Showbiz is serious biz. Which is probably why a fight broke out last Saturday after more than 1,000 hopeful singing sensations/reality TV stars/variety and/or travel show hosts converged at Astro’s Akademi Fantasia 2014 tryouts at the National Film Development Board (Finas) complex in Petaling Jaya.
According to Harian Metro‘s Rudy Imran Shamsudin, organisers capped the number of audition registration forms at 500, leaving more than half of those in attendance high and dry. The scarcity of forms caused a ruckus among the would-be contestants – some of whom had travelled from as far as Singapore and the east coast states, and many of whom had started lining up from as early as 4am. There was a dash for entry forms and several altercations broke out.
When contacted, Astro Ria channel manager Raqim Ahmad explained that there was no way more than 500 registration forms could have been given out at the PJ auditions.
“I really hope would-be contestants understand the production team’s reasons for this. If we handed out more registration forms than we did, the audition process would take too long. Too many tryouts would exhaust the judges, and we would not be able to get the most talented singers on the show based on their merits,” he said.
“The auditions were already spaced out over two whole days as it is.”
