Has ITV Given The Voice The 'X Factor' And Unearthed A Pop Star?

Step forward Mo Adeniran. The very first week of the new series on ITV and a star has fallen into their laps. The BBC must be secretly kicking themselves that no-one like Mo had deigned to audition while on their channel. Despite all's misgivings, the show certainly knew how to launch a star and it seems thatnow has one of its own.
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Do you remember the winner of The Voice UK that set the charts on fire with their string of hits? No? Well, that's because there hasn't been one and that has always been the nagging issue while the show was on the BBC.

It seemed that the 'stiff upper lip' approach of Auntie Beeb wanted to ensure that the singing competition didn't start sliding down the greasy pole into X Factor territory.

While that may have been a very commendable approach, it also meant that those that vied to win The Voice UK were almost never in the news.

No column inches or online musings about who could win the show meant that whoever came out on top was almost unheard of.

What ITV's The X Factor wasn't shy about was promotion. As long as a contestant made it to bootcamp, or even produced a spectacularly bad audition, they were guaranteed to have offers of reality TV work coming out of their ears, even if a record contract was beyond them.

So, after five series on the BBC, no star was born or number ones were bagged. It made you wonder whether it was really worth the effort in the first place.

Of course, ITV ensured that the debut of The Voice UK on their channel was pumped full of adrenaline and arrived with much fanfare.

Essentially, they have tried to keep the format similar to that on the Beeb but have decided to mix a healthy dollop of The X Factor in to the mix.

There's plenty of slow motion footage of contestants walking over bridges and melancholic piano music to accompany the fact that no coach has turned to say they wanted a certain singer.

There were also the sob stories as 20-year-old waitresses break down as they say this is their last shot at a music career before spending the rest of their time on the table-waiting scrap heap.

With The X Factor though, the voice was almost an added bonus as the way you looked could often triumph over the way you sounded.

This was going to be a problem when the tables are turned and it's all about the voice.

So, it was no surprise that when the coaches turned to scrap it out to have the first performer, 31-year-old Jason Jones on their team. He looked like every dad in their thirties and about as far from a pop star than you can imagine.

Presumably it was politeness that led coach Jennifer Hudson to describe him as "unique". Basically, great voice but...

We all know that image can be everything and even Sir Tom Jones has come out and said that Leanne Mitchell, the winner of the first series on the BBC, hadn't made it because she was too overweight.

Did anyone care about the voice at the end of the day? Was it just a 'nice to have' in the pop star package?

Step forward Mo Adeniran. The very first week of the new series on ITV and a star has fallen into their laps. The BBC must be secretly kicking themselves that no-one like Mo had deigned to audition while on their channel.

Despite all The X Factor's misgivings, the show certainly knew how to launch a star and it seems that The Voice UK now has one of its own. Mo even comes with a tragic back story that producers of these shows love.

What Mo did bring though was a voice, which was capable of moving Jennifer Hudson to tears and a look that would fulfil Sir Tom's vision of a perfect pop star.

ITV has given The Voice the 'X Factor' and it looks like it's unearthed a star.