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Grant Denyer doesn’t want Kyle to wreck Talent

"I don't want him to be a terrorist and come on here acting like a goose, abusing four years of reputation that we've built," says AGT host Grant Denyer.

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“It’s definitely edgier,” insists Grant Denyer. “Kyle and Brian are great mates so that means they don’t hold back. Dannii is determined to find the next international star. So it’s much more aggressive. Those boys have had us in stitches for hours on end while filming this show.”

Tonight season 4 of Seven’s Australia’s Got Talent rolls out in a 100-minute theatrical foray with two new judges, former Westlife singer and Football Superstar host Brian McFadden, and the bad boy of Austereo, former Australian Idol judge and Big Brother co-host, Kyle Sandliands.

The show that has fondly fostered the vaudevillian talents of child singers, teenage dancers, gum leaf whistlers and spoon-slapping grannies has just been impacted by the power of two: Sandilands and SuBo.

Denyer and Dannii (Minogue) remain the show’s two constants, now overseen by former Idol producer Greg Benness.

While Idol has a lengthy track record and has created household names, the more-junior AGT is on the rise and ready to capitalise on the fact it is now the sole contender in a talent landscape. After awarding the prize to 2009’s teenage opera singer Mark Vincent, Denyer is proud of the show’s more humble achievements.

“Mark Vincent from last year has gone double platinum in album sales and received great recognition, but I think he’s really young, so I don’t know whether his star is quite ready to shine. The talent depth we have (this year) is much broader than I thought it was going to be,” he says.

“We’ve had lots of quirky stuff come out of the woodwork too, so it might not be a singer that’s going to win, and we’re quite proud of that point of difference with this show.”

But even Denyer proves, if under pressure, that the show is  yet  to discovered many memorable stars.

Who was the winner of the first Grand Final in 2007?

“The first year was….”, he pauses, thinking hard. “Dammit!”

Can’t remember. Thankfully his recall is more accurate on the 2008 winner: Teenage guitarist “‘Smokin’ Joe Robinson!”

Denyer says while AGT may not have developed stars that match Idol‘s track record, it has had an embracing affection for its contestants. But he also isn’t convinced Kyle Sandilands understood that at early auditions.

“I think he was too rough in the first two audition shows. I think he came with the wrong mind. I think he came with Australian Idol-judging headspace which is about culling the numbers as brutally and as fast as possible to discover talent. He was trying to toughen them up on their road to Idol, whereas this is a very different show,” he says.

“This is a show with a warm heart and people aren’t coming on our show to be an international recording artist. They don’t need to be toughened up. They are unique Australians with unique qualities, so we’re going to pull him into line if he steps out.”

Denyer says viewers will see fireworks from Sandilands from the very first episode.

“He’s already been out of control and I don’t always agree with Kyle’s style. At the end of the day he’s an entertainer but he’s been setting up some of the acts like ten pins and bowling them down,” he says.

Denyer views himself as one of the concept’s ‘gatekeepers’ and insists that while there is determination to deliver the next Susan Boyle it can’t come at the sake of headline-grabbing incidents.

“I’m not going to allow him to come on and wreck four years of great work that we’ve built on in building this brand up. I don’t want him to be a terrorist and come on here acting like a goose, abusing four years of reputation that we’ve built,” he says.

“If he’s going to come on and start slapping small children around verbally, there’s only so much of that you can allow to happen. These people haven’t come on to be judged like that. They just want to come out and showcase their talent. Dannii’s muzzled him a couple of times and we certainly will keep him honest.”

Having himself been on the receiving end of Sandilands firepower on his radio show, Denyer knows some consolation is needed after contestants have fronted the judges.

“It’s not really the role of the host but it’s ended up being that way,” he says. “After they’ve just copped a war of words from Kyle, it’s up to you to make good. I’ve done a lot of patching up after Kyle’s finished with them. We’ve all had our words to him and I think he realises where he played it wrong and I think he gets it now.”

After the first few audition episodes, Denyer feels the new judging panel begin to have a better appreciation of the show. He even finds room to acknowledge the positives of having Sandilands around.

“There’s already been a dancer, a young kid who is a great freestyler. He’s already connected him up with Jay-Z in New York and taking his DVD over there to showcase this kid.

