Meet the Judges of Simon Cowell’s Newest Singing Competition ‘Walk the Line’
iTV Reading Time: 4 minutes
Simon Cowell‘s newest show Walk the Line has officially begun. Singers in this series are competing for the chance to win £500,000. The show premiered to mixed reviews, so let’s look into the credits of our celebrity judges.
At the end of each episode of this week-long show, both in person and virtual audience members are able to pick their favorite performer of the night. Once the winner of the night is announced, they get to choose whether to cash out of the competition with £10,000 or Walk the Line for the chance at a higher prize.
Maya Jama Hosts Walk the Line
Maya Jama is known for her time on the original series The Circle in the United Kingdom. On top of The Circle, she also has credits for hosting Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star and True Love or True Lies. She is 27 years old and has shared that it’s been her dream to host an iTV show.
Her career began in London when she started hosting music video countdowns on JumpOff TV, but she quickly became a hosting staple after her time on Maya’s FIFA World Cup Cities for Copa90 in 2014. Maya’s FIFA World Cup Cities opened doors for this TV presenter to work with MTV on both The Wrap Up and True Love or Lies. She previously hosted the 2017 Pre-Brit Awards Party along with the Saturday night game show Cannonball on iTV.
Alesha Dixon
This English singer is one of the four people sitting on the judging panel on this series. She rose to fame in the early 2000’s as apart of the R&B group Mis-Teeq. This group broke up in 2005, but Dixon didn’t give up on her singing dreams. In 2007, she won the fifth season of Strictly Come Dancing, which led to her record deal with Asylum Records.
Later, Dixon became a judge on Strictly Come Dancing, Britain’s Got Talent, America’s Got Talent: The Champions, and Australia’s Got Talent. With a larger-than-life music career under her belt, it’s obvious that this singer is one of the best to judge this series.
Gary Barlow
You might recognize this judge for being the lead singer of the English pop group Take That. Before Walk the Line, he judged on The X Factor UK and Let it Shine. In his career, he has received six Ivor Novello Awards from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors. Of those six awards, one was for Outstanding Services to British Music.
On top of his popularity and awards, he is known as one of the United Kingdom’s most successful songwriters. In his time in the industry, he’s written thirteen number-one singles and has sold over 50 million records worldwide. This all explains why Barlow seemed interested in Ella Rothwell’s original song “I Wonder if You’re Happy” on the first episode of the series.
Dawn French
Dawn French differs from the rest of the judging panel because she is best known in the film industry. French is credited for writing and staring in the BBC comedy sketch show French and Saunders. French has also starred in The Vicar of Dibley, The Trouble with Maggie Cole, Delicious, and others. This actress has racked up a BAFTA Award, a British Comedy Award, a Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Award, and a Rose d’Or Light Entertainment Festival Award during her time in the industry.
Although many viewers of the series were eating up this show, some criticized French for a lack of credits in music. French is not known for professionally singing, but has sung in multiple comedy-based skits. In the first episode of Walk the Line, Jama even mentioned that French is the only judge on the panel who is not a singer, to which she replied:
“That’s rude! Excuse me Maya, may I correct you a moment? I’ve had a very illustrious career in singing, roll VT!”
Craig David
The last, but certainly not least, judge on the Walk the Line panel is Craig David, English singer, songwriter, rapper, and DJ. He rose to fame in 1999 on the single “Re-Rewind” by Artful Dodger. Since then, David has made a huge name for himself in the music industry. He has 20 U.K. Top 40 singles, and seven U.K. Top 40 albums. He has sold over 15 million records worldwide as a solo artists. On top of that, he has been nominated for fourteen Brit Awards, and has won two Grammy Awards.
Walk the Line will continue to air throughout this week at 8 p.m. GMT on iTV. The winner after the end of the week will walk away with £500,000.
