So, we've seen who's going to be in there:

ULRIKA JONSSON
WILL MELLOR
RUBY WAX
PAUL ROSS
JO BRAND
JOHN THOMSON
FEARNE COTTON
DAVID GINOLA
K KWEI-ARMAH

Who do you not want to go in on Friday night?

I'm going to say Paul Ross...have seen enough of him already. He's not funny and will be in everybody's faces in The Academy.

I would also like to see David, Fearne or, dare I say it, Ulrika win overall

I don't know anything about him, except I heard his brother say he was in his 60s.
Has he ANY redeeming features?
I don't even know what he looks like.
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The online BBC News item (found via link on another digitalspy CFA thread) <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...io/2814375.stm> says:

"The seven most popular students will be guaranteed a place in the academy, but in turn must choose which one person from the remaining two they want to join them. "

So I wonder not just who'll not get in at all, but who'll only get in by being voted in by the other 7.

LOL I'm assuming his brother is having a go, he looks in his mid 40s. I know Jonathan Ross isn't everyone's cup of tea but I do think he has a certain charm and warmth that I find Paul Ross lacks. He does a lot of movie reviews and "celebrity" commentry but he has a very brash shouty persona. I don't actively dislike him but I don't think i'm going to find him that watchable in Celeb FA.

As to the thread question, I have to say for me it's Ulrika for the same reason Fruitie picked Paul Ross - I've seen enough of her already.

Paul Ross is a hypocritical hack who slags off celebrities on low rent TV shows for a living.

Ulrika is a talentless nobody who makes a living out of her sex life.

I'd love both of them to fall flat on their ugly faces

Tactical voting could leave the least popular contestant in for another 24hrs at least!

It's a tricky one, because of the "Love to hate" thing. Sometimes the most annoying people make programmes like this watchable. If you had a whole lot of nice but rather quiet people, it would make quite dull viewing. Taking them one by one:

ULRIKA JONSSON
I am actually quite interested in her. Perhaps it's because I don't live in Britain, and I haven't read her book, but she seems to me, despite all the publicity, to have never really revealed herself to the public. The great thing about reality shows is that you can't really lie. Whoever you are eventually comes out. I'm interested to see if there's any depth to Ulrika. Even if she has none, that could make great viewing - will Ruby just rip her to shreds?

WILL MELLOR
I know nothing about him, so I wouldn't mind seeing him leave. It takes a while to get to know these people, and this is a very short show.

RUBY WAX
is just a fascinating woman. Very smart. Even more than Ulrika, has never dared reveal herself on screen. Her obnoxious front is just that. I can imagine Ruby might well have a total breakdown.

PAUL ROSS
*is* very brash, but doesn't use that (admittedly slight) angle to his persona. He now seems to want to be seen as some kind of family-friendly consumer pundit, if his appalling heritage/local news cast-offs shows on BBC Kent and Sussex are anything to go by. He just always looks shifty to me.

So he has to stay. For the time being.

JO BRAND
At the risk of repeating myself, how much of her real self is in her act? Will she just try to continue to do her act for a week? That might be dull. Comedians can be great in this kind of situation - they are often totally paranoid.
Let's hope Jo is.

JOHN THOMSON
See above, really.

FEARNE COTTON
Isn't she just a bit too nice to be very interesting?

DAVID GINOLA
Looking forward to seeing that this guy is the himbo I suspect he is. Looking forward to hearing him singing Park Life in a French accent.

K KWEI-ARMAH
I'd never heard of him before so, again, find it hard to get excited about seeing the "real" him.

And what do we think of Lloyd-Webber as a masterclass giver?

I'd much rather it was Claude-Michel Schoneberg and Alain Boublil - (les Miz, Miss Saigon, Martin Guerre)

Glory me, with all this waxing lyrical over David Ginola and them I must like Frenchmen!

Ulrika,get her off............ please somebody help!!! I can't stand her ! The rest I can put up with to varying degrees.

Nah, keep Ulrika in... Apparently she's very nervous, and will be the first to have a breakdown.

She's certainly one of the more interesting ones. A psychologists dream, shall we say.

