Five to Five perform Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus. Photo / BBC1
Five to Five perform Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus. Photo / BBC1
Fans of talent show Let It Shine remained loyal to the end of the series, when boy band Five To Five were crowned the winners.
And with their win, viewers were led to think - as had been the case for the entirety of the series - that the champions would be playing the role of a Take That-style group in the forthcoming musical based on the songs of the infamous boy band.
However, it appears that the premise behind the entire show wasn't portrayed accurately, leaving fans feeling led up the garden path and fuming at creator and head judge Gary Barlow, the Daily Mail reports.
Let it Shine winners Five to Five perform live on the show. Photo / BBC1
It's been revealed that Let It Shine's winners will be far from "stars" of the stage show - which is titled The Band; and instead will be lowly backing singers.
This revelation comes the week after the season finale, despite the BBC explicitly advertising the purpose of the show as a casting exercise "looking for talented individuals to form a new group that exudes the charisma, showmanship and stage presence that [Take That] has become so famous for".
It now transpires that Five To Five won't even speak during the show - purely play second fiddle to the main cast who have, presumably, already been found via non-televised, standard audition procedures.
While the likes of The X Factor and previous stage musical-themed series have been explicit in stating what the winner wins at the end of the show, it would seem Let It Shine has proven to be misleading.
Shows such as Any Dream Will Do and I'd Do Anything searched for the starring performers in Andrew Lloyd Webber's productions of Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Oliver respectively; but it has now been revealed that The Band will follow five 16-year-old female groupies, who will be the main characters in the story.
Although The Band was always expressly stated as being "based on the music of Take That" much like musicals Mamma Mia (based on Abba's music) and Viva Forever (based on the tracks of the Spice Girls), it always appeared to advertise that the winners would be part of a boy band in the show.
The BBC's initial description of Let It Shine also suggested this. But they have since released a statement that far from clarifies things: "With Let it Shine we always said we were casting for a band to appear in a musical based on the music of Take That and they had to be able to sing and dance - like a boyband.
"The winners will sing and dance to 14 Take That numbers in Gary's musical. We never said we were casting actors. But they will be front and centre of the musical."
This statement only muddies the waters further, seeming to deliberately blur the lines between singing, dancing and acting.
