Amanda Holden returns to work on the West End and Britain's Got Talent after tragic baby loss

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Back to work: Amanda Holden will start rehearsals for Shrek The Musical and return to Britain's Got Talent next month following her tragic loss


Following the tragic loss of her unborn child last month, Amanda Holden is set to return to work.

The 40-year-old Britain’s Got Talent judge will begin rehearsing for her West End role as Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical next month.

She will be joined by former EastEnders star Nigel Harman, Richard Blackwood and Nigel Harman in the production, which opens on May 6.

But Amanda will take a week off from the West End later in the month, to jump back on the Britain's Got Talent panel for the show’s finals.

The announcement came just weeks after heartbroken Amanda spoke of the devastating loss of her child.

But a friend of the star told the Daily Mirror: ‘She is determined to get through this. She intends to throw herself into work and continue with the healing process.’

Amanda has already recorded the auditions for Britain’s Got Talent, which will air on Saturday nights as of next month, but the ITV1 show is being edited to ensure no shots of her baby bump are seen.

She had been filming the BGT auditions in Birmingham the day before going to hospital after complaining that she had not felt the baby kick for a day.

Up until then the baby had been really active, but the doctors were unable to save his life.


Happier times: Amanda and her husband Chris Hughes pictured in January before their horrendous loss of their baby son


The star and her music executive husband Chris Hughes lost their baby son seven months into the pregnancy.

Amanda later thanked her Twitter followers for their support, posting: ‘Chris and I would like to thank you all for the thousands of messages offering support and love during this horrendous time.xx’

The couple and their five-year-old daughter Lexi then took some time out following the tragedy so they could grieve in private.

A friend described the boy as ‘physically perfect’, telling the Daily Mail last month: ‘There is no reason for this at the moment, the doctors have no idea what happened.’

Her friend added: ‘At the moment, Amanda is just unable to function, I don’t think it’s even begun to properly sink in yet.


Judging panel: Amanda is joined by her Britain's Got Talent fellow judges David Hasselhoff (right) and Michael McIntyre (left)


‘She will never be the same person after this. The baby was physically perfect, just beautiful.’

Amanda didn’t reveal her pregnancy until she was six months pregnant and waited so long to make the announcement because she had previously suffered a miscarriage last year.

Shrek the Musical will play at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and it’s not the first time Amanda has taken to the West End stage.

She has appeared in several stage musicals and was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2004 for her performance in Thoroughly Modern Millie.


BGT auditions: Amanda arrived in Birmingham at the end of January to film the final day of BGT auditions and will return to the panel next month for the finals


Amanda Holden live filming Britains Got Talent Liverpool 21/01/11



source: dailymail

Britain's got sued: Singer wants £2.5m from Cowell after 'humiliation' before 20m

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By Emily Andrews

Tribunal: Emma Amelia Pearl Czikai claims she was left humiliated after judges on Britain's got Talent criticised her performance


A Britain's Got Talent contestant is suing Simon Cowell for £2.5million, claiming she was 'humiliated and degraded' on the hit ITV show.

Emma Amelia Pearl Czikai, 54, says she was mocked by judges Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan when they buzzed her off saying she could not sing.

Cowell said she had a 'horrible singing voice' while Miss Holden added: 'I just can't see how she can't see that she can't sing.'

The former nurse claims she was ridiculed in front of 20million viewers and the trio took away her 'self respect and dignity' in order to boost the programme's ratings and profit.

Miss Czikai is attempting to have her claims heard at an employment tribunal but is being fought by BGT lawyers.

She says her performance, screened in May last year, suffered as a result of numerous medical complaints which left her with constant pain and meant she could not sing in noisy raucous environments.

On the show, a clip of which was subsequently posted on YouTube, a smirking Cowell asked Miss Czikai if she thought she had the talent to win.

Dressed in an intricately embroidered red ball gown, she replied: 'Oh Simon, I'm wonderful. You will go home and think I'm so glad that I met that woman.'

But after only a few notes of Westlife's power ballad You Raise Me Up, Morgan was the first judge to buzz her off, quickly followed by the other two.

Against a backdrop of loud booing, Cowell then said: 'Emma, this is a beautiful song when you're not singing it and I think I speak on behalf of everyone that you have a horrible singing voice.'

When Miss Czikai tried to protest that the backing track was too loud and she wasn't used to the microphone, he snapped: 'It's not loud enough. Emma, Emma, reality check here. It's not the music, it's not the microphone, it's you.'

Miss Czikai also lifted the lid on the way contestants were treated on the show and said it was like 'modern day slavery'.


Not impressed: Judge Simon Cowell looks uninterested by the contestant's display and has had to employ a QC to fight employment tribunal claims as a result


She said contestants were routinely humiliated, bullied into saying things they didn't mean and goaded to become angry and frustrated to make good television.
Meanwhile she saw 'servants' walking through with platters of lobster, seafood and caviar which she was told was for Miss Holden, Morgan and Cowell.

Yesterday at an employment tribunal hearing Miss Czikai, claimed she was the victim of disability discrimination because the talent show had not made adjustments for her such as lowering the music and microphone levels.

Miss Czikai, who is representing herself, also claimed she had suffered 'ongoing harassment' because a later improved performance on spin-off show Britain's Got More Talent was not linked to the original clip on YouTube to prove she could sing.

The pre-tribunal review, which will decide if a full hearing will go ahead, was told that Miss Czikai was seeking £300,000 for her injured feelings, compensation of £1million and loss of earnings of £1.25million - although she said if she were awarded any money it would go to charity.

She told the hearing in central London yesterday: 'I haven't got a horrible singing voice when I sing in a fair environment that meets the needs of my particular disabilities as I proved when I performed live on Britian's Got More Talent.


Attack: Miss Czikai claims her performance was impeded by medical conditions - and that she can actually sing


'Britain's Got Talent have sought to accrue profit to themselves through exploitation of a film clip that they know perpetrates a lie that I cannot sing.'

Breaking down in tears she added: 'This programme makes a select number of rich people very very rich on the backs of the ordinary man and woman in the street through exploitation, humiliation, degradation and a re-emergence of modern-day barbarism with all its inherent cruelty.'

Thomas Linden QC, representing Cowell's TV company Simco, opposed Miss Czikai's right to have a full hearing on the basis that BGT was not an employer and that the staff had no prior knowledge of her disabilities. He also questioned whether posting a clip on the web constituted on-going harassment.

Miss Czikai suffers from fibromyalgia, which is characterised by widespread pain and fatigue, but is not recognised by some doctors. The hearing continues.


Unimpressed: Simon Cowell reacts to Miss Czikai's performance which took place in May last year


It's a no from them: All three judges buzzed the contestant out before she had completed her song

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