They say you should never judge a book by its cover. But ITV’s new Saturday night spectacular Game of Talents wants players to do just that!
Already a hit in America and Spain, each episode sees celebs and contestants partnering up to try and guess the hidden talents of eight mystery performers, based solely on how they look and some intriguing clues. Here’s what we know so far...
Game of Talents release date
Game of Talents starts on Saturday April 10 on ITV at 7.30pm, and runs for seven weeks, with different "secret" performers appearing every week.
Game of Talents… who’s hosting?
Fresh from his stint on last year’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, Game of Talents is fronted by former All Star Family Fortunes host Vernon Kay.
Of his exciting new role, Vernon said: "As the host, I don't like being involved in a game show where I know all the questions and answers, I like playing along. It makes it more fun for me. Often, as a presenter, you’re just standing there and "directing traffic", as it were, with the autocue. But because this is a fully immersive game show, I can really get involved in the gameplay, ad-lib and not be stuck to a script, which is a joy.”
How does Game of Talents work?
It’s a fairly complex format, so we’ll let the host explain.
“Each show, we have two teams of two contestants: a celebrity and a member of the public,” says Vernon. “First, I reveal the talent board — the eight talents of our mystery performers — then I introduce the first performer and give the team in play some clues to help them guess what the performer’s talent is.
"The celebrity in that team then chooses a cash ball containing a hidden amount; the cash balls vary from £500 to £10,000. The act then performs and, if that duo have guessed their talent correctly, they get to put the cash-ball sum into their prize pot. The pair with the largest amount of money at the end gets the chance to win it all.”
Game of Talents… is it anything like Britain’s Got Talent?
According to Vernon, no it isn’t.
“All the performers on Game of Talents are not on the show looking to make a career out of their talent because they're already doing well from it,” he says. “This fuses a variety show with the game show element in that players have to guess what their talent is and what performance they're going to do. So the focus here is on the contestants, not the performer, who’s already making a living out of, for example, swallowing a five-foot sword!”
Game of Talents… is the show full of surprises?
When watching at home, we all like to guess what a performer’s talent is going to be. And it seems there are some genuine shocks in store on this show…
“When Susan Boyle appeared on Britain’s Got Talent, people saw this ordinary lady from Scotland, wearing an average dress, and stereotyped her straight away,” says Vernon. “But, when she started singing, all those judgments went out the window because she was, without doubt, a huge global star. That's what Game of Talents is about. We might have a regular bloke on, who’s 53, from Shrewsbury. Is he the sword-swallower? Is he the fire-eater? We don’t know…”
Game of Talents… what else do we know?
Hosting this show has made Vernon ponder what his own hidden talent might be…
“Mmm… If someone said to me: ‘You have to do something and if you do it right, we’ll give you £1 million cash’, I would say: ‘OK, give me an American football and, if you put something on a podium 25 yards away, with no practice, I guarantee I'll hit it.’ I’ve got a pretty good aim, so that would be my hidden talent.”
Game of Talents starts on Saturday April 10 at 7.30pm on ITV.
