THEGAYUK

Day: 7 October 2017

  • Surprise… Louis got the boys

    Well, it’s that time of year again… Where the X Factor contestants are carved up like meat and slung to the judges… This time round Louis got the boys.

    The boys stand waiting for their mentor to make an entrance. They have no idea that Louis is behind the door – and could lead them to X Factor victory.

    In a change to the norm, Louis Walsh got the boys this year, having only officially had them once before – he also had the under 25s in one of the first shows, before the boys became their own category.

    This year, though, Louis is in with a good chance of winning the series, as the boys’ category has tended to do well with the voting audience at home, with the category winning six times, more than any other category in the competition.

    Surprise lads! Louis is your mentor!
    Louis gives the boys a pep talk… Let the battle commence.

    Usually, Louis – the longest-serving judge on the X Factor, mentors the groups, having done so 6 times in the past. Louis has taken part in every season of the X Factor, apart from two years ago, when he was replaced by Nick Grimshaw in a massive programme shakeup.

    However, he and Sharon Osborne were reunited last year – when the show’s execs decided to bring back the original judging line up.

    The boys will now, have to go through the six chair challenge and then be taken to the judge’s houses where they will have to impress Louis and a guest judge before they are able to appear on the live shows.

  • Readers’ Survey 2017

    Thank you for taking part in the 2017 readers’ survey.

    There are 16 questions in this survey and it should take no longer than 2 minutes of your time.

    Can’t see the entire for? Click here

  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Toxic Avenger The Musical, Arts Theatre, London

    ★★★★★ | The Toxic Avenger, The Musical

    THEATRE REVIEW | The Toxic Avenger The Musical, Arts Theatre, London

    There’s a monster loose at the Arts Theatre in London; it’s toxic, it smells, and it’s completely hilarious!

    It’s The Toxic Avenger, the show that was originally a movie (circa 1984) and just last year played at The Southwark Playhouse to rave reviews. Well, The Toxic Avenger is getting revenge by coming back to a much larger theatre, with a superb cast!

    In a nutshell, the show takes place in New Jersey. You know the place, people only pass through there to get to the bright lights and big city of New York. Well, New Jersey is where the denizens of Manhattan dispose of all of its waste – not just garbage but everything and anything that they don’t want, New Jersey, unfortunately, gets.

    But in a town called Tromaville, New Jersey, which gets the worst of the wasted, there is nerd and aspiring earth scientist Melvin Ferd the Third (Mark Anderson), his mom Ma Ferd (Natalie Hope), Sarah the blind librarian (Emma Salvo), and host of other characters played by Ché Francis and Oscar Conlon-Morray, named appropriately as black dude and white dude. But when Melvin decides to find out who is responsible for the vats of toxic waste in Tromaville, he plans to put a stop to it. His investigation leads to the Mayor (Hope again), but when she finds out Melvin is on her case, she gets her two goons to get rid of Melvin, and they throw him into a vat of toxic sludge. But Melvin does not get killed, he comes back bigger and better than ever – he’s been transformed into “The Toxic Avenger” (a/k/a Toxie)!

    Toxie attempts to get his revenge, but in the meantime, blind librarian Sarah has a thing for him because she thinks he’s French (though when Toxie was Melvin he had a huge crush on her but she rebuffed him). Meanwhile, the Mayor is still up to no good and vows to kill Toxie no matter what it takes. But hilarity (and lots of physical comedy) ensue; lots of running on and off the stage by the cast, Sarah doing everything she can to get with Toxie, and the brilliant Hope has a scene with herself as both the Mayor and Ms Ferd – and one time she’s on stage as both characters! It’s a tour de force performance! Will Sarah and Toxie find love with each other? Will the corrupt Mayor have her way and turn Tromaville into more of a toxic waste dump? Will the front row of the audience escape unscathed? You will have to find out and buy tickets to this must-see show. And did I mention that it’s a musical? Everything you want and more is this show! And the cast are brilliant!

    It’s hard to single out any one performer, but I’m going to. Of course, Hope gets the most exercise (and laughs) as both the Mayor and Melvin’s mother, but it’s Salvo’s performance that is most memorable because she’s playing a blind woman, and it’s so believable! And she’s so funny! Kudos to the cast, and production team, including director Benji Sperring, for bringing us a show that’s one not too miss. It’s got everything a musical should have; escapism, fantasy, great story, amazing performances, and some rocking songs. Buy tickets for this show now!

    From Joe DiPietro and David Bryan (original founding member and keyboardist/vocalist for Bon Jovi), the Tony Award-winning team behind the hit West End musical Memphis.

    The Toxic Avenger The Musical is now playing at The Arts Theatre in London until December 3, 2017

  • Vegas victim who saw his boyfriend die in front of him pays heartbreaking tribute to him

    The boyfriend of a man who was killed in the horrific Las Vegas shooting massacre speaks about how he held him as he laying dying from his injury.

    Bobby Eardley, survived the US’s worst ever gun massacre last Sunday, only to see his boyfriend of four years die in front of him. As thousands of bullets whipped through the 20,000 strong audience at a country music festival, one of them struck Cameron Robinson, just 28, in the neck, eventually killing him. Bobby also sustained a shrapnel back injury.

    Bobby speaking with Anderson Cooper about the tragedy that unfolded in front of his eyes in Las Vegas.

    CNN’s Anderson Cooper spoke to Bobby about the attack and paid tribute to the amazing person that he was,

    I just can not say enough amazing things about that man. He’s such an example to everyone he came into contact with in his life….

    When I came out four years ago I didn’t know how it was all going to go with my family…it took someone as special as Cameron to be able to open eyes for everyone and just learn love and acceptance. I’m so grateful to him for that and for the example that he was for me and my family and my kids.”

     

    Watch the interview here:

    Speaking about the attack, Bobby revealed that after Cameron was shot, he held his boyfriend in his arms and talked to him until they were hauled into the back of a truck and taken to a hospital. Two strangers performed CPR on Cameron. Unfortunately, it was too late to save him.

    He said,

    “I just wanted to make sure that he knew that he wasn’t alone in those moments and I held him and talked to him the whole time and I know he wasn’t the only victim and I know that so many other people are going through exactly what I’m going through and my heart goes out to every single one of them and I just want to make sure that the heroes of the situation are also noticed.”