The ruthless truth behind the X-Factor

Times Journalist Caroline Scott digs behind the shimmering feel-good veneer of Britain's most popular entertainment programme - The X-Factor and it is not pleasant. If we are honest with ourselves we all know the entertainment industry is ruthless, and more so because it attracts a significant share of naive and delusional folk, which makes it almost brutally ruthless, and X-Factor it seems behind the scenes is no different.

Caroline's article What happens to The X Factor runners up? talks to runners up over the years and unveils a litany of duplicity, delusion and ultimately despite their best efforts a sad gradual decline into obscurity for most of those interviewed.

It is hard to get the full story on all who have gone through the X-Factor conveyor belt as a combination of restrictive contracts and the fear of being permanently black-listed by the industry leaves many contestants fearful of speaking out about their time on the show, but some do:


Steve Brookenstein (Winner 2004)

“Simon kept saying, ‘I know what I’m doing,’ by which he meant, ‘I know what sells.’ But it sounded like karaoke to me. I was offered £12,500 to go away quietly, and when I didn’t take it, life got very difficult. My website came down, there was a lot of negative publicity…”

Niki Evans (fourth, 2007)

"I kept trying to tell Leon [Jackson, winner, 2007], ‘Yes it’s great you’ve got a £150,000 advance and they’re sending cars to Manchester to come and get you, but what you don’t realise, sweetheart, is that you’re paying for them."

Andy Abrahams (runner-up, 2005)

“Well, actually, I wasn’t really a binman, I just helped a mate out for a couple of months” — had been playing pubs and clubs for years.

Ben Mills (third, 2006)

“Every time someone buys my album I get 0.2p. The manager got 20% of my advance and 20% of every gig I did, and the record company took another 12.5%. Still, all I’ve ever wanted is to make a living out of music, and I’m doing that, but there was a point when I certainly felt I’d lost control of my life.”

Sharon [Osbourne, then a judge] wanted me to stage a walkout one week to generate a huge tabloid story and get me votes. When I refused, she didn’t speak to me again. Simon always pre-warned me if he was going to spice up the show a bit by slagging me off, but I’ve never forgiven Ray [Quinn, second, 2006, now playing Danny in Grease in the West End] for crying during the semi. I offered him 50 quid not to, but he’d made up his mind. You could almost hear the old ladies at home reaching for their phones.”

Ray Quinn may have won, but Donal McIntyre is the real winner

It was pretty obvious from the beginning that in terms of talent former child actor Ray Quinn was head and shoulders above the other celebrities in ITV's Dancing on Ice. His extensive dance training as well as stints as a roller blader meant he took to the ice like a duck to water (if that's an appropriate simile).

For all his technical ability he never really made an emotional connection with many of the viewers, there was no sense of a journey of achievement and even accusations of excessive smugness .

It was seemingly a procession to his anointment, which it is how it turned out. However there were real winners like Donal McIntyre who was clearly struggling on the ice in the first few week but had blossomed into a competent skater by the end of the series. This, I think, is the magic of these shows, the transformation, the ugly duckling into the beautiful swan.

Donal faced Ray in the final after former Liberty X singer, Jessica Taylor could only grab third place. Despite a competent performance in the final it was not to be.

Kudos to Donal for getting all the way to the final and showing the country what a can-do attitude can achieve.

He was equally gracious in using the opportunity to call for knighthoods for Jayne Torville and Christopher Dean, who have been overlooked for years while knighthoods are being dished out to less deserving characters like disgraced RBS boss Fred Goodwin as he hinted at.

Dancing with Ice : It's only entertainment folks

It looks like another John Sergeant type situation is developing on ITV's dancing on ice. We initially thought Todd Carty was the new 'John Sergeant' but we were wrong bubbling away under the radar was Coleen Nolan and she has turned out to be Dancing On Ice's 'John Sergeant '.

Admittedly she was never as dire as John was on Strictly Come Dancing, but she has been clearly outperformed skating-wise by a least three of the celebs that have been eliminated namely; Zoe Salmon (former Blue Peter presenter), Roxanne Pallet(Emmerdale actress) and Melinda Messenger (Model and TV presenter).

No surprise them that Internet fora and newspapers are questioning whether Coleen deserves to have got this far, claiming her quality of skating is far below that of most of the peers and her continual stay demeans the programme.

Please! Why do people forget that this is ultimately an entertainment show and if Coleen entertains folk then all power to her and long may she reign on the ice. At 15Bytes we would love to see Coleen win rather than the ever-smug and annoyingly capable Ray Quinn .

Ellery takes one 'ell of a tumble....

...and is out of Dancing on ice.

Once Todd Carty went, Ellery Hanley was vulnerable and was certainly top in our books to go next.

As many have pointed out it is far more difficult for the celeb men than it is for the women and none more so than the huge ex-Rugby international more used to crunching tackles than swanning around in a leotard.

And so it proved to be, Ellery and Melinda Messenger ended up in the skate-off having finished bottom once the Judges votes and the public phone in vote had been added up.

Ellery's tumble in the skate-off did not help matters and the Judges voted 4-1 to send him home.

Interestingly Coleen Nolan squeezes through on a very average performance and I am beginning to think we were wrong all along maybe Coleen Nolan is the new 'John Sergeant'!

And lastly Ray Quinn, young, good-looking, very competent Ray Quinn. We aren't loving him. if we wanted proper Ice-Skating with no drama, no slip-ups, we would watch re-runs of the Winter Olympics.