Singer-songwriter Carl Marah took a flight to take to the stage in Warsaw for the latest series of Mam Talent! (Poland’s equivalent of Britain’s Got Talent).
And, although he has no Polish blood, he showcased his music skills by performing his own song Roll the Dice on his acoustic guitar.
He said: “It was filmed in Warsaw, in a big television studio on the outskirts.
“It was cool, the real deal, and the backstage area was massive with camera crew, and all the technical stuff going on.
“It was quite full on with all these different types of creative people, like a flamenco dancing girl, a guy doing keepy-uppies and a mime – it was like a David Lynch dream sequence!”
Carl, who lives in Edinburgh, was encouraged to audition for the show by friends of his Polish fiancée Klaudia Jaworska.
The 31-year-old admitted that the show was something out of his comfort zone but decided to give it a go.
He said: “My fiancée is from Poland and we go there quite a lot with her family all there.
“We are fairly regular visitors and some of her friends from school had come across to Scotland last year to visit.
“They stayed with us in the flat and we hosted them and showed them Edinburgh.
“When they got back, one of them, who is working in the casting department for Mam Talent!, said that I should apply for it and that I would do really well.
“My first question was that I am not Polish but she said they normally have lots of acts from round the world and we have got a link to Poland anyway.”
Carl Marah has appeared on Mam Talent!, Poland’s equivalent of Britain’s Got Talent (Image: Instagram)
After Carl sent a video of himself playing guitar in his bedroom, he was invited to audition in Poland at the beginning of the year.
The former Dunbar Grammar School pupil initially thought he would be performing backstage for producers but was then welcomed on stage in front of the judging panel of Agnieszka Chylinska, Marcin Prokop, Julia Wieniawa and Agustin Egurrola.
Carl, who plays guitar in the band Logan’s Close, alongside fellow Dunbar native Scott Rough, said: “I actually had to be on stage and speaking Polish the best I could, which is rough.
“I have been trying to learn for a long time and now had the pressure of being on television.
“I had multiplied by a thousand my studying regime to express myself without causing absolute chaos and confusion – that was pretty stressful!”
Carl and Klaudia met while working together at a tourist shop in Edinburgh about eight years ago.
Romance followed and they are due to get married at Green Craig, near Aberlady, later this year.
Before that, the musician was keeping tight-lipped on whether he was successful on Mam Talent!
He added: “I don’t know when I will be on it. I also need to figure out how to watch it!
“I need to pay for a kind of international pass for the equivalent of the BBC iPlayer!”