''It Takes Two'' was an Australian music talent show, which ran for three seasons from May 2006 to April 2008. It was based on the original UK programme ''

Just the Two of Us Just or JUST may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Just (surname) * Just (given name) Arts and entertainment * ''Just'', a 1998 album by Dave Lindholm * "Just" (song), a song by Radiohead * "Just", a song from the album ''Lost and Found'' by Mudvayne ...

''.

Concept

The show paired celebrities with professional singers who each week competed against each other in a sing-off to impress a panel of judges and ultimately the viewing public in order to survive potential elimination. Through both telephone and

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

voting Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holde ...

, viewers voted for the duo they thought should remain in the competition. Judges' scores were also taken into account and were combined with the viewer votes when determining which duos stayed and went each week. In all cases, the home viewers always had the final say. The show was originally referred to in the media as ''Singing with the Stars'', partly because of the similarity in concept to ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

''.

Grant Denyer Grant Craig Denyer (born 12 September 1977) is an Australian television and radio presenter and motor racing driver, who has worked for several television networks, including Seven Network and Network 10, mostly serving as a presenter. In 2018 ...

hosted ''It Takes Two'' between 2006 and 2008 with a various of female co-hosts such as

Terasa Livingstone Terasa Livingstone (born 9 April 1975) is an Australian theatre, film and television actress, TV presenter and children's host. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, fellow Australian actor Wil Traval. Career She began her career as a r ...

Kate Ritchie Katherine Leigh Ritchie is an Australian actress, radio presenter and children's author, she remains best known for her long-running role as original character Sally Fletcher on the television soap opera '' Home and Away'', for which she won tw ...

and the most recent host from the 2008 season Erika Heynatz. Every season finale ended with all contestants, judges and hosts singing the show's theme song " It Takes Two", originally performed by

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

and

Kim Weston Kim Weston (born December 20, 1939) is an American soul singer, and Motown alumna. In the 1960s, Weston scored hits with the songs "Love Me All the Way" and "Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)", and with her duet with Marvin Gaye ...

, and the studio audience and home viewers were encouraged to join in the singing too. By the end of 2008, Seven Network announced that they had no plans for a fourth season.

On air

;Regular judges *

Marina Prior Marina Prior (born 18 October 1963) is an Australian soprano and actress with a career mainly in musical theatre. From 1990 to 1993, she starred as the original Christine Daaé in the Australian premiere of ''The Phantom of the Opera'', opposit ...

* James Valentine * Ross Wilson *Amanda Pelman ;Music director *

Chong Lim Chong Voon Lim (born Ipoh, Malaysia) is a Malaysian-born Australian-based musical director, keyboardist, producer, and session musician. Lim attended St. Michael's Institution for secondary education. He relocated to Melbourne, Australia in 1977 ...

;Guest judge *

Daryl Braithwaite Daryl Braithwaite (born 11 January 1949) is an Australian singer. He was the lead vocalist of Sherbet (1970–1984 and many subsequent reunions). Braithwaite also has a solo career, placing 15 singles in the Australian top 40, including t ...

(Guest judge in season 2) *

Dannii Minogue Danielle Jane Minogue () is an Australian singer, television personality, and actress. She initially gained recognition for her appearances on the television show ''Young Talent Time'' (1982–1988) and for her role as Emma Jackson on th ...

(Guest judge in season 3) ;Co-hosts * Erika Heynatz (2008) *

(2007) *

(2006)

Season One (2006)

The first season premiered on Sunday 28 May 2006 and concluded on Sunday 6 August 2006. It featured the following celebrities:

Judges' scores

;Scorecard : indicate the couples with the lowest score for each week. : indicate the couples with the highest score for each week. : indicates the couples eliminated that week : indicates the winning couple. : indicates the runner-up couple EP = Episode
S = Swing, P = Pop, R = Rock, M = Movies/Musicals, R&R = Rock & Roll, N1 = Number Ones, B = Ballad, D = Disco, C = Country, PR = Professional Hit, R&B = R&B, FA = Fast, SL = Slow, J = Journey. Erika Heynatz and her partner David Hobson were eventually declared the winners, defeating Sarah Ryan and her partner,

Guy Sebastian Guy Theodore Sebastian (born 26 October 1981) is an Australian singer and songwriter who was the winner of the first '' Australian Idol'' in 2003, judge on Australia's ''The X Factor'' from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2015 to 2016, and coach ...

