Interview with Jordan Vandermade
A a brand new series of The Singing Bee gets underway on TV2, full of singing, dancing and Honey Bees. tvnz.co.nz's Andy Jalfon caught up with the presenter, Jordan Vandermade, for his thoughts on the show, Studio 2 and his stellar junior career in athletics.
The Singing Bee has now started on TV2. Can you give us an outline of what the show is about?
The Singing Bee is pretty much a karaoke-based game. You don't have to sing it well, you have to sing it right which is the core of the show which really means you could be the worst singer in the world but if you know those lyrics then hopefully you can survive the rounds and can win $30,000 so a lot of money up for grabs!
It seemed like a party atmosphere on the show. Would you describe it that way?
It was an absolute blast! Not only did we have fantastic contestants and a fantastic crowd, we had the top musicians in the country with Carl Doy in the band and the top singers that New Zealand had to offer. Everyone loves a sing along with New Zealand hits and it does become one party with people in the crowd standing up and dancing. It's so much fun.
Would you say it's the kind of show where everyone at home can join in?
That's the best thing about it. The lyrics for the songs come up on the screen so people at home can test themselves and see how far they can get. It caters for every age group. A friend said she was walking past a bar on Tuesday night who had turned off the music but everyone was sitting there watching the show on the screen and they were all trying to sing along as well!
What kind of music is played on the show?
A huge range from the fifties through to the very recent 2007, 2008 stuff. I'd say a big variety of kiwi classic hits as well as Rolling Stones, old school soul and R&B. There's a really broad range and it's really up to the judges what songs you get. It's really tough and the ones who make it through really have to know their stuff.
How difficult has it been to be surrounded by the beautiful Honey Bees?!?
The Honey Bee girls work just as hard as anyone else on the show, if not harder because they have to dance at every rehearsal and every show. Some days when we did two shows in a row they were just full on sweating all over the place. It was tough and I really used my presenting skills to focus on the job at hand... but seriously they were great. They're beautiful girls and great dancers and I've got a few friends who were dancing so it was great working with people you know but yeah, they gave it their all and they were great.
How did you land the presenter role on the show? Anything like getting the Studio 2 presenter job?
No it wasn't anything like that. Great Southern TV wanted me to audition for it and that was such a huge blast. I was like, 'Are you serious?' I went along to the audition and gave it my all and got some good feedback, then I got a call back saying they wanted me to do a studio test and it was then I thought maybe I had a chance. Two and a half weeks later Tony [Holden, the producer] rang me up and said 'How would you like to host your own prime time show?' It was absolutely unbelievable. It was a break of a lifetime. With the help of Simon Dallow and Tony, I was like a sponge taking in everything they gave to me and had three months of intense training. Fingers crossed I did my job all right!
Before Studio 2 you used to be a decathlete and you were NZ Junior Athlete of the year. Do you still train in athletics?
Yep. My girlfriend still trains in athletics. She's trying to go for Beijing. I still have heaps of friends in athletics and still go to the track when I can but as you know in this industry, it can sort of swallow you up and when you start getting on a bit of a roll it can get quite hectic so I had to make probably the hardest decision of my life to stop athletics when I came back from the World Juniors, where I placed third. My coach said I couldn't do anything but train for the next ten years if I want to try and make it as a decathlete. On the other hand, I had this fantastic opportunity from work where I could be a TV presenter and could really take off and of course, as a presenter it's impossible to get into and you never know how long your shelf life is so was really having to weigh things up. The event I was doing was decathlon which is ten events over two days so it's not just like a sprint or something like that where I can just chill out and go to the track for a few hours so it's a time event so I thought 'You know what? I'm going to give this TV thing a go', so I bit the bullet, made the decision and after getting this prime time show I was like 'phew', thank you, and hopefully I did made the right one. Studio 2 is great and I love it but when you get a big show, it was great knowing that people believed in me.
On the show how often were you tempted to sing along?
Every single song! I'm terrible with singing along to stuff and a couple of times in the first show I'd be singing along with them and the director in my ear would be like, 'Jordan, you can't sing because they'll hear you saying the words!' But I love it. Even if I don't know the words I'll hum along. It's pretty hard. I'm trying to get them to let me sing if we get a season two. I love singing all the time. I'm probably not all the good but I don't really care. The show's not about that, it's about people having a laugh so if I can make someone laugh with my horrible singing then that's all right.
Are you returning to Studio 2?
Yeah, I've signed for another year with Studio 2 which is fantastic. Studio 2 is what gave me my break. They're the reasons why I'm here. I learned absolutely everything off them and it's a live show so you can't get better than that as a presenter to hone your skills. Singing Bee is all pre-recorded so you can go back if you make a mistake whereas Studio 2 is right then and there so I'm stoked to be coming back for another year with Matt, Dayna and Vicki. Where to from there? Hopefully we'll get another series of Singing Bee and then who knows what doors can open. But right now I'm back in Studio 2 where I'm going to give it my all and have an absolute blast and hopefully everyone keeps enjoying The Singing Bee as well!
