Reality TV Stars

Reality TV has transformed the very nature of pop in the 21st Century — how stars are made, how they make the grade, how they fade — so it's about time we paid homage to the phenomenon by herding the brightest and the best into one comprehensive, super-stellar playlist. Susan Boyle floored the Britain's Got Talent judges, and wowed the world, when she rocketed into the public's affections before heading into the studio to record a beautiful version of the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses". Strictly... winner-turned-judge Alesha Dixon energised her solo career with "The Boy Does Nothing" while former phone salesman Paul Potts made like Pavarotti with "Nessun Dorma".

It's time to face reality . . . again . . . in Next Steps.

Although reality TV has generated its fair share of pan-flashes, some of its stars have the class, charisma and quality to take it all the way . . . which is exactly what Girls Aloud have done, since they secured victory over One True Voice on Popstars The Rivals, and hit the ground running in sensational style with 2002's Christmas Number One, "The Sound of the Underground". They were preceded on the Popstars production line by Hear'Say, who split a year-and-a-half after debut single "Pure & Simple" 2001 topped the charts, while Liberty X ("Just A Little") fared better in the long term, despite forming their ranks from the shortlist of Popstars also-rans.

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Everyone's got their own personal reality TV favourites – who's yours? Could it be six-pack king Peter Andre, who had broken through on Aussie show New Faces in the early '90s before going global with "Mysterious Girl" nearly a decade before setting foot in the I'm a Celebrity... jungle. Or maybe it's inaugural Pop Idol winner, Will Young, who included the Eg White-penned "Leave Right Now" on his 2003 second album, the highly personal Friday's Child, bravely recorded and released as an independent venture, without the backing of Simon Cowell. Or how about Kym Marsh, who went from Hear'Say to Corrie via "Cry".

We make them, we break them, and Simon Cowell says rude things to many of them . . . where would we be without the talent show era's superstars, rough diamonds who are plucked from obscurity and sent hurtling into our living rooms, then onwards, towards fame, which typically lasts somewhere between 15 minutes and a lifetime. Here, you'll find a glittering extravaganza of reality TV talent, featuring winners, gallant also-rans from both sides of the Atlantic, and former pop stars who returned to our small screens via those televised social experiments to which we're all addicted and indebted. And the great thing about the reality TV star system is that season after season, there's a constant supply of fresh talent. Now, that's entertainment!