Carol Vorderman cried because she thought her career was “over” after appearing on Stars in Their Eyes in 1998.
Carol Vorderman recalls bursting into tears when she performed as Cher on the very first celebrity series stars in her eyes.
broadcast from 1990 to 2006, stars in her eyes was a popular ITV game show that had viewers dress up as and impersonate their favorite singers.
Matthew Kelly was the show’s most notable host, with the phrase “Tonight Matthew, I’m going to…” becoming synonymous with the series.
In 1998, the show aired a special celebrity series in which stars impersonated the famous musicians. Vorderman appeared as Cher in the very first episode.
Appears on the From menu Podcast, former countdown The star recalled the incident to presenters Ed Gamble and James Acaster, telling them that after her performance she was worried her career was “over”.
Vorderman explained how an ITV boss introduced her to the premise that it was the “first ever celebrity version of a normal show”.
“They talked me into doing Cher and it was really weird,” she said. “We recorded it and I had literally never sung over a mic in my life. I mean, [I was] a bit of a party, you can always find me somewhere at a table singing.
“But it’s okay to be drunk, isn’t it? Because you just hear yourself like that – I was a row between Cher and Celine Dion. I was great, only I wasn’t.”
Vorderman described being on the show where she was surrounded by dry ice and had to introduce herself before doing makeup and changing before coming back to perform.
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“I went first and there was this dry ice,” she said. “I couldn’t see anything so I chose ‘The Shoop Shoop Song’. There’s no musical intro… I got through it, everyone said “Ahhh!” because I was little Carol Vorderman countdownhere she was, this incredible slut in leather.
“Everyone shouted; I couldn’t hear anything. And then I thought: Oh, there’s the music, I better start. At that point, however, it is too late.”
Vorderman said she had to start the song over again after missing the beginning, saying, “Quite literally, tears rolled down my cheeks involuntarily. I was like oh my god I can’t hear the music… It went out months later, I couldn’t see it, I literally got sick. I thought my career was over.”
stars in her eyes was revived in 2015 with Harry Hill at the helm. In 2022 it was brought back as an ITV show Struck by the starswhich ran in two series presented by Olly Murs.