If anyone thought, after seven years of rest The Great Duet its return will only be a nostalgic singing competition, it probably didn’t tune in to TV2 in recent Sundays. The show has long since gone beyond the classical television framework: we have already received underwear confessions from Ramón Lékai-Kiss, we have seen Pákó Fekete shaking her butt as Kelem Kőmives, and we even managed to get one of the country’s favorite soap opera heroes, Leticia Calderón, to taste the thick of the Hungarian boulevard. And on March 15, TV2 raised the stakes even further, as the remaining six couples in the competition had to prove themselves in a double duet in addition to their individual productions.
However, the line-up did not change this time either. Claudia Liptai and Attila Till were still in charge of the show, while Tibor Kasza, Ramóna Lékai-Kiss, Ramóna Lékai-Kiss, Tamás Horváth and András Stohl were still in charge of the jury, to whom Liptai spoke in the first minutes of the show – instead of the young people of March, he called them the middle-aged people of March.
Wedding and fairy tale
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After an introduction that was longer than usual, the show began. Evelin Domján and her master, Csaba Vastag, took the stage first, in a production symbolizing a wedding drowning in total chaos. However, there was a twist in the story: while the ara was played by Evelin, the groom was not played by Csaba – i.e. Evelin’s husband – but by one of the dancers, while Vastag had to make do with the role of the musician. During the production, moreover, the bride did not court the groom, but the musician, which was also pointed out by Ramóna Lékai-Kiss. “What are you talking about, didn’t you see that she almost cheated on her fiance” – came out after the criticism of fellow judge Lékai-Kiss that there was little harmony between Evelin and Csaba. Despite this, the couple burst into the fifth live show, the judges unanimously awarded the production with the maximum 10 points.
In comparison, Pákó Fekete and his master, Zsuzsi Komonyi’s fairy tale-like performance fell on the viewer like a cold shower, which did not bring any surprises compared to previous productions – although Komonyi sang fantastically, Pákó could barely speak and even forgot his lyrics. “It was devastating. Amazing will, no professionalism, but somehow you were lovable” – Tibor Kasza evaluated what he saw, who nevertheless awarded the couple with 10 points.
After a short commercial, Bea Gáspár and Péter Šrámek dominated the stage, performing one of Edda Művek’s greatest hits, A kör medő. They probably received the biggest ovation from the audience during the broadcast, even though Ramóna Lékai-Kiss thought the production wasn’t energetic enough – she thinks Bea should light those certain rockets. “You were so sweet. For me, the feeling of being a rock star starts somewhere else, of course, but you pushed me through, and I liked that – there was a little girlish charm in it,” said Tamás Horváth.
Retro fever
After the more emotional and rockier moments, the disco era took over: Áron Kovács and Panka Gesztesi came on stage with a vibrantly spectacular Boney M mix. The production brought the pulsating, colorful world of the seventies in every element, but the dynamic choreography and the constant movement on stage presented the pair with a serious challenge. In his evaluation, Tamás Horváth also pointed out the dark side of dynamism; in his opinion, the many dances were at the expense of the singing this time. As he put it, the sound was not as stable as the performance, and the physical activity ultimately detracted from the production’s enjoyment value.
At the same time, Ramóna Lékai-Kiss proved to be one of Panka’s most enthusiastic supporters. According to the judge, the young girl brought her usual form: she found the singing good and Panka extremely sexy and charming on stage. Ramóna emphasized that the kind of self-confident radiance that Panka possesses is especially enviable in today’s world. In the end, the jury awarded the performance with three maximum scores, a total of 39 points, in addition to a single nine. With this, the duo joined the performers before them, so a three-way tie was already formed in this part of the evening.
After that, the Italian feeling of life and the iconic hit of the Korda-Balázs couple, Mamma Maria, came to the stage performed by Barnai’s Judie and Curtis. The pair brought to life a true television classic, the world of A Terrible Ordinary Family: Judie tried to entertain the viewers by hiding in the character of Peggy, while Curtis disguised himself as Al Bundy. However, some errors slipped into the production,
because the rapper forgot the lyrics during the song, which noticeably affected the tension of the performance.
Tibi Kasza did not hide his disappointment in his assessment; although he emphasized his sympathy for the pair, he admitted that he was bored with this production. According to him, the performance was clearly saved by Judie, whose amazing stage presence compensated for the shortcomings, at the same time indicating that he would expect more playfulness from the duo in the future. András Stohl, however, defended Curtis, pointing out that Al Bundy’s character was inherently careless and uninteresting, so the buck slipped into the role almost unnoticed. At the same time, Stohl also made a request: he urged the rapper to keep his enthusiasm for the sake of his partner, because Judie is apparently having a great time on stage. In the end, the jury evaluated the “terrible” production with one 10 and three 9s, a total of 37 points, which put them at the bottom of the jury list.
Tamás Horváth: that was really good!
The series of individual duets was completed by the duo of Schobert Norbi Jr. and Johanna Lengyel, who were considered to be one of the biggest contenders of the competition. Their choice fell on Billie Eilish and Khalid’s melancholic world hit Lovely, which turned out to be a brave and risky decision compared to the show’s essentially entertaining nature. However, the production had such an elemental force that at the end of the performance, the air in the studio froze: András Stohl and Ramóna Lékai-Kiss were visibly struggling with tears, and Tamás Horváth acknowledged what they had seen by standing and applauding.
The jury did not skimp on adjectives during its evaluation. According to Tamás Horváth, the production went far beyond the scope of A Nagy Duett, and flawlessly conveyed the kind of pain that such a song requires. He ended his opinion with an unabashedly honest statement: “There are things that we can only express badly, and this was damn good!” he said. Ramóna Lékai-Kiss also expressed her heartfelt thanks for the experience, which, she admits, deeply touched her soul; after that, it was no surprise to anyone that the Schobert-Lengyel duo left the stage with the maximum 40 points.
The race is over for a couple
After the individual productions, the contestants had to complete an unusual challenge: the six pairs returned to the stage in the form of “double duets” in teams. First we saw the joint production of Bea Gáspár and Péter Srámek, as well as Fekete Pákó and Zsuzsi Komonyi, then the quartet of Csaba Vastag and Evelin Domján, and the quartet of Áron Kovács and Panka Gesztesi. The extra round was closed by the joint performance of Schobert Norbi Jr. and Johanna Lengyel, as well as Judie Barnai and Curtis. The jury also scored these group performances, and the values obtained in this way were added to the individual scores, and finally, the final ranking was formed by adding up the audience votes.
The absolute winner of the evening – based on the unanimous opinion of the jury and the audience – was the pair Schobert Norbi Jr. – Johanna Lengyel, but at the end of the tense results announcement, one duo had to say goodbye to the studio again: according to the last round of audience voting, the competition ended for Pákó Fekete and Zsuzsi Komonyi. Next Sunday night, only five couples will fight for the victory.
(Cover photo: TV2)
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