Kirk Whalum to perform on X Factor SA

Kirk Whalum

Kirk Whalum

Published Oct 30, 2014

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The first season of X-Factor SA is going well so far with judges Arno Carstens, Zonke Dikana and Oskido directing the contestants on how to present themselves. Last week, on the top nine stage, we saw MJ Scholtz get the axe and leave, much to Carstens’ anguish.

Things are really heating up and before we get to the next episode, we caught up with the series producer, Glenn Elliott, who enticed us with what to expect in the next episode.

“It has been an incredible roller coaster of fun to work on X-Factor so far, and things are just going to get more and more intriguing as we get to the end of this first season,” he said.

Although he would not go into detail, Elliott did admit that as with any big project, there had been some challenges while working on the show.

“It’s only natural to face problems when you are working on shows of this magnitude, but I can’t really divulge what they are. For us, the joy is in the challenge that these problems present us and how we find solutions to overcome them,” he said.

Although he was tight-lipped about the nature of the challenges, Elliott let us be the first to know some of things to expect in the next episode.

“We have decided to have each of the episodes themed and I am happy to say that this one will be around R&B,” he said.

“So, all the contestants will be doing whatever songs they want… as long as they conform to the theme.

“It is going to be something we look forward to because some contestants will adapt non-R&B songs to R&B – a thing that can be really challenging.”

Another juicy tidbit is that a special guest will also form part of the judging panel.

“We are happy to say that Kirk Whalum is going to be with us on Saturday.

“The idea is to bring big artists from now on so that they can inspire the contestants.

“We can’t reveal what he’s going to perform, because that’s for you to find out when you tune in on Saturday,” said Elliott.

In what was becoming a trend in our conversation, Elliott could not divulge the exact figures, but what he could say was that X-Factor had “phenomenal” viewership numbers.

“We do get the figures every week and I can confirm that for a first season, we have done really well so far. In fact, it’s only getting better as we get to the end of the season.

“If you consider that we air late on a Saturday when people are usually out and about, and yet we bring in the numbers, that’s really impressive,” he said.

The winner of X-Factor will get a lucrative Sony Music Entertainment recording contract and a cool R300 000 cash prize.

• X Factor South Africa is on Saturdays on SABC1 at 5.30pm.

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