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Reality victims show and tell
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June 11, 2009
By Richard Price
He is the undisputed king of prime-time television, with the power to turn anonymous members of the public into superstars.
With up to 19 million viewers tuning in to his reality television shows, Simon Cowell revels in the image of a benevolent dictator handing out million-pound record deals to his grateful charges.
But as the fragile Susan Boyle emerges from therapy to take her first tentative steps on the showbusiness ladder, programmes such as Britain's Got Talent - and the hugely wealthy impresario behind them - are being seen in a new light.
Two years ago, Niki Evans was another vulnerable finalist, on Cowell's The X Factor.
Her father had just died when she took part and she was left aghast at what she saw as producers trying to exploit her sob story.
"They spent three hours literally shouting at me to sing Dance With My Father Again live on the show, with the instruction to cry in the middle of it," recalls Niki, 36.
"I was in tears, saying: 'You can't make me do this.' I would have broken down on live television, in front of millions of people, if I'd sung it.
"It's all about making money, encouraging the public to vote."
And Niki claims that when she dared to disagree with the producers of the show, the reaction was often quite surprising.
"One time I refused to say on camera that I was desperate to win," she explains. "The producer shouted at me: 'Well, f***king pack your bags then and get out'.
Tear-jerking
"The aim is to make your story as emotional and tear-jerking as possible, and with me they would spend up to two or three hours trying to make me cry. They even took me back to see my father's grave, and I was just in pieces … but they got the film they wanted."
Of course, entry into competitions like this is voluntary, but there is not much evidence of the support that you might imagine from a show where people are told their dreams can come true.
"The morning after the show, at 9am, I left the house the competitors shared and that was it," says Niki.
"There's a guaranteed record contract for the winner, but for everyone else, you are just forgotten.
"Thanks to the support of others, I am going on tour in October and I have a new album out. I have survived, but The X Factor nearly broke me."
Niki is starring in the Bill Kenwright production of Blood Brothers in the West End.
Five years after Steve Brookstein won the debut series of Cowell's The X Factor, the honeymoon is over.
The 40-year-old singer is at the forefront of a growing band of high-profile contestants who feel cheated.
"Trust me, with Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor, there is only one winner: Simon Cowell," says Steve, who was so bruised by his experience, he barely performs.
"It's only now, five years later, that I am getting back on my feet. Since the programme, I have suffered from depression and I comfort ate.
"After I won the show, I was signed to Simon Cowell's label, Syco, and was persuaded to put out an album of cover songs, which to me was like a karaoke album. I wanted to sing my own songs."
His efforts bombed, and just 12 weeks later he was dropped by the record label.
"When I won The X Factor, the public thought I would be given a million-pound contract," he adds.
"But ask my accountant if it ever arrived!"
While some of the claims made by Steve are no more than unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, there is a strand of thinking that is reflected by several fellow contestants.
"Watching Britain's Got Talent in 2009, my heart was in my mouth," he adds.
"I found it nasty. What's the aim of the programme? To get the public voting on the phone.
"That's where money is made for both ITV and Syco. It's all rehearsed and thought out beforehand to make the maximum amount of money."
Sour grapes? Not according to Damon Scott, who came second in Britain's Got Talent two years ago.
"Most of the judges' comments are rehearsed and scripted - but they can change at the last minute," says the 30-year-old variety performer.
For Damon, the promise of a lucrative career on Cowell's record label proved hollow.
Given that his act consists of a dancing glove puppet called Bubbles the Chimpanzee, this is perhaps understandable.
Yet he offers an insight into the nature of Cowell's relationship with the show. It is, first and foremost, a business arrangement.
"When you come off stage after Britain's Got Talent, you think you will be a megastar," he says.
"In reality, life is much harder."
"Backstage, there are lawyers with documents. All the finalists have to sign a form saying they will be taken on by Syco, but when it came to it they didn't want me. It was a blow."
More concerning for most, however, is the treatment meted out to children.
Last week it emerged that Ofcom, the UK's independent broadcasting regulator, is to look into the issue after three of the youngest Britain's Got Talent contestants, Hollie Steel, Aidan Davis and Natalie Okri, were reduced to tears live on TV.
Questions are being asked about how much say these vulnerable contestants have in their participation.
It's an issue that becomes all the more troubling on hearing of the experience endured by Bessie Curzons, who was 11 when she was on Britain's Got Talent in 2007.
Crying
She reached the final and was tipped to challenge the eventual winner, Paul Potts, until she was bluntly told by Simon Cowell that she had chosen the wrong song to sing - even though her father suggests it was the show's producers who chose the song.
Andy Curzons says: "In 2009, when I saw the children like Natalie crying, I felt very strongly they shouldn't have been put in that situation."
"What has happened to Susan Boyle is awful. To whip up excitement, she was told in the final: 'It's make or break for you'. Well, it has certainly been 'break' for her. It seems she is psychologically too frail to cope and they must have guessed as such from her behaviour."
Bessie, happily, is enjoying a blossoming career. She is in a new film called Nativity and can be seen in the West End production of Oliver.
Ben Mills, a 29-year-old singer who came third in The X Factor in 2006, says: "The contestants of The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent are just statistics. In the early auditions, you are herded around like cattle. The production team is there to make a TV show, and the aim is to make money. The more of a sob story you have, the better chance you have of making it into the final.
"It's about getting the public to vote for you.
"You know what the judges are going to say, too, because it is all rehearsed backstage. I knew Simon was going to criticise me and say I had long hair like Farrah Fawcett, because I heard him practising. By the time of the 'live' final, you've performed your act three times before the judges.
"In 2009, I think Britain's Got Talent pushed it too far. The two children in the final shouldn't have been put through because they didn't have a chance, but they had the sympathy factor and would get people voting."
This damning analysis, it should be noted, is delivered by one of talent show television's success stories.
After The X Factor, Ben Mills was signed to Cowell's label on a five-album deal, turning down an approach from rival record company Polydor in the process.
It's a decision he regrets, having tasted success with his first album but subsequently being dropped by Cowell's label.
And this, it seems, is the recurring story of most contestants on prime-time talent shows. With a few notable exceptions - Paul Potts, Leona Lewis and Will Young foremost among them - the story is one of brief success before being usurped by a new generation of would-be stars.
Few have experienced the highs and lows more clearly than brothers Andy and Carl Pemberton.
Andy, 29, and Carl, 24, came third in The X Factor in 2005 as the group Journey South.
Their first album reached the top of the charts, but its follow-up flopped and their most recent release failed to trouble the UK charts - although they have a following in South Africa.
"We walked out of there thinking our careers were made. We went home to Middlesbrough to find a crowd of 20 000 people. But it doesn't last, it just dies away," says Andy.
"Every year, on Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor, they need fresh 'stars'. We expected to have the world at our feet, because that was how the programme had built us up.
"I'd say to the Britain's Got Talent finalists from 2009: enjoy your moment in the spotlight. It won't last." - Daily Mail
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