“There is some legitimacy over what Kyle tries to do, but there is no controlling his mouth.”

It means if nothing else, Sandilands should make for arresting television.

“He’s come out of the blocks with all guns blazing, but he’s made us laugh a lot. He has a terrific sense of humour. He’s a very naughty man, which makes it very entertaining.”

Finally, Denyer remembers who won the first season: Schoolgirl Bonnie Anderson.

“With the big, beautiful, blue eyes!”

Australia’s Got Talent airs 7:30pm Tuesdays on Seven.

32 Responses

  1. This show is very famous everywhere and this is the reason why there are it is having its talent show running all over the world. This type of platform encourages the contestants to prove them selves and be something in life.

  2. Tonight reminded me why i watch this show. The brilliant acts, the not so brilliant but also the comedy. That guy with who bashed the watermelons on his head was hilarious. It had me ROFL for ages. It couldnt stop laughing.

    Kyle was a bit stiff but i feel he will get better as the show goes along. Brian was great tonight. Glad Seven picked him up. Dannii is just as great as always. Good job guys keep up the good work.

  3. david can u please tell me if u know when they are going to air the perth adutions i thought it would be tonight but no and yes i went to the peth one they all told us to scream ,yell and boo but not at kyle they said.

  4. Kyle is the best thing to have happened to this show since its inception! At least the show is funny now!
    I’m glad Red Symonds is going back to where he belongs on Hey Hey.
    As for that other guy, what’s his face… need I say more?
    Brian McFadden is youthful & energetic. Danni is 10x better than Marcia Hines.

    I had never watched a full episode of AGT until tonight. Bring on next week!

  5. I’ve finally figured out Kyle Sandliands talent – his presence on TV makes me turn it off very quickly.

    At least it’s obvious that 7 want to keep the show on air – if Jackie O popped up on screen it’s the kiss of death.

  9. The show is “Australia’s got talent” so why have kyle as a judge? He has no talent himself, isn’t funny, is boring. Who are the ones who put him on the show? They’ve wrecked it for me, won’t be watching anything he’s in…

  10. Kyle wouldn’t know talent if it came up and biffed him in the nose.

    And I have honestly never heard of this Mark Vincent yet he’s gone double platinum??

  14. I went along to one of the Perth recordings and it was quite interesting to watch the judges. My preconception of Kyle was that he’s a ratbag, and that hasn’t changed, but I’ll admit he was entertaining on this show. He was definitely vicious with a few of the performers, but he was also quite complimentary to the ones that he liked. There were also one or two where he turned to the audience to see what the collective opinion was (all the judges did this at points).

    I was more surprised to see that Brian was playing a similar sort of role. There were a couple of performers that he really tore into (one of which was a horrible wannabe boy band, so probably justified in that case). All in all there was a really good rapport between the judges.

    Before the show the warmup dude and the EP enouraged the audience to scream for the acts they loved and boo the ones they thought were rubbish. So I think any harshness from the judges probably fits in the overall atmosphere they’re creating for the show.

  15. @Macarthurblack. oh gee kyle is the perfect person to judge new talent isn’t he. tell me how is his only client for his so called talent agency doing. isn’t it his wife that sing for her life

  17. Great… another talent show…. seriously, does anyone here have any creativity? Or are we just going to shove cameras around our local communities and rip off already crappy reality TV shows….

    Watch for Undercover Boss Australia to come soon, probably Channel 10, since it’s doing decently in the US.

  19. Red played things tongue in cheek, you knew he was behind the good guys… I reckon the only tongue in Kyle’s cheek will be accompanied by the rest of his foot.

    I think AGT will lose what little it had with the Kyle and Brian show.

  21. Ironic that 7 and Today Tonight continually played the “Vile Kyle” angle while he was still at Ten, and now they’re paying his bills….

    Won’t be watching.

  22. Ah, verbal press releases, Denyer’s true calling 🙂

    Australia does indeed have talent, by the way. But none of it will be on this show.

  25. Why even put the clown on? The man just isn’t funny or talented enough to do his job. Look at when he was BB. He was useless. At idol he failed . The man is a failure. Maybe he might get a little bit more respect, if he stop trying to be the poor mans version of Simon cowell. Which is plain to see, Is what sandilands wants to be.

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