Glow Up
Contents |
Host
Stacey Dooley
Broadcast
Wall to Wall for BBC One, 6 March to 24 April 2019 (8 episodes in 1 series)
Wall to Wall for BBC Two, 16 July 2020 to present
Synopsis
Aspiring make-up artists battle to be named the next make-up artist star.
Stacey Dooley (investigative journalist and reigning Strictly Come Dancing champ) hosts a contest for champion cosmeticians. The judges are Dominic Skinner and Val Garland, two established make-up artists. A third judge joins the panel each week.
From left: host Stacey Dooley, guest judge Nikki de Jager, Val Garland, Dominic Skinner.
The basic format is familiar from The Great British Bake Off and everything else: lots of tasks under time pressure. Some of them allow creativity, some are technical tests, some are almost impossible in the time allowed.
With a familiar competition format, it's the presentation and attitude that makes the difference. The judges know about the subject, and justify their decisions - sometimes in retrospect, sometimes as they competitors are veering from the preferred path.
Every skills show needs a gimmick, a tent or a blockhead or something. Glow Up has a "red seat": whoever the judges think did worst in the first challenge will sit in a red seat for the next one, and might suffer a time penalty as well.
Detecting flaws the size of pores.
Whoever's bottom of the heap after two tasks takes part in a head-to-head challenge, literally facing each other. Worst leaves, and everyone else comes back next week. Best performer in the final wins.
It's a skills competition about make-up, and the UKGameshows commentary panel doesn't know a chap stick from a lipstick from a glow stick. We do know when a show tells a coherent story, and where we can have faith in the judges, and Glow Up is certainly all of these.
Champions
2019 Ellis
2020 to be broadcast
Music
Tom Haines, credited as "Composer".
Trivia
Commissioned by BBC Three.
The first series, in 2019, was repeated on BBC One after the evening news at about 10.30. The show was a success, and the second series was promoted to BBC Two at 8pm.