Average chart

This chart is based on the celebrities averages and not their place in the competition.

Season summary

*There was no episode broadcast on 11 June due to the Seven Network's coverage of a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

international between

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, therefore there were no contestant eliminations for that week. *On 23 July,

Larry Emdur Larry Emdur (born 9 December 1964) is an Australian television personality. Emdur is currently co-host of ''The Morning Show (TV program), The Morning Show'' alongside Kylie Gillies, and host of ''The Chase Australia''. The duo also hosted the ...

was the fill-in host for

. This was due to Denyer's commitments in the second tier of the

V8 Supercars The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

series. *

Nick Lachey Nicholas Scott Lachey ( ; born November 9, 1973) is an American singer, actor, television personality, and host. He rose to fame as the lead singer of the multi-platinum-selling boyband 98 Degrees, and later starred in the reality series '' Newl ...

was a special guest in the grand finale on 6 August, who performed " What's Left of Me".

Season Two (2007)

The second season premiered on Tuesday, 8 May 2007 and concluded on Tuesday, 10 July 2007. It featured the following celebrities:

Judges' scores

¹Week 6 featured a guest judge (

), and scores were out of 50.
²Contestants in weeks 8 & 9 performed two songs, resulting with two scores out of 40, and added to out of 80.
³Contestants in the grand finale performed three songs, with three scores out of 40, and added out of 120.

Average chart

This chart is based on the celebrities averages and not their place in the competition.

Season summary

*It was reported that celebrities

Laura Csortan Laura Csortan (born 9 November 1976) is an Australian model and television presenter. Career Modelling Csortan was crowned Miss Australia 1997 and represented her country in Miss Universe 1997, where she won Miss Congeniality and finished in ...

and

Candice Falzon Candice Ann Warner (née Falzon) is a retired Australian professional ironwoman and surf life saver. Ironwoman Warner first competed professionally at the age of 14 in the Ironman series. At 16 she was a NSW state ironwoman champion. In Jan ...

also auditioned, but were turned down for a "lack of basic singing ability". *

, a contestant in season one, also replaced

as co-host for this season. *New singing partners included

Anthony Callea Anthony Cosmo Callea (born 13 December 1982) is an Australian singer-songwriter and stage actor who rose to prominence as the runner-up in the 2004 season of '' Australian Idol''. Callea's debut single, a cover of Celine Dion and Andrea Bocel ...

, David Campbell and

Kate Ceberano Catherine Yvette Ceberano ( or , born 17 November 1966) is an Australian singer and actress who performs in the soul, jazz, and pop genres, as well as in film and musicals such as '' Jesus Christ Superstar''. Her song " Pash" received a gold ...

, replacing

Glenn Shorrock Glenn Barrie Shorrock (born 30 June 1944) is an English-born Australian singer-songwriter. He was a founding member of rock bands the Twilights, Axiom, Little River Band and post LRB spin-off trio Birtles Shorrock Goble, as well as being a solo ...

and Karen Knowles. *On 15 May,

was the fill-in host for Grant Denyer. In this episode, Kate Ritchie made a comment that when he was the host last time, she got voted out from last season. *On 12 June, the show featured a guest judge,

. *On 26 June, the show featured a special guest, Canadian singer

Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer. A four-time Grammy Award winner, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American Songboo ...

who sang a few songs from his new album, '' Call Me Irresponsible''.

Season Three (2008)

The third and final season of ''It Takes Two'' commenced on Tuesday, 12 February 2008 and concluded on Tuesday, 22 April 2008. Erika Heynatz, winner of the show's first season was the new co-host alongside

. Here's all the celebrities featured in the final season:

Judges' scores

¹Week 5 featured a guest judge (

), and scores were still out of 40. She replaced Ross Wilson for the week, as he was unable to attend.
²Contestants in weeks 8 & 9 performed two songs, resulting with ''two'' scores out of 40, and added to out of 80.
³Contestants in the grand finale will perform three songs, with ''three'' scores out of 40, and added out of 120.

Average chart

This chart is based on the celebrities averages and not their place in the competition.

Season summary

*Despite being turned down for a ''lack of basic singing ability'' in Season 2, ironwoman

is one of the contestants in Season 3. *New singing partners in this season are

Ricki-Lee Coulter Ricki-Lee Dawn Coulter (born 10 November 1985), also known mononymously as Ricki-Lee, is a New Zealand-born Australian singer, songwriter, television, and radio presenter. She was born in Auckland, New Zealand, grew up on the Gold Coast, Que ...

