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By Ian Starrett
Friday 9th September 2005
That was fun. The Big Buzz Irish Entertainments Awards first-ever Londonderry bash may have been short of some of the celebrity names hyped in the run-up to the glittering Millennium Forum bash but the artists at play made for some jolly japes during the evening.
My press invitation entitled me to a balcony seat so while those, apparent VIPs, were being wined and dined at the waitress-served tables at ground level us mere mortals encircling the auditorium fringes weren't allowed even to take as much as a glass of water to our seats. On a stifling, muggy early September evening it was purgatory.
Still it gave us clearheaded Saturday night punters a grandstand view of the antics of those who earn a living by, usually, entertaining us. It also gave me an indication about how the punters felt about it all. To be frank, those who approached me afterwards weren't happy bunnies. Where, the disgruntled members of the paying public wondered, were all the seemingly promised stars whose names had been openly bandied about for weeks?
Well, for starters 28-year-old Portuguese transexual
Nadia Almada, who used to be a man called Carlos, was being treated for depression at The Priory, where she was admitted after flopping on an Australian version of Big Brother.
Abi Titmuss was sent an invitation but was never really coming while Ulster's Big Brother contestant
Orlaith McAllister, I'm reliably told by sources close to the Belfast blonde, was never actually invited. They should have asked her, she was in Londonderry at the weekend anyway. Indeed our Orlaith was even nominated for an award - Best Irish Television Personality - won by her Blue Peter pal Zoe Salmon who wasn't there either. As for Corrie's Fizz (Jenny McAlpine), Jodie Marsh et al punters couldn't see them anywhere as well.
Of those who were present Myleene Klass, in a slinky, silky sky-blue outfit, looked absolutely stunning and the 27-year -old was all smiles having just accepted the offer of being new presenter of ITV's Saturday morning chart show called ed-uk, replacing Cat Deeley. The former Hear'say warbler and trained classical pianist is also cutting an album, doing an Open University degree in astronomy and has just been appointed first-ever ambassador for the charity Youth Music in Britain, which aims to provide opportunities for under privileged children to make music.
I was much less impressed with the male "stars" on stage, apart of course from the smartlysuited locals Gerry Anderson and Phil Coulter, who emerged from the whole shindig as the true gentlemen that they are.
Big Brother's Craig was a huge hit with those assembled but to be honest I found him an intensely irritating attention-seeker, while former Boyzone Shane Lynch, in sloppy vest-like garb, came across as boorish. How did he win the Sexiest Irish Male award, will somebody please tell me?
The musical entertainment on the night , as Gerry Anderson pointed out, was a great showcase for Northern Ireland talent. For goodness sake what, for example, are they putting in the water around Dungiven? What gifted singers O'Cahan' s former stomping ground is producing.
Dungiven-born award winner Cara Dillon sang like an angel and deserved a little more hush from the chattering guests at the hospitality tables while her fellow townswomen Nollaig Brolly and Mavanna McCloskey dueted delightfully.