And a viewers one to see it all happening in front of us

Nervous? Not according to today's Sun, she wants to know if she can have alcohol & sex! The Sun are even taking bets!
Quote:-
GET ready for a new TV reality game show: Who’s Going to Pull-rika?
We got top bookmakers Coral to come up with some tongue-in-cheek odds on who Ulrika will score with.
Sexy French footballer David Ginola is our favourite at 1-3.
Casualty star Will Mellor is evens.
Host Patrick Kielty is 4-1; Casualty’s Kwame Kwei-Armah is 6-1;
Cold Feet star John Thomson 20-1;
Paul Ross 50-1 and funnygirl Jo Brand is last at 500-1.



Link To Article |n The Sun About Ulrika

I caught the tail end of a discussion of the celebs in CFA on Radio 1 last night (6:45 ish) as I was driving home and am not sure if this was a wind-up between the male and female presenters or not - BUT - the rumour was that the 9th participant is to be David Seaman and not David G.

It must be a wind-up, surely! Anyone else hear the same comments?

So that's lots of Seaman for Ulrika, the Sun must br right!
Sorry I couldn't resist! I'll get my coat!

wot are you like!

I hope it was a wind up. Been psyching myself up to watching Ginola on the telly......

Oh dear - I do hope not!
Though I supppose if it is, I might gain a week of my life back, through not wanting to watch!
But if it is, HUBBY might take an interest after all!
And if so, I wouldn't be able to watch any OTHER programmes on the downstairs (satellite) telly!
Oh dear - I'm fretting now!
(I suppose they might have actually planned it with headlines like Ciixii's in mind!)
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On the subject of Hubby, he does seem to be coming round a bit - though in a strange direction.
Last night he said 'I'm going to vote for the worst singer'!
I asked why, and he said 'Cos it's meant to be funny'!

A sobering thought - but I wouldn't have thought it would apply to the first show.
If I were a contestant, and one of the others got on my nerves, I'd want him/her out asap.
Adapting to the rigours of Academy life would be quite stressful enough without him/her!
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I'm still wondering who the target tv audience are meant to be.
As the first show doesn't even START till 9pm, it's perhaps not really aimed at children?
But Friday has preview programmes at teatime on BBC1 and CBBC, both aimed at children.
Who would children like - or even have heard of?

Fearne?

The inclusion of Fearne is very cynical by the BBC. Part of their ongoing fight with SMTV IMO.

*nodding* she's definitely there for the kiddie votes. Hopefully she'll do well though. One of the DJs on our local station was delighted yesterday that she is going to be in it and I guess a lot of 'grown' men will think they same

I meant who apart from Fearne!
I wondered whether children would be likely to be keen on the footballers mooted.
And whether they'd even have heard of the comedians, actors, and Personalities (or whatever).

I see the rest of the BBC1 shows (apart from first & last) are at 7ish -
it seems odd that the important first show doesn't even START till 9pm (which sounds late for young children, even on a Friday), yet BBC1 & CBBC have children's updates about it every weekday morning & teatime, and the nightly sing-offs are at about 7pm - too early for many commuters.

Fearne Cotton makes sat morning TV bearable imo. She has one of those really expressive faces. However, she seems a really nice girl, so she'll probabaly be labelled a 'robot' or some stars wars character.

anyway..I do not want to see Paul Ross in this. cant stand the guy.

A few weeks ago, I thought I heard Fearne say her age.
21!
Googling <http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pre..._roadshows.pdf> tells me she started TV presenting at 16, while studying 'A' Level Art (Grade A).
"Fearne's been trained in dance & drama since she was five".
"She loves street dancing and was also trained in ballet, tap, jazz, and contemporary."
"Fearne loves acting and [word(s) missing] like to appear in period drama one day...".

That's right, she's 21 and in the Daily Star Why They Want To Go Into The Academy thing yesterday she said she wants viewers to see a different side of her. She said that if she wants to swear, etc. she will. So, the kiddies are really going to like that and the adults are as well because the sound will go off!!

Fearne=Sinead

Do you remember the reporter telling Sinead that the show was now known as Shame Academy because of her swearing. She was mortified!

The Mystery 9th contestant is NOT David Ginola, but Doon Mackichan of "Smack The Pony" err,.....................................fame.