Tag Archive for Allegations

X Factor – Boot Camp Booze Up

X Factor Boot CampThe X Factor 2011 hopefuls – which includes boy group The Keys and biscuit  factory worker Craig Colton – have reportedly caused chaos at this year’s boot camp hotel. According to Now magazine, the wannabes annoyed fellow hotel guests with their all night parties and binge drinking. Seems it is not just limited to the city centers on a weekend.

The successful auditionees were put up for a week at Selsdon Park Hotel in  Croydon earlier this month, where – helped with a bit (bit is slang for way too much) of booze – chaos ensued.

“The first night’s party lasted until 2am,” a source explained. “The  contestants were given beer and ended up running through the hallways while banging on random room doors. A couple celebrating their anniversary were in tears.”

Other complaints included too much singing from the contestants!

The source continued: “Tuesday onwards, the complaints were only about the  excessive singing, which lasted until 5am all over the hotel, including the loos.

“On Thursday, the booze flowed again as hopefuls partied into the early hours to celebrate the last auditions.”

The boot camp stage of The X Factor will air next month.

As previously mentioned I was concerned that some of the contestants are underage yet may have been drinking. I am also concerned about the X Factors duty of care being ignored in the name of ratings. Again it gives the wrong impression of you can do whatever you want and someone will clean up the mess. We don’t need spin doctors we need TV to be responsible. It is attitudes like it doesn’t matter and it is someone else’s responsibility that contributed to the recent riots on our streets. TV should be held to a higher moral compass as it influences others.

I am not against fun, I am not trying to be a kill joy, but kids are growing up thinking that they bear no responsibility for anything and acts like these just fuel that idea. What happens if a guest had gotten irate and assaulted a contestant? You can imagine the noise made by 190 contestants, even though at the first party 35 were sent home early, that still leaves a lot to create havoc.

X Factor – The Price Of Wanting Fame

This is one post I really hoped I would never have to write but I think it needs to be written. It is 25th August 2011 and 5 days after the first auditions of the X Factor were aired. I like many watched as a young lady called Kitty Brucknell was sent through to boot camp, and since then she has managed to dominate the headlines for what I see as all the wrong reasons.

Kitty Brucknell aka Kimberly Dayle As Britney SpearsKitty Brucknell aka Kimberly Dayle is an attractive 26 year old girl from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire …. so why is she making so much news? Well it began with the fact that she is a professional entertainer, although the X Factor say different, but the fact remains she is. Anyone who knows Kitty will know that she has numerous TV appearances credited to her as well as being seen in the film “Britney Spears Saved My Life”. As has been reported she has been a Britney Spears Tribute for many years hoping to attain the status of her idol. She also does tributes to Lady Gaga and Christina Aguilera, in fact her audition song was a Lady Gaga track.

Watching her audition people used the word quirky to describe her, but I prefer the word manic. I have re-watched the audition and her eyes to me are like those of a rabbit in the headlights, it isn’t nerves or stage fright she has been a professional too long, it is almost like the maniacal gleam of a James Bond villain about to grab world domination. It is a look that I hope I don’t see again in others in the entertainment industry.

Kimberly Dayle - Britney Spears LookalikeWe had the reports of her as a honey-trap, and reports of a near breakdown at the boot camp. The honey trap is merely inconsequential, the breakdown isn’t. We have seen how she has done everything possible to be noticed on TV no matter what the show to get exposure, to try and fulfill her dream to follow Britney Spears, some 33 shows yet it never really happened, that Britney moment just didn’t materialise.

We have seen almost a fixation, to try and look like Britney, and that to me is unhealthy mentally. To that end we now learn of £3000.00 of liposuction to remove 6 litres of fat and carry out some sculpting in 2009. Those who know Kitty / Kimberly know she has never been fat, and we accept that cosmetic surgery is normal for many people but not to the degree of trying to be someone else, unless you were Michael Jackson. We have also learnt of her use of illegal hormone drug hCG. As can be seen on Facebook she shows her super-skinny torso and praises the drug hCG.

In June last year she wrote: “Oh my god. I’ve lost 2 inches from my hips in five days. This diet rules.” She added: “hCG. It’s amazing.” In October she said: “Want a big bowl of pasta to cheer me up but I can’t…Thinking about how thin I’m going to be.” “This diet will literally CHANGE YOUR LIFE. All of those who knows me…it freaking works,” she boasted in December. She added: “I have a six-pack…omg didn’t even have this with lipo. hCG Rules.”

A post in May said “In response to a million texts last night… No I did not see BGT, no, it wasn’t me on there. Have not LOLd so much in a while. Looks like someone needs the HCG diet!”

And in June she said she could not wait “to get to a size zero” adding: “I’m not pressured at all. But I love how my body looks as a 0……hCG all the way.”

Kitty Brucknell X Factor aka Kimberly DayleAlso in June she said the following which points to almost obsession with a touch of jealousy “Just saw a certain x factor winner perform at Westfield…all I can say is that damn I wish I had the same production and backing she does. Take all that away… And you have a cute girl with a nice voice. Kind of depressing and a bit gutted. Wiggling your hips to a song doesn’t make you a superstar…but £10 million quid and Simon Cowell will.

