Interview with Got to Dance contestant Mark Gauden The Gingerbread Man
Mark Gauden, also known as The Gingerbread Man was turned down by judges Adam Garcia and Kimberly Wyatt in episode two of Got to Dance (series two). Although he didn’t get through to the live quarter finals there has been an online outcry from a hard core of viewers believing Gingerbread Man was robbed of his chance.
Mark Gauden, also known by his performing name ‘The Gingerbread Man’, was turned down by judges Adam Garcia and Kimberly Wyatt in episode two of Got to Dance (series two) last week.
Although he didn’t get through to the live quarter finals there has been an online outcry from a hard core of viewers believing Gingerbread Man was robbed of his chance.
Since watching himself on TV, Mark has had a chance to reflect on his shot at dancing fame in comparison with other acts that auditioned.
A chatty man to talk to, he realised he was maybe a little naive in his approach to the show, but isn’t going to going to give up on his dream or let the Gingerbread Man be forgotten. In his own words…
Interview with Mark Gauden, The Gingerbread Man (Got to Dance)
How do you think you did in comparison with the other auditions?
I’m not too sure, I saw some of the others and obviously when the first woman went through (Happiness) I felt kind of silly, but that’s TV for you!
For my performance I feel like I got a good story, I got to put myself across, they didn’t put it in the way that “he’s only got one star so he’s not good enough,” they put it in the way of “You have actually got the skills but on this day you’ve done something that you’re not comfortable doing.”
Video: The Gingerbread Man Got to Dance audition
Basically I’m a body popper, that’s what I do, and with my comedy and my Gingerbread Man character I’m a body popper, but what I tried to do on the day I tried to breakdance and I tried locking, and that’s not my style, that’s not my particular forte, I should say. I was quite naive to the competition, because I thought “The judges will want to see I can do all these different things,” when all they wanted to see is that I could do what I wanted to do, they just wanted to see me, so when you hear the judges say “based on the first half of your performance we liked it.”
I’m thinking only if I’d have done this in the first half and I did that the way through, what I’m comfortable doing, what I do on a daily basis, then would it have changed things?
You said you’d only danced for two years, do you think maybe you entered the competition too early and went in head strong?
Maybe, but then again it’s all experience for myself. The reason I did it is because I went with the Urban Jokers to the UK Streetdance Championships in London and I came second in the adult category, so I thought if I can do that now I may as well have a go at something different.
How do you feel about the public support people are showing online?
It’s really good, I mean Facebook’s gone a bit crazy. I’ve had like 50 adds on Facebook, I’m getting random people. This is kind of nice, a girl’s created a group on Facebook and there’s like 150 added after one night, and its like “Get the Gingerbread Man!” and “He deserved to go through” and people I don’t even know putting support on my wall, and I think that’s nice.
Is this going to be the last that we’ll see of the Gingerbread Man? Are you going to develop what we saw in your audition?
Of course because my audition was like not even 50 per cent of what I can give, because the second half of my audition is something I don’t even train, I don’t even practise. That’s just something I threw together to show the judges that I could adapt. Next year it’s going to be 100 per cent me, 100 per cent what I’m good at and 100 per cent what I can give.
Obviously I’ve got quite a while to train now, so I’ve been doing my research, researching people from other countries, how they’re performing, I’m going to build up on my Gingerbread Man character and see how I can play with that, see if I can turn everyday things into dance. I basically want to create something that’s original.
I think for the next series I’ve given myself a nice foundation now, and I’ve got a nice little public base of people where they’ve got that controversy of “He did alright but I thought he should have got through.” Some people will be like “He didn’t deserve to get through, he wasn’t good enough,” – that’s my opinion, I wasn’t good enough.
Next year when I come back and hopefully I’ll improve a lot, I’ll smash it and people will be like “We remember him from last year, maybe he’ll do well this year?” So in a way for me I’ve set a foundation for myself, my little story, and hopefully I can come back and do really well.
1 thought on “Interview with Got to Dance contestant Mark Gauden The Gingerbread Man”