News

North Dunedin’s talent, and South Dunedin’s lack thereof, were on show at the Regent Theatre as the Dunedin leg of the second round of New Zealand’s Got Talent auditions was held on the 14 and 15 July.

Dunedin’s preliminary round of auditions was held on 2 and 3 May at Otago Boys’ High School. After the second round the talent pool has been whittled down significantly, with around 60 people from the Dunedin auditions making it through to the next stage.

Aimee Lynch, a Production Coordinator at Imagination TV, described Dunedin’s talent pool as “pretty strong. We were definitely not short of variety in Dunedin.” One memorable act included two boys eating hamburgers while upside down, standing on their heads. A 91-year-old singer made it through to the next round, while a father and son playing the spoons as a musical instrument were not so lucky.

One female contestant sang while wearing a Japanese Lolita sailor outfit, and despite being criticised as “weird” by the judges she made it through to the next round. Other contestants included a fire breather, several dance troupes, and a voice impersonator. As always there was a huge excess of singers, with an estimated 60% of contestants opting to sing, placing the show at risk of becoming just another NZ Idol clone.

The crowd’s favourite contestant was a “lovely little basset hound called Dougal”, who performed under the stage name “The Howling Hound”. Speaking to Critic, Dougal said that if he wins, he intends to use the $100,000 prize money to “impress the bitches”.