-final last week where Chambers and Dallerup came last, but because the judges' vote had tied on the top two performances, show producers changed the rules to enable all three to go through to the final. Viewers were offered phone vote refunds after the broadcaster received 1,687 e-mails and 193 calls of complaint at the decision to let all the couples stay.

A spokesman for the BBC denied that the programmed had been fixed. He said: "As you would expect with such a hugely popular show, phones lines were extremely busy. This was explained on-air and people were advised to keep trying. We have checked and there were no problems with phone lines."

Source

Rachel was 'blubbering wreck' after final

Beaten 'Strictly Come Dancing' finalist Rachel Stevens has revealed that she broke down after losing out to champion Tom Chambers on Saturday night's show. In an interview with The Sun, Stevens said that she had to leave the 'Strictly Come Dancing' studio with her fiancé Alex Bourne after Chambers and his professional dance partner Camilla Dallerup won because she was "overcome with emotion".

Stevens said: "Everything was too much. I bawled - I was a blubbering wreck. My mum said, 'You're a winner to me, I can't tell you how well you've done, you've inspired me.' Alex was the same. He took me away and gave me a hug." She continued: "I had a sixth sense Tom would do it. He has a massive fan-base out there and people love him. He was always going to do it. But to win would have been the icing on the cake. I'd have been so proud. I adore Vincent and I'd have loved to have won it for him. He is an amazing guy and I knew how much he wanted it."

More than 13m viewers in the UK watched Saturday night's final; the result has led to anger among some fans of the show, who claim that Stevens was the better dancer.

Source