Overview
The competitors were: Tony Hadley, Michelle Gayle, Gina G, Elkie Brooks, Dollar, Leee John (of Imagination), Haydon Eshun (of Ultimate Kaos, Sonia and Mark Shaw of Then Jerico. Controversy hit the show early on when Shaw quit the show in the first week after being criticised by other participants for his drunken behaviour prior to the recording of the first concert. Quickly, Peter Cox (of Go West was flown in as a replacement. Contrary to the rules, Hadley, Cox, and Gina G all had charting singles in the US. Further controversy arose in the second week when acts Dollar and Sonia had received the least votes and were both up for the public vote. Sonia elected to leave the tour due to stress, but then decided to return to face the vote. Dollar (David Van Day and Thereza Bazar) accused her of pulling a publicity stunt to gain votes, resulting in a heated argument between the two acts, where Sonia ultimately told Van Day he was "a nasty piece of work". In the end, Dollar were voted off and Sonia continued in the show for a few more weeks.
The format for the show had the artists travelling on a tour bus to a new venue each week. Each would perform one song which would relate to the city they were performing in (eg. the concert in New Orleans would have each perform a well-known song about New Orleans). All songs performed were cover versions, until the final show where the final two (Hadley and Gayle) each sang one of their own hits. Despite his late entry to the show, Peter Cox was the favourite to win, but he finished in third place after forgetting the words to the song he was performing.
Following the show's transmission, a book and an album was released. The album contained studio recordings of various cover versions by the acts, comprising 17 songs.
Read more about this topic: Reborn In The USA