After one television talent quest ended last week, another begins this weekend.
Arabs' Got Talent returns to our screens for a fourth season on Saturday on MBC 4, hot on the heels of last weekend's Arab Idol finale, which crowned Syria's Hazem Sharif its winner.
If all that singing was beginning to grate, then Arabs' Got Talent should be a welcome change, as the contest is open to a wide range of often zany contestants, including dancers, jugglers and, in the case of one episode (and much to the horror of animal rights groups), a snake-eater.
The show’s star-studded judging panel returns for the new season, including Lebanese singer Najwa Karam, Saudi comic Nasser Al Qasabi, Egyptian actor Ahmed Helmi and MBC Group TV director Ali Jaber.
The passionate Karam is a live wire – she decides a contestant’s fate based on instinct.
Qasabi is the panel’s Mr Nice Guy. But he can show some flashes of passive aggression when disagreeing with fellow panel members.
Jaber is the no-nonsense judge. He delivers his feedback in the brusque way of an executive.
Helmi, meanwhile, is the resident joker, delivering a hilarious punch line or two in every episode.
With the first few episodes dedicated to the auditions held in various locations around the Arab world, including Dubai, expect a mixture of contestants to amaze and horrify in equal measure. The action will really begin to heat up around February when the first of the live elimination rounds begin and viewers get to vote on who remains in the programme and who gets booted out. The winner will be decided in the grand final in April.
• Arabs' Got Talent will show every Saturday on MBC 4 at 10pm. Visit www.mbc.net
[ sasaeed@thenational.ae ]