July saw “Just a little over one month since I came back from America as fat as god knows what… and I’m back to my yummy flat tummy! Have joined virgin active – can’t wait to start working out again. I reckon in another month will have Gaga abs!!! :-) thank u once again HCG!!!!”

It is illegal to sell hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) or homeopathic versions, which Kitty claims to take, as a slimming aid. But it is sold in drops, pills and sprays on the net.

It is reported that a close source to Kitty / Kimberly said that the use of the drug lasted only a month and that she was unaware it was illegal yet the time frame of a year very much contradicts that.

I was under the impression that contestants underwent medical and psychiatric screening so why was this obsession picked up. It is a problem, an illness like anorexia or bulimia or self harming, and it needs redressing.

Kitty is getting the wrong type of publicity, she is an influence on others many of whom will be children. Entertainers used to be role models and this is not setting standards it is destroying them. It is damaging to the profession and to the already badly tarnished name of the X Factor.

It is now time to call a halt and say enough is enough. Katy / Kimberly is at heart a wonderful decent person but in pursuing this she is destroying herself. I want to see her achieve great things not fame for part of her on the operating room floor because what is left after may not be the best bits.

I understand people wanting fame but if you do it wrong the price paid is always far too high. I like Kimberly, and she can turn all this around, like anyone who cares about the profession and others I want the best for her.

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© Paul Sims 2011. CEE Worldwide Entertainment Agency

X Factor – Will It Be Fair

With the news that 35 of those selected for the boot camp were summarily dismissed this week let’s take a look at last years X Factor. There were many allegations of fixing and I have put together a small sample of them. I wonder what this year will hold?

First there was the use of Auto-Tune. This is a little piece of technology that can make anyone sound good. Yes it is used in recording studios all the time to make your favourite artists sound wonderful. It came to light in the auditions that this technology was being used. Yes some people were bad but others were “made” to look good by this technology. The X Factor bosses tried to ­wriggle out of it by claiming the sound was altered for ­production reasons. “We do not use and have never used audio technology that would unfairly reflect any ­singer’s original performance,” they claimed. I will let you make up your own minds about that.

My second point is the X Factor contestants are meant to be amateur with no professional representation. No sooner had the final line-up been announced it was revealed that “painter and decorator” Matt Cardle was actually a seasoned musician with an album under his belt. Meanwhile, Katie Waissel was still under contract to an American record label. It is reported that the X Factor bosses spent thousands of pounds getting her released from this shortly before her, supposedly, spontaneous first audition.

We then come to the story of Gamu. At the final audition Katie forgot her words … opps. Cher screeched and hissed her way along like a harpy with a sore throat and Gamu Nhengu’s voice was clear and tuneful, described by many as a delight. So what happened … Gamu gets the boot. Now X Factor bosses claim that this was due to her having visa problems, but at the time, Cheryl said: “I’m sad for her, but I have to stress it did not have any influence over my choice.” So if that is the case why wasn’t one of the others given the boot?

Then there was the altering of the judges categories. What do I mean by that? Well Louis Walsh had been responsible for the over 25′s but in the last season the age was raised to 28. This meant that Louis missed out on people like Matt Cardle who was then mentored by another. It is reported that Louis almost walked because of this but it gave others the people “they” wanted. On the matter the X Factor remained silent.

Next we all remember the Cheryl refusing to vote incident. Usually if a judge has 2 in the losing 3 they vote last so as they can see how the other judges have voted first … in this case Cheryl was asked to vote second and upon refusing the judging went to a majority decision which saved Katie, even though her rival polled many more public votes. Again please make up your own minds and draw your own conclusions.

Then came the great Twitter conspiracy. Katie was in the bottom two again a week later, with one of the favourites Aiden Grimshaw this time the decision did go to deadlock and Aiden lost. The singer complained he already knew he was going as he had read it on Twitter. An X Factor spokesperson said “There was not a leak”

Then there was the Wagner saga. At first, he was a joke. But when Simon Cowell
stopped laughing and ­realised that Wagner was being used as a tool by people angry about the show, it meant it was a matter of time before the eccentric Brazilian went. First, there were the allegations that he was a benefit cheat. Then came the gossip that he was ­getting more votes than some of the favourites, causing many to pick up the phone for the first time. For the first time in weeks, there was also a double eviction – just to make sure they got rid of him. On this subject the X Factor had “No comment”

Then there was the final outrage as the public did not get to choose the finalists despite the official website stating they would. The public were over-ruled and larger-than-life diva Mary Byrne – ahead of ­unpopular teenage rapper Cher in the voting ­- got booted off in a sing-off. In response to the controversy, an X Factor
spokesman says: “The terms and conditions for The X Factor vote, which are available online and referred to on the programme, make very clear that the elimination of a contestant can be as the result of either a combination of the viewer vote in conjunction with the judges’ decision or the viewer vote alone.” It appears “the format” for elimination is decide by “the production team” prior to each show. But of course the viewers aren’t told this so who really knows.

If you want to read more about the Katie saga please take a look at this article. How The X Factor And Sony BMG Fixed It For Katie Waissel, aka Katie Vogel

©2011 Paul Sims. CEE Worldwide Entertainment Agency