X Factor contestant, Zoe Alexander, auditioned eight years ago in 2012, has recently made a YouTube video claiming that X Factor producers manipulated her, formulating a character and a fictitious storyline, making her into a Pink Tribute Artist, setting her up to fail, leading her to have a massive breakdown on stage.
The X factor producers wanted to portray Zoe Alexander as a ‘Pink’ tribute artist, and apparently wouldn’t let her take part in the show unless she sung a ‘Pink’ song. Zoe was told to be at the venue for 6am yet no one was actually there, suggesting that the X Factor producers wanted her to be infuriated in time for her audition, so that her emotions were tested so that her audition was a complete mess, to show for some great reality tv. They have been said to create a situation which makes great reality television drama, yet exploits Zoe Alexander by leaving her stuck into a room, where she wasn’t allowed to leave, go to the toilet, get some food, or even have a drink. She was left there feeling frustrated and confused for hours on end with her family and friends in one room, despite being told to arrive at 6am. She was told by a runner or producer called ‘Olly’, to do whatever she could to make the judges say yes, and if they said no, she was told ‘to cry and beg on’ her knees, conveying the fact that the ‘X Factor producers were wilfully directing’ her to ‘break down on stage’ illustrating their ‘ultimate intentions’ for her audition to fail miserably, having her character portrayed as ‘an emotional fool’, and therefore not reflecting Zoe’s true personality and character.
In the YouTube video, Zoe argued that the judges were a part of this supposed ‘Pink conspiracy’, and that they acted in a way that was ‘hostile, horrible’ and ‘awful’. She said that it was ‘unbelievable’ and was ‘put off from the start’. Zoe compared all the judges (Gary Barlow, Louis Walsh, Tulisa and Nicole Scherzinger) to being like four executioners, saying that the portrayal of these judges on the television was and is completely fabricated. Louis Walsh supposedly asked Zoe what she was going to do with the prize money if she won, yet the X Factor competition doesn’t end with money given as a prize, therefore leaving her confusing and infuriated. Walsh’s comments were not broadcasted on television. She claimed that the judges already knew what song she was going to sing, as her audition was orchestrated by both the judges as well as the producers. The broadcast footage of Zoe’s audition had been apparently changed and edited in a way that made the audience agree with the X Factor judge, Tulisa about Zoe’s audition. The audience could be heard cheering as Tulisa stated her opinion, that she was finding Zoe’s audition ‘confusing’ as she thought Zoe wanted to find her own identity, yet the audience were supposedly in silence as Tulisa was talking, Zoe stated. The audience’s reaction had been changed and fabricated, to support the X Factor producers’ storyline of how Zoe’s audition should go.
Zoe says that she was ‘bullied into being Pink all day’ and that her style of hair at the time of the audition was apparently not what Pink was actually wearing at the time, claiming that Pink adopted the ‘funky’ hairstyle months later after she did. The X Factor contestant was also put into an audience queue as a ploy to impress the judges, yet the winners of X Factor are