A POPULAR noughties boyband could soon regroup, in full, for a huge arena show, according to one of its members.
Love Island legend Marcel Somerville, 39, has set his sights on a Blazin' Squad gig at London's O2 Arena for the group's 25th anniversary with all 10 members.
There are a few challenges in the way, namely the size of the Squad, but Marcel has three years to make the dream a reality.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, he said: "Obviously there are ten of us, it makes it a little bit harder, because that's more people we have to bring back to the camp.
"Do you know what? I feel like if we could get all ten of us back together, I reckon we could definitely do the O2.
"Back in the day, before we split, we'd played Wembley, and had two nights in Manchester, two nights in Newcastle, and two nights in Birmingham. We were playing all the arenas, so it's like, if we could get everyone back.
"Last year was the 22nd anniversary, so I think the 25th anniversary is probably the sweet spot. So maybe in three years' time, 25th anniversary, I might start a whole campaign for it now, to bring the Squad back together."
The noughties nostalgia circuit is booming as music fans yearn for the catchy pop tracks of their youth.
Marcel, whose nickname in the Squad is Rocky B, is close friends with Bradley McIntosh from S-Club 7, who had a sell out arena tour of their own in 2023.
Then contemporaries like 5ive and Another Level have recently reformed and before them the Sugababes had a successful relaunch with their original lineup.
A slim-lined Squad last released music in 2009 as a five-piece featuring Mustafa 'Strider' Omer, James 'Flava' Murray, James 'Kenzie' McKenzie, Lee 'Krazy' Bailey and Marcel.
However, they remain best known for top three hits Crossroads, We Just Be Dreamin' and Flip Reverse.
This year they have a series of gigs lined up including at the Noughty 90s Festival with the likes of Daniel Bedingfield, Liberty X and N-Trance.
"This year is looking like it's going to be majorly busy," said Marcel.
"I've got new music coming out. Our first song is called Dim The Lights. It's a nice summer house track, and that's going to be coming in April.
"The Squad are going to be touring throughout the summer, and we're going to be doing Blazin' Brunch, which is going to be in line with Revolution. We're just going around and touring different venues up and down the country, doing different performances with the Squad."
Marcel is more than ready to hit the road and is currently in the shape of his life after being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 2020.
It forced him to reassess his health and lifestyle and, as a father to young son Roman, three, he is determined to become be the best version of himself.
He has largely cut carbs from his diet in a bid to manage his glucose levels and uses a Dexcom G7 device, which takes glucose measurements at regular intervals, 24/7, and translates them into data that shows glucose direction and rate of change.
"I took the leap, done the research, got the Dexcom and it literally just changed everything, just made everything so much simpler," he said.
In the first months after his diagnosis, Marcel used finger prick tests to monitor his glucose levels but found it top be a cumbersome process.
Now his Dexcom, which is fixed to his arm, relays the data directly to his phone allowing him to have accurate access to his levels at all times.
"When you're in the line of work that I'm in, when I'm having to rush here, go and do an interview there, go and record something over there, it's like you're always on the go," he said.
"You don't have to pull out your whole pack, get the sensor strip out, plug that into the sensor, get a finger printer out, prick your finger, put it into the sensor, wait five seconds for it to read your blood.
"I'm not going to lie to you, I feel like I actually am in the best shape I've ever been in.
Marcel Somerville
"When you're having to do that every time, you're feeling like your glucose is high, you're feeling like your glucose is low, it becomes very mentally taxing.
"It [Dexcom] makes the prolongedness of having diabetes a lot less, because you're not having to do all of these seven steps before getting the information you need, you're just getting it straight away.
"That's probably one of the reasons why my time on the show [Love Island] wasn't as stressful as it could have been, because I've done shows before where they were like, 'you can't wear your Dexcom on there', for whatever reason."
Fans of Love Island All Stars would have seen Marcel's six-pack on display during his time in the villa in January.
After patching things up with his ex-girlfriend Gabby Allen, Marcel steered clear of any drama and was content to be his authentic self even if that meant he didn't make it to the final.
Having matured from his early 20s, he's put a pin in the wild partying of his Squad days and is now focused on his wellbeing and living cleanly.
He said: "I'm not going to lie to you, I feel like I actually am in the best shape I've ever been in.
"Becoming diabetic literally makes you focus more on what's going into your body. So, because carbs are the things that will make my glucose spike and make my glucose levels go through the roof, I cut down the amount of carbs that were going in, so my love for cake became a love for apples, do you know what I mean?
"It all kind of changed. I think that helped me get into the leaner physique, because I had my little break, got a little bit of a dad bod going on, and I was like, I need to do something about this.
"And then literally, taking care of my diet, and obviously going to the gym and being active and being the kind of hands-on dad that I am, it just made it so the trimming down and everything just became part of my natural life.
"I'm going to be diabetic for the rest of my life, and I want to make sure that the rest of my health is in the best shape it can be, just so that I can live a long, happy and fun life."
Blazin' Squad's UK Chart Success
- Crossroads (2002) – #1
- Love on the Line (2002) – #6
- We Just Be Dreamin' (2003) – #3
- Flip Reverse (2003) – #2
- Reminisce (2003) – #8
- Here 4 One (2004) – #6
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