Saturday 30 August 2008

The Missions

As the poll/competition reaches the half way stage I thought it might be an idea to take a closer look at the missions on which we're voting.

Click on any of the mission titles to view the video.

EAST END MARKET

This was the first mission and all the girls got sent off to the East End to work in one of London's busiest Markets. Rachel didn't have much coverage in this particular mission but still came up with the most memorable moment when she was caught shouting "A pound of Plums to tickle your gums" when she was actually selling mangos LOL.

TERROR

Next up for the Nancy's was the terror mission where the first task was to hold a live rat. Rachel was scared to death and said she finds it hard to even look at these little creatures. Despite this she overcame her fears for which she deserves great credit because as you can see from the above picture she really was terrified.

They then had to put their acting skills to the test when they played out a small part from Oliver to try and impress DVO. Here is what she had to say about Rachel:

"Rachel Tucker blew me away. I thought she gave a brilliant performance. I just wonder whether she could produce that 8 times a week."

KISSING

Now I know one person who would vote for this mission as their favourite and that’s Ben James-Ellis because he had the enviable task of kissing Rachel. The Nancy's had to play out a love scene from the hit West End musical Hairspray and Ben was impressed with Rachel and commented on how well she got into character.

I was just impressed he could say anything coherent after being kissed by someone so beautiful.

STAGE PERFORMANCE

For this mission the Nancy's visited the Apollo Victoria Theatre and were asked to perform 'I'm Not That Girl' from the hit West End musical Wicked in front of a paying audience. Ironically the person judging this performance was Kerry Ellis who is currently cast in the role of Elphaba in the Broadway show but used to play Meat in 'We Will Rock You'. Here's what she had to say about Rachel:

"They all did really well, but I think that Rachel has a great face and really told the story of the song"

FITNESS

This mission involved a 6:00am wake up call and a trip to the river - Rachel said she was wide awake after seeing the men in lycra lol - where the Nancy's would eventually split into 2 teams and have a boat race but first they had to do some work in the gym. The instructors were full of praise for Rachel saying:

"On the rowing machine Rachel and Ashley really stood out" and "Rachel and Jessie did really well on the fitness and the others need to step up to where they are"

Then it was back to the river where they chose Rachel and Ashley as team captains. There was a great bit of banter between the 2 teams before they hit the water. It wasn't long before Team Tucker had built up a good lead and the instructors commented that it was Rachel and Jessie's power that was enabling them to pull away. Rachel showed the competitive edge you need in any walk of life and was continually encouraging her team-mates; so much in fact that the Cox had to point out that it was actually her job to shout the instructions lol. It didn't really matter as Team Tucker cruised to an easy win and the instructors finished by saying:

"Rachel and Ashley were the 2 best performers we saw today"

COCKNEY CHALLENGE

Mission 6 involved another trip to the East End but this time it was the Queen Victoria Pub and not the market. They were asked to convince the locals and Barbara Windsor that they could play a cockney with a scene from 'Things Ain't What They Used to Be' and then their acting was tested with a scene from 'Blood Brothers'. Rachel didn't feature too much but DVO did say:

"Rachel's a very strong actress, she never falters"

STUNTS

Next up was the stunt mission where the Nancy's put their stage fighting skills to the test. They had to throw a pretend punch and perform a roll. The stunt man said that he felt Rachel and Ashley were the most convincing and at the end John Barrowman picked his favourite:

"If I had to choose one girl I would say Rachel because she was strong and it was great"

COMEDY

In the penultimate challenge the girls were asked to locate Nancy's funny bone. They were being judged by the writer of a new West End comedy 'Life Coach' and its star Phil Jupitus. All the Nancy's had to get up on stage and tell a joke. I think this was one of the best missions as it included two of my favourite moments from the show; Niamh's "If all else fails pull up your skirt" comment and Rachel's Jaws joke.

After the jokes they had to perform a scene from 'Life Coach' with Phil Jupitus and it was no surprise that Rachel’s talent stood out again. Here's what Phil had to say:

"What Rachel did that the other girls didn't do was the confusion. She was certainly the most realistic"

HARDSHIP

For the final mission the girls were sent back in time to spend a night in an authentic Victorian home and stripped of the luxuries we take for granted today.

The following morning they had to speak Nancy's tragic love song 'As Long As He Needs Me' in front of Barry Humphries. He had been Rachel’s biggest critic on the show but he finally opened his eyes and saw her for the star she is:

"I saw something in Rachel that I'd never recognised until then; a commanding leading lady quality"

It might have taken you 9 weeks to spot the obvious but well done Barry you got there in the end.

6 comments:

David said...

''It might have taken you 9 weeks to spot the obvious but well done Barry you got there in the end.''

LOL Andy -- your best line of the blog so far!

Helen Murphy said...

I love this entry on the blog!! Happy memories! And it's astonishing how often Rachel was singled out during the missions for being particularly adept at whatever challenge she was given. That's star quality for you :)

Anonymous said...

God Rachel looks like she was really going for it in the picture with Ben Ellis from the kissing challenge hahah! Obviously missing Guy that day...


"Ohh give us another one!"

David said...

LOL Emilia -- Rachel IS a professional actress don't forget!
There's only one Guy for her...

Helen Murphy said...

Good point Emilia ... and who would blame her??

Anonymous said...

lol love the kissing mission rachel
is soooo funny "oh give us another one" lol classic hehe i porbs would of done the same!
i think that was sams fave mission... lets see how many times was rachel singled out???