Nigeria’s Got Talent: Episode 3 (Lagos Auditions)

They’ve toured major cities in Nigeria; from the hills of Enugu, to the plains of Ibadan, made a stop in the ever vibrant city of Port Harcourt and not forgetting Warri, the popular region in Niger Delta, in search of that unique act that will win the hearts of the judges and viewers. The journey so far has been encouraging as feedback from fans and followers of the show has been great. We say thank you!

Episode 3 is centered on auditions held in Lagos, the centre of excellence. As expected, the crowd was overwhelming as hopefuls came out in their numbers to take their shot and impress the judges on the Nigeria’s Got Talent audition stage. To kick off the episode, 36 year old Bariyu Yesufu, a medical doctor by profession and a ventriloquist talent-wise, entertained the judges with his puppeteer skills. His act can be likened to that of our sister show America’s Got Talent season 2 winner, Terry Fator. Who knows; Bariyu may be the ‘Terry Fator’ of the first ever Nigeria’s Got Talent, maybe not. Follow up acts in Lagos auditions included dancing from adorable children – they got encouraging yeses from the judges to see them through to the next round.

Next up was a display of acrobatics by a group called Acrobatic Display. Their flexibility, balance, agility, confidence and coordination wowed the judges which earned them a spot in the next round.

Talents shows are not complete if there’s no diversity in the kind of talents showcased. Mr. Idowu Adekaka spiced up the show with his magic tricks. You could tell the judges were at the edge of their seats trying to see how he pulled off his tricks (pouring water on a newspaper without it getting wet). Now that is something that will keep you glued to your TV screen. Mr. Idowu’s tricks mesmerized the audience, judges and got a required number of yeses to see him through to the next round.

We also had rappers with rhyming bars, one impressed, the other didn’t. Interestingly, our very own judge Yibo Koko freestyled to show he also has got talent. The likes of martial artists were not left out. Although one group called ‘The Oracle’ came out as comics, the other group ‘United Fist’ showed us what martial arts is all about. And for which group went through and which didn’t, The Oracle’s comic act of martial arts didn’t convince the judges but United Fist did. The last act of the episode was by Ekeng Bassey. He performed a rendition of Josh Groban’s song ‘You raised me up’. Ekeng said he was desperate to impress the judges and this he did very well; you could see Kate Henshaw had watery eyes after his performance.