Ghana: Benny Blanco – Host ‘Icons – Divas Edition’ 2011
By Peterking Quaye Accra,Ghana – Fresh faced talent and all round entertainer, Benny Blanco of XFM and nightclub DJ scene has been picked among many Ghanaian entertainers to host the show.
Benny Blanco of XFM
Vodafone, the world’s leading telecommunications provider, has recruited Ghana’s premier music talent to judge contestants and to host their ground-breaking reality TV show: ‘ICONS – Divas Edition’.
Speaking to Benny, He said he is definitely going to be into the show all hands and feet dived in – from front stage to backstage and everything else and not only interacting with the girls when they come on stage. He adds that, after the shows, he will be there with the girls talking to them, giving them feedbacks and liaising with the judges as well.
Benny believes that one of the distinguishing factors between Icons and some of the other competitions is that at the end of the show, the winning girl group gets a record deal. He was exciting about what that could mean for the girls in terms of their music careers and as a radio presenter, he looks forward to the day when he would proudly play their music on radio. “The record company that is going to be dealing with them would not just do it in terms of managing them but also proactively push forward their career. They will be pushed with utmost force and when their music hit that level I will be more than willing to play their songs on the radio.”
Although Benny has hosted shows on stage, clubs, and on radio, he still gets the initial jitters whenever he appears in front of the crowd and he states that as his biggest fear going into the hosting of Icons. “I think my biggest fear is probably going to be first night nerves; I think once I finish the first night, that would be it. I had a traumatic experience when I was young. I used to sing when I was young and at about age 10, I sang in front of a church of about 400 people. When I had finished, everyone clapped their hands and I was about to put the microphone back on the stand when it fell on floor! I looked up and my father was in the front row and I didn’t know what to do so I ran off the stage and that was it; that was my stage fright done! So I hope nothing like that happens.”
Benny is truly looking forward to beginning this new phase of his growing career as a presenter/host; and he promises to entertain viewers and patrons of the Icons series with what he terms a different kind of flavour of hosting from what people are used to in Ghana. “If people know me on radio, then they know there will be a lot of humour, sarcasm and a lot of answering back to the judges if they mess around with ‘my girls’. I will be there to protect the girls as well as push the buttons of the judges a little.”
Benny Blanco, well known for his voice impressions and DJ talents on the club circuit and radio station X fm. Carmen Bruce-Annan, Head of Corporate Communications at Vodafone remarked on the line up. ‘We are very excited to have such world class talent on board for ICONS. These judges were once young hopefuls, just like our contestants in ICONS so we can be sure they will recognize the potential of the contestants empower them to take Ghana by storm.’
Thirty five contestants out of the hundreds of young hopefuls who auditioned for the show and will be invited to attend the ICONS bootcamp where they will be coached by the three judges and choreographers.
ICONS will debut across major TV stations in the New Year. For further information, visit: www.iconsgh.com or facebook.com/iconsghana