Ian Moss Ian Richard Moss (born 20 March 1955) is an Australian rock musician from Alice Springs. He is the founding mainstay guitarist and occasional singer of Cold Chisel. In that group's initial eleven year phase from 1973 to 1984, Moss was recorde ...

and

Adam Harvey Adam Harvey (born 21 December 1974) is an Australian country music singer. Harvey has sold over half a million records, has been nominated five times for an ARIA Music Award and has won nine golden guitars at the Country Music Awards of Aust ...

, replacing

Paulini Curuenavuli Pauline Curuenavuli (born 15 October 1982), known professionally as Paulini, is a Fijian-Australian singer and songwriter. Born in Suva, Paulini moved to Sydney with her family at the age of four. She rose to fame in 2003 as a contestant on the ...

Dave Gleeson David Sean "Gleeso" Gleeson (born 3 June 1968) is the lead singer of Australian hard rock group The Screaming Jets. He was born in Newcastle, New South Wales and currently resides in Adelaide Hills, South Australia Biography David Sean Gle ...

and

Troy Cassar-Daley Troy Cassar-Daley (born 18 May 1969) is an Australian country music songwriter and entertainer. Cassar-Daley has released thirteen studio albums, two live albums and five compilation albums over 30 years, including the platinum-selling ''The G ...

. *

declined to return for the third season of the show. *

Scott Draper Scott Dennis Draper (born 5 June 1974) is an Australian former tennis player and golfer. He won the Australian Open Mixed Doubles with Samantha Stosur in 2005. Draper also reached the fourth round of the 1995 and 1996 French Opens, and the four ...

, Mark Wilson,

Julia Morris Julia Carolyn Margaret Morris (born 20 April 1968) is an Australian comedian, television presenter and actress who has worked extensively in Australian television and radio, touring the country with her solo comedy shows. She relocated to the Un ...

John Mangos John (born 9 July 1956) is an Australian news presenter. Mangos has previously been a news presenter on Sky News Australia. He has also made cameo appearances on the Australian comedy programs ''Pizza (TV series), Pizza'', ''Swift and Shift C ...

, and

Russell Robertson Russell "Robbo" Robertson (born 24 November 1978) is a former professional Australian rules footballer, who last played for the Melbourne Football Club. Robertson is one of the Melbourne's great goalkickers, being one of just four players in ...

appeared on the ''

Deal or No Deal ''Deal or No Deal'' is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was the Dutch ''Miljoenenjacht (Netherlands), Miljoenenjacht'' (''Hunt/Chase for Millions''). The centerpiece of this f ...

'' – '' It Takes Two'' special, which also aired on the Seven Network during the week of 3 February 2008. *On 18 March 2008, a countdown special of ''It Takes Two'' aired for one hour highlighting each singing duos journey the final six have had throughout their stint in Season 3. Hence, no live performances were aired, therefore no contestant was eliminated that week. *

performed her version of disco track ''

Xanadu (Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra song) "Xanadu" is the title song from the soundtrack of the 1980 film '' Xanadu''. Written by Jeff Lynne of the English rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), the song is performed by English-born Australian singer, songwriter and actress Olivia ...

'' on an episode of this season.

Ratings

Season 1 was a hit for the Seven Network, providing them with solid numbers post , where on a Sunday; Seven had little success up against the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

's ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

'', and '' Big Brother'' and ''

Australian Idol ''Australian Idol'' is an Australian singing competition, which began its first season in July 2003 and ended its initial run in November 2009. As part of the ''Idol'' franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program ''Pop Idol' ...

'' on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

. Season 2 moved to a new night and time in 2007: 7:30 pm Tuesdays, airing in the slot usually occupied by the highly successful ''

''. The premiere ranked third for the night, averaging 1.5 million viewers, behind Seven's news programming and ahead of a special extended edition of Nine's '' 20 to 1'' episode "Great Movie One-Liners". The show managed to stay in the top 3 of the rating, and proved to be very successful for the Seven Network. In Season 3, with only one season of ''

'' to air later in 2008, ''It Takes Two'' was moved to February, however retained the highly successful timeslot of 7:30 pm on Tuesdays.

References

External links

Official website (via Internet Archive)
{{DEFAULTSORT:It Takes Two (Australian Tv Series) Seven Network original programming 2000s Australian reality television series Australian music television series Singing talent shows 2006 Australian television series debuts 2008 Australian television series endings