Some comments I've read on here said Danielle stood out from the start for people, and she clearly has a huge and devoted following... so it has got me thinking..

I watched the "Any dream will do" series and all the way through, from the auditions, I thought Lee was by far the obvious winner. I absolutely adored the others and cried almost every week to see them knocked out, I just knew Lee was going to win ultimately..... and was very happy with this. I thought he was an exceptional performer, looked the part, and was very strong and professional. I kind of felt, with him in the running, the others didn't really have a chance of winning.

Just wondering out of interest if anyone else watched this series? Did others feel the same way about Danielle as I did about Lee (she never stood out for me particularly though she seemed a nice talented girl). In fact I thought Stephanie was the "Lee"/obvious winner of this series (though I wanted Jessica to win!)

Also was there ever angry talk of Lee being "set up" to win and given special favour by the judges?

Just interested, in the light of all the conspiracy theories!!

I always wanted Danielle to be the winner. Did I think she would be.... no.

I always wanted her to win (although I had a few extra favs so as to not die when she left lol) but she was for me the obvious dorothy having said that I don't think she was as obvious as lee purely because talent this yr was sooo high

She did for me, loved her Black Velvet audition and the judges reaction to her then made me more sure that she was special.

I have not always liked the styling of her, nor the songs she has been given to sing, but the vts of her rehearsals always reminded me that that special girl was still in there.

Well she was always my Dorothy but I don't think the public had as much as a clear idea as they had previous years, maybe because the character isn't as defined as say Nancy. I think the most unpredictable show to date because we weren't so set in what we were looking for plus all the girls were so talented it came down to performance on the night.

I don't think she was the obvious winner. From the way the judges were going on I thought Emilie, Lauren or Stephanie would win

Aww flamethrower and onmyown that is nice, no one I want to win ever wins anything, ever!! Must feel good congrats to you and your girl! she is a lovely and down to earth girl too.

rages 100 - that is interesting, so you did kind of single her out from the very beginning as having something special? did you feel this about any of the other performers, or did she have something unique for the role in your eyes and can you put your finger on what it was? For me Lee's were his looks, his height and the fact that he was already working in the west end!

Yeah Dreamer - we weren't as set in what we were looking for ... do you feel we actually ended up with someone very different to what people might have expected as Dorothy?

Simbarro - agreed, I was convinced Stephanie had it in the bag, and I even thought Lauren looked very slightly like Lee at one point, and was a pro!

It only became obvious to me that Danielle was going to win by the time it got down to the final three.

It's odd, considering the Lord was looking for an edgy Dorothy I think are final two were probably the most traditional Dorothys in the top 10. I think Danielle was/is a classic Dorothy in looks and in voice so I think people again went with tradition. (which I am very happy about!)

Was my choice from the start but the wife was slightly keener on Stephanie and Sophie.

I picked Danielle, Lauren and Steph and was ok with a top 3 place for any of them but to get Danielle as the winner is great.




Raven

Pretty much. Stephanie looked like the only other serious competition in the early days and, when she was eliminated fairly early on, that left the way clear for Danielle.

Lulu that is a really interesting opinion, that Stephanie looked like the only serious competition to Danielle! For me that just sounds the wrong way round! I personally assumed/ knew that Stephanie was not only competition to anyone, noone else really had a chance, she just sparkled on stage, was young and energetic, was so memorable, and got glowing comments every week....

Awww then again my judgement is terrible, I remember being absolutely blown away by Jessica doing crazy little thing called love, was sat there waiting for the judges to wax lyrical and.. . they really didn't

sometimes i think i am watching a different show to everyone else!

Not really, Born lippy. We all have different opinions, and yours are as valid as anyone else's. I'm sure we have all experienced that feeling at one time or other that the judges were way off base. I think perhaps this contest took place a bit too early for Stephanie. She definitely has talent but maybe it needs to be refined, or honed, a bit, and then she will be a force to be reckoned with.

Agreed - almost.

I didnt notice Danielle much at the beginning - her audition was shown (as were all the top 10 pretty much) but then in the top 20 she was pretty much ignored, and in the first proper week I didnt notice her either. After Just A Little Girl, I totally 'got' her acting, and havent changed my mind since. I think the judges were similar in their praise - it all increased from then on.

I think the judges made it seem like there was a clear winner sometimes (but mainly ALW and Sheila liked Danielle, I dont think JP and Charlotte seemed at all biased towards her) but the public certainly didnt!

