Go go go Joseph, now jump!
BBC Josephs visit Head4Heights at Keynes Park for latest challenge
Visitors to Keynes Park last Wednesday could be forgiven thinking they had stepped into the latest rehearsals for the popular BBC show ‘ Any Dream will Do’…they had!
When the producer of the BBC show ‘Any Dream will Do’, in which contestants are vying for the lead role in the Andrew Loyd Weber musical ‘Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’ , wanted to discover if the five remaining candidates for the part of Joseph had a head for heights, he decided they would do just that, by putting the boys through their paces at Head4Heights in Keynes Country Park, near Cirencester. Whoever gains the ultimate prize of the part of Joseph in London’s West End will be raised high above the audience on a special hoist as part of the act, and then perform one of the final songs of the show.
So last Wednesday, the five young men arrived at Keynes Park with their production crew to test their nerves and singing voices, even from a great height. The weather was perfect and everyone seemed totally relaxed, the only worry being that the young hopefuls would end up with sunburnt faces before Saturday’s show.
After donning safety equipment, and putting the cameramen in place at the top of another pole, all five ‘Josephs’ were ‘shown the ropes’ by Head4Heights instructor, Ben Jarvis. The ‘Josephs’ then each took on three challenges – the Totem pole, the Free Fall and finally the Leap of Faith. With their confidence growing by the minute they each climbed onto a small platform 16 metres above the ground, sang their hearts out and then leapt forward onto a trapeze before being lowered to the ground. When asked whether they found this challenge harder than that of seducing Denise van Outen, some of the boys were not so sure ! Lee Mead felt ‘it was the scariest thing’ he had ever done.
Jill Bewley, Events Officer for the Cotswold Water Park Society
said ‘ We were delighted that the BBC chose to come out to the Cotswold Water Park to film the ‘Josephs’ - the activities on offer at Head4Heights were perfect for their needs, and the relaxed atmosphere here at Keynes Park meant they could just concentrate on getting the job done. The boys all worked very hard but seemed to have a great time and obviously enjoyed their afternoon in the Cotswold Water Park.’
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