Cirque de Celebrité is a celebrity reality television show broadcast on Sky One. The show features celebrities training for and then performing various circus acts. The winner of the series of 2006 was Grace Adams-Short.
A second series of Cirque de Celebrité broadcast in 2007, with Jenni Falconer replacing Ruby Wax as host and the live commentator was Peter Dickson. Big Brother winner Brian Dowling hosted a spin off show, Cirque: Backstage at the Big Top. The winner of the series of 2007 was Kyal Marsh.
Format
The first series was hosted by Ruby Wax. The three judges for the first series were professional performers Louie Spence, Ann Dorwin, and circus director, Phillip Gandey. Gaby Roslin replaced Ann Dorwin for the second series. The celebrities were trained to perform various circus acts, and compete with each other for points from the judges and phone votes from the public on premium rated lines.
The acts were interspersed with compère banter and video from the training sessions and interviews. The two scores were combined, 50% judges vote and 50% phone votes, and the two lowest scoring participants were candidates for expulsion. According to the website of Sky One, the judges nominated one of the saved celebrities to eliminate one of the two contestants at the bottom of the scoreboard.
In the first two weeks only, reference was made to the highest scoring celebrity choosing between the two.
Ratings
Cirque de Celebrité 1 was watched by a peak of 817,000 viewers. However, Cirque de Celebrité 2 averaged considerably less, peaking at around 400,000 viewers.
Series 1 (2006)
Participants
The line up of celebrities in Series 1 were:
Guest stars
Simon Cowell (X Factor Judge), supporting ex-girlfriend Sinitta. Carol Smillie (Changing Rooms Presenter), supporting Andy Kane. Mikey Dalton (Big Brother 2006 Contestant), supporting his fiancée, Grace Adams-Short.
Elimination
The celebrity was voted off after being in the bottom two. The other celebrity in the bottom two. The celebrity chosen to decide who is eliminated. The celebrity who won.
In Week 4, Syed Ahmed was guest judge replacing Louie Spence. After the departure of Sophie Anderton in week 6 due to injury, Lee McDonald was reintroduced with immunity from eviction. In Week 7, Ninia Benjamin was re introduced into the show as "Kenzie's personal trainer." She also took part in the group performance and accompanied contestants off stage after each of their performances. In the final week Grace broke her foot, however, she still took part and performed in the show. Grace went on to win the show with 70% of the audience vote, with Emma B and Kenzie finishing in second and third place respectively.
Other Information
The name of the show is grammatically incorrect French for Celebrity Circus, the actual French would be Cirque de Célébrité. The first celebrity voted out was Mark Bright, who was reportedly furious over the decision.
Series 2 (2007)
Changes
For the second series, GMTV host Jenni Falconer replaced Ruby Wax as the ring mistress. Gaby Roslin also replaced Ann Dorwin on the judging panel, alongside Phillip and Louie. That year up until Week 6, the judges did not give the contestants scores for their performances.
That year two new celebrities joined the circus over halfway into the show. Liam McGough, an ex housemate on Big Brother, and Rebecca Loos joined the show in Week 6, due to Shane Lynch quitting after injury. They both performed on 11 November 2007 and the public voted to see which one they would like to see back as an official contestant the following week. Liam was chosen to stay in the competition and Rebecca was sent home, however Liam was voted off in the same episode.
Scores
Week 1–5:
The judges did not give the contestants scores for their performances.
Week 6: Luke – 27 Isabella – 26 Antonia – 21 Stacey – 19 Kyal – 18 Dean – 16
Week 7: Kyal – 30 Stacey – 25 Antonia – 23 Isabella – 20 Luke – 19 Liam – 16
Week 8: Kyal – 57 Stacey – 45 Antonia – 43 Luke – 42 Isabella – 28
Week 9: Kyal – 55 Stacey – 46 Luke – 46 Antonia – 36
Week 10 (Finals): Stacey – 57 Kyal – 57 Luke – 53
Participants
The line up of celebrities in Series 2 were follows:
Elimination
The Celebrity was voted off after being in the bottom two. The Celebrity in the bottom two that the judges decided to save. The Celebrity withdrew from the competition due to injury. The Celebrity that won.