For what it's worth, despite my votes for Danielle, I thought Sophie would win tonight.

As far as I was concerned she WAS Dorothy as soon as I saw her.

Was she the bookies favourite?

Aww cheers! I felt she was just young, striking, seemed to do everything perfectly (to a talentless lump such as myself anyway) and had a strong, pleasant voice.

However it's actually largely an acting role, and heavy going at 8 shows.... being youthful is an advantage but I guess you also need to be an old head on young shoulders.....

What, you mean when John said to Steph, "Diamonds might be your best friend tonight, but after that performance baby, the tinman, scarecrow and lion are your new B.F.'s!" .

Far more suggestive than "you'll paint the road ruby one day"! Isn't the road yellow? Is the dye on those shoes really cheap?



that was Stephanie I think... they saw what I saw!

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought I'd just come on here, post 'no' (rudely) and that would be that. But the OP has actually posed a really interesting question in relating this series to ADWD or, come to think of it, any of the previous shows.

In ADWD, I really liked Daniel Boys in the first show and even voted for him, IIRC, but Lee sort of took over after that first programme, even before Daniel was eliminated (although I still rage a little about that particular decision, years after the event!). So, yes, I had a very clear favourite in that show and, for me, nobody (apart from Daniel) came close. I was just as opinionated in favour of Connie in the Maria show (although I only started watching the programme about half way through) and I loved Jodie from the get-go in IDA, although I also liked Sarah Lark and Rachel for the role.

But this series has been different. Like many others, I had five or six favourites for several weeks, and it took a while to crystallise my feelings into a decided partiality for Danielle. If anything, I've grown to feel stronger about wanting her to win than I've felt for any of the other shows, possibly because I wasn't confident that she had it in the bag! And that's because the other contestants are hugely talented, IMO.

So, the short answer is 'no, I don't think she was always the obvious winner' although, looking back at that first audition when she sang Black Velvet, I should have guessed sooner. She was great.

Me too. And then I remember at Dorothy farm she didn't get much screentime and I kept trying to see if I could see her in the background anywhere. I have never had a favourite that early before.

But there was so much talent in this competition that a few of the girls could have won it. I'm v glad Danielle did though

I picked Danielle to win on here on 26th March so she must have impressed me from the start. Went off her though. For Lauren OTR will just be a footnote in a great career while for Danielle maybe this is the pinnacle..

Peeve - Oh Daniel - he was just gorgeous and would have been great in the role. I never got sick of that goodbye song they had to sing..... it still makes me cry to watch it now!
I loved most of them, though Keith and Lewis didn't really float my coat!
Hm. ok will try and stop drooling for a sec and concentrate.

Interesting what you said about Danielle. The public love an underdog but in this case, although she was the bookies /panel's/alw's favourite compared to the other two, many still saw Danielle as being likely to lose to Sophie tonight given prev results, which will actually have stirred up votes. Sophie had been in the bottom two half as many times as her! If it wasn't for all the "biased" panel comments and stuff, in fact, Danielle might have been considered a huge underdog and gone on to win with even more votes!

OK, this is where I have to confess to being even weirder than some of my previous posts suggest...

It was somewhere in Could it Be Magic (yes, I know, I know...) when I suddenly realised the kid could act, and act better than I've ever seen on one of these shows. She therefore won my undying devotion, but I hadn't really clocked her before that point. And I do know that it was a pretty rubbish performance overall, I just saw a fleeting glimpse of something - can't explain it, but she became my Dorothy then and I was incapable of changing my mind afterwards. It's a funny old world...

And I forgot to say - although I'm pretty sure I've said it before - that I agree with the posters who thought Stephanie was a very safe bet indeed for the final, if not the win. she was the ony one I was certain of - shows how much I know!

But, for the record, I don't think she was Bojangled out, she just suffered from incredibly bad timing when the point at which her acting became open to question coincided with the point when Steph had reached her 'single-handedly saved Oklahoma!' zenith. I honestly think that Steph could even have knocked out Lauren that week, if necessary, just reading between the lines of what ALW said.

B*ll*cks! It's just the beginning - I firmly believe Danielle is talented enough to play almost any part she sets her mind to.

In answer to the OP, I wasn't really following the show that closely until Danielle performed Mambo Italiano and at that stage I had Steph and Lauren pegged as the most likely 'break-out' stars of this series. Mambo was a real game-changer for me, it made me check out Danielle's earlier performances and realise just how versatile a performer she is. She has an amazing future in MT and would have done even if she hadn't won OTR.