These Avatars Can Do Way More Than Wink in The Groundbreaking New Singing-Competition Series ALTER EGO

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede It’s fascinating to see the faces of judges Alanis Morissette, Grimes, Nick Lachey, and will.i.am as the first avatar walks onto the stage in the series premiere of new singing-competition series ALTER EGO. “Can you wink at us?” asks Morissette. The alter ego obliges. “Can you give us the Macaulay Culkin?” asks Lachey. The alter ego raises its hands to its face and opens its mouth wide, just like the young Culkin in Home Alone. It may take the judges a little while to get used to what’s happening, but it won’t take the audience long to fall in love with the format of ALTER EGO, which debuts Wednesday, Sept. 22 at 10 p.m. ET on CTV. Another new episode airs the next night, at 9 p.m. ET on CTV. Hosted by Rocsi Diaz, ALTER EGO allows aspiring singers to be evaluated in a different way than ever before. Contestants design their own avatars, and then – through the use of state-of-the-art motion-capture suits – the judges hear and see the alter egos singing and moving, while the person is performing in real time behind the scenes. All the contestants are facing obstacles and insecurities of some sort, and their avatars provide newfound freedom and confidence. The TV audience gets to meet the real contestants and learn something about them before they perform, but the judges are totally in the dark, so to speak. “The magic of what we’re watching … like, you’re looking at freakin’ art and science coming together,” will.i.am says. At one point an amazed Grimes observes, “I totally forgot that there was someone backstage singing. I was just enthralled by the performance.” Here’s how the audition round of ALTER EGO works: There are 20 competitors overall – including 28-year-old Kyara Tetreault from Toronto – and five appear per episode. The first performing avatar gets placed on “the diamond,” signifying the top performer of the night. Then with each subsequent performance, the judges must decide whether to replace the avatar on the diamond. After all five have performed, whoever is left standing on the diamond secures passage to the next round, which is a head-to-head competition, in future weeks. That leaves four alter egos who are up for elimination. The in-studio audience votes, and the top two vote-getters advance. Then the judges make the final call on the bottom two. One contestant is sent home, but not before they reveal their real selves to the judges and the audience, and belt out one final song. “Using the alter egos, this gives singers and people who wouldn’t necessarily usually be able to take part in a show or a competition like this, and gives them the chance to do it,” said Matilda Zoltowski, showrunner and executive producer, in a recent panel interview. “And I think we’ve succeeded. We found some great singers.” “You know, everybody’s welcome, huge diversity on every level, and we wanted characters that would appeal to our whole audience, young and old,” Zoltowski continued. “They have different tastes, different styles of music, different types of everything. So I think there’s something there for everybody.” In the same panel interview, Grimes suggested that the more wild the avatars are on ALTER EGO, the better. “You know, video games have overtaken music and movies in terms of people playing them, it’s the biggest entertainment industry,” she said. “In terms of how the public is currently engaging with alter egos, they’re engaging more with the crazier type – I think it’s actually more natural to them, probably. So (this show) is taking to the next level this giant movement that is already happening.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv