It's entertaining! You can't deny X factor has the entertainment value, some of us purely tune in to watch the awful acts that cant sing to save their lives. The acts that look like they get dressed in the dark, The desperate for fame acts and the acts that are clearly not all there!
MASTER MANIPULATORS!
But what we dont see is how severely edited the show is and how they manipulate and exploit the vulnerable for our viewing pleasure. It's very clear to me some of the contestants are not mentally stable and of course the producers are well aware of this too but to them that just means guaranteed shocking behavior and better ratings! Obviously a person who isn't all there can't grasp the fact that the judges are less than impressed by their singing ability. especially as up into that point when they are shoved on stage to be teared apart by the pack of judges (in-front of an audience of thousands) they have been told that they are great by the x factor team and that they have what it takes to make it all the way! You can almost compare it too a Victorian freak show the exploitation is just as severe but on a much larger scale! They care not about the emotional welfare of their contestants!
There was one particular episode where a woman called Zoe Alexander Protested against the judges belittling her performance and choice of song saying "You told me to sing a Pink song! I didn’t want to sing a Pink song, you guys told me to sing a Pink song."' The judges then replied 'we never told you to sing it!' Zoe then proceeded to go berserk and throw her microphone and to anybody watching it really seemed she had a few screws loose. But after doing a bit of research it turns out she was referring to the producers of the show who did in fact tell her to sing the awful song informing her it would definitely get her through to the next stage! And as i suspected her out burst was edited so she would appear as some crazy lady wrongly accusing the judges! The editing was ridiculously obvious to me and just proves they will go to extreme lengths to set people up for a fall and humiliate them. People who had also saw this woman Zoe live in concert claimed she was amazing and suggested the show had used auto tune to distort her vocals. Sounds a bit far fetched but i wouldn't put it past them auto tune can be used to make vocals sound worse as well as improve them and last year i definitely spotted a bit of auto tune being used on some of the auditions to make them sound better so they could justify their choices! It is TV
THE REAL AUDITION PROCESS
A lot of us really believe the acts just line up outside and then go on stage to audition in-front of the judges..Well that is definitely not the case and i should know as i auditioned myself years ago.
Those auditions you see on telly have all been planned ahead of time and in fact you have to go through several preliminary rounds to even get up on that stage. A round of first auditions is held in front of producers months before the show is aired these are open auditions that any one can attend.
The auditions themselves are not televised, but shots of crowds waving and "judges' cars" arriving are filmed and later spliced in with the televised auditions shot later in the year. The televised version misrepresents the process by implying that the entire huge crowds all perform to the judges.The production team supply the crowds with "home-made" signs. Should you pass the pre-auditions either for reasons of talent or for the potential of making entertaining television. only the best and worst of the auditions actually in-front of the judges get aired. Camera shots take up to 6 hours to record before the auditions are started, with the production team constantly misleading the auditionees. Which explains the tantrums you see people have on stage, when the average person off the street is given clear encouragement by the production staff of the country’s biggest talent show through two rounds of auditions, they will obviously react when being publicly humiliated in front of millions of people.
MY EXPERIENCE
When i auditioned I saw people with terrible voices get through and people with voices better than mine get denied! I auditioned in Manchester we waited for over 6 hours in the old Trafford football stadium until finally i got my chance. Dermot o'leary made a brief appearance 3 or 4 hours into the time we had been lined up waiting, starving, wet and cold. He was filmed repeatedly saying things like 'welcome to Manchester 'we were encouraged to shout various phrases and do Mexican waves. Meanwhile the camera crew scanned the crowd for interesting people to film.
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| looks great doesn't it? |
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| 100% not as fun as it appears on TV! |
When we finally got into the stadium, there were lots of little boxes lined up around the perimeter of the pitch at the bottom of the stands. Each little box with so called production staff/music teachers or professionals ready to listen to you sing for 30 seconds or less and decide whether you were worthy or not. We were all directed to different sections and different rows, thousands of people poured in to be auditioned, the seats were very steep and uncomfortable. people were strewn every where in corners and toilets practicing, screaming. shouting and crying. We were also informed if we dont make it we can rant to this pod cast about why we should have been chosen, they will then look back at the videos and some of us may be recalled if they are funny? i did find that very odd at the time but not as odd as some of the contestants particularly one lady who was very large and looked to be dressed in a wedding dress! The three people that went before me were very good vocally but none returned with a ticket this really began freaking me out i turned to my sister who was really just fed up and over the whole situation. Frostbite and hunger had taken over and i think it was safe to say she really didn't care if i got through or not at this point!
Then my number was called i entered the box there was a man and a woman on two very high chairs sitting directly in-front of me, thousands of people behind me in the stadium and lots of other people auditioning in boxes to the left and right of me. They requested that i stand on the chalk marked x on the ground and asked me why i wanted to be on the x factor and what i was going to sing, then they both remarked about my tattoos on my feet. I then sang one verse of at last by Etta James (here is me actually singing the song if you'd like to hear it) whilst their eyes scanned over me and they whispered to each other. They then said congratulations and gave me a golden ticket.
I arrived for my second audition and saw lots of camera crew in the waiting area filming every one we were instructed to pretend that the crew was not there. This time there were only about 60 people, i was informed we all had second auditions on different days. I was the first to be called in to audition in-front of the producers and was shown down a corridor along with a few others to different doors with seats outside, i waited what seemed an eternity butterflies in my stomach, i saw people that had been called after leaving the mystery rooms crying and upset, this unsettled me. Eventually my name was called and i entered the small room, there were two blonde girls seated behind a large brown desk one of them was wearing a big blue fleece and not much older than i was at the time. (19). They proceeded to ask me why i want to be on the x factor? what it would mean if i won the x factor? how would the x factor change my life? and other similar questions. They then asked what i was singing and why. I explained my song choice then began singing i was very nervous and asked if i could start again they agreed and i sang somewhere over the rainbow by Eva Cassidy. They then asked what i sang in my audition and asked me to sing that which i did. A few moments later they said congratulations and asked me to go to the next waiting area.
I was seated next to the window overlooking the city of Manchester with a young Chinese guy clutching a clipboard and i can only describe him as a journalist/intrusive information digger! Over the next 30-40 minutes this young man intruded on every personal bit of information he could, heart brakes and aches, loves and losses,jobs, school, family, fights, deaths. He asked lots of leading questions, prompted and teased. There was no stone left unturned and again the infamous question 'why do you want to win the X factor and what would it mean?'
At this point i was exhausted i also felt sorry for my next door neighbor who had offered to give me a lift to Manchester as i live in Birmingham and my parents were away. I hadn't realized there would be more than one audition that day and I was constantly texting him to apologize for the wait, as the hours went by.( I think it was 5 in total.) After my Spanish inquisition i was then shown to another waiting area through even more corridors and down more stair cases. This time five of us were seated outside of a very large board room where i could see two people sat behind a long desk and a camera directly in-front of them and behind them. Waited a long while again to be seen and we were informed these people were the most important as they were from the record company the winner would ultimately be signed too. Not nerve racking at all then!
Finally it was my turn i walked in confidently but for some reason became very nervous when they both began asking me questions not once taking their eyes off me! Again the question of my tattoos popped up they all seemed very interested in body art or maybe it was just my body art? I also became increasingly aware of the camera filming me, after a brief conversation i was asked to sing and began so. I think they actually looked at me once through out my whole performance and spent the rest of the time looking at thier notes and talking to each other when i actually finished they both looked up in unison for a brief moment and said thankyou, i then walked out and that was it.
I was told i would receive a call if i was successful and a letter or email if i wasn't, i didn't receive a call, a letter or an email. To be honest i was not bothered at all when i arrived home i just couldn't wait to tell my family what a fix it was!
THE TOKEN CRAP CONTESTANT!
Every year without fail we have the worlds cheesiest contestant, with rubbish vocals make it through to the live shows usually mentored by Louis Walsh! It's literally a guarantee and needed for them to keep their ratings high and people tuning in!
We have had the likes of Jedward the huge quiff-haired twins from Ireland. Who couldn't sing or dance bless them yet were chosen over thousands of other contestants to be in the top 12.
There was Chico a Moroccan singer born in wales. He managed to make it to the quarter finals even though Simon made a dramatic (staged) exit when he was put through. He couldn't sing to save his life but began to be more popular when he opted to sing more self-mocking songs. Even getting a number one hit with a song he first performed on the show 'it's Chico time'
I wholeheartedly believe that the voting is fixed and the show determines whose going home hours before hand even days. The public vote is just a way for the show to make money and keep ratings up. There is no way for example James Arthur and Union J could possibly be in the bottom two like they have been, thus meaning more people voted for Christopher Maloney (aka orange face) murdering 80's classics then they did for a young sexy guy singing modern songs with great vocals and his own spin on it or a young boy band doted on by millions of little girls! Be real! I was not born yesterday and i know that it's just not possible, they have now even resorted to putting the favorites in the bottom two sing-offs as a last resort to get more people too vote. Its almost as if they are bullying us into voting to save our favorite. Supported by the judges claims that enough people didn't vote and they need more people to pick up the phone! Fuck off you great big bullshitters!
THE X FACTOR CLOSET WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
So every year for the last 8 years we have had the pleasure of watching the X factor and we always hear so much about the success stories of 1 direction, JLS, Little mix and Leona Lewis. But there were a lot more winners then that and most of the success stories weren't even the winning acts. So where are they now?
2004 WINNER STEVE BROOKSTEIN the jazz and soul singer can be seen singing round the corner from the Victoria train station for just 12.50 a ticket (bargain)!
So now we know the shows manipulated for more views and the shock factor, purposely edited and exploits the vulnerable. Everything is staged and premeditated, for them it's all about the adverts and the ratings. They dig into the past of contestants to use their sob stories to secure more views and head lines, its the biggest money spinner on Saturday night television. There are three auditions before you even meet Simon Cowell so we've established that they put rubbish through on purpose just for entertainment value then publicly slag them for our entertainment. The results are all a fix so the show seems unpredictable, yet so predictable to me at the same time. It's safe to say there is nothing REAL about reality TV shows and you can be talentless to enter talent shows of this caliber. But after all that's said and done when your in on a Saturday night with nothing better to do you can't help but tune in! More than likely as much as it pains me and as much as i slag it off i will probably be tuning in to next Saturdays show will you?
© Copyright 2012. Sinead Willis & Lauren price/WottheWot All Rights Reserved.
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