Triumphs, trials and tears on Arabs Got Talent

The show kicked off with the Egyptian judge Ahmed Helmy shedding a few tears over the militant attacks in his country, followed by six eliminations.

From left, group director of MBC Ali Jaber and the judges Najwa Karam, Ahmed Helmy and Nasser Al Qasabi at Arabs Got Talent Courtesy: MBC

The Arabs Got Talent judge Ahmed Helmy broke down in tears at the start of February 7's episode – the highly anticipated, live broadcast of the show's first elimination round.

“I wasn’t going to come today because of what’s happening in my country,” said the Egyptian actor, referring to the deadly militant attacks on the army and police in the town of Al Arish in North Sinai.

“I want to give my condolences to the Egyptian people, all of them. Can you imagine how hard it is to listen to the cries of a daughter whose father has died?” said Helmy, going on to explain that he is a civilian who did his military duty and that it could have been him.

For the rest of the episode, fellow judges – the Lebanese singer Najwa Karam and the Saudi actor Nasser Al Qasabi – tried to get Helmy to make one of his famous jokes, but failed. The three celebrities finally settled down to watch eight performances, of which they had to eliminate six. The lucky ones were the 13-year-old Lebanese dancers Karen and Telma and the 16-year-old Egyptian singer Yasmina Al Alwani.

Of the 72 acts that were picked out from the hundreds who auditioned, only 40 have been chosen for the live elimination rounds, including the Palestinian teenage band Al Takht Al Sharqi from Gaza, who were sent through right after their first audition.

An audition by the Dubai-based Lebanese keyboards player Maan Hamadeh, who shot to fame after a video of him playing the piano at Prague’s airport went viral last year, was celebrated by the judges, but there has been no indication if he has a spot in the top 40.

• Season 4 of Arabs Got Talent goes out live on MBC4 at 10pm on February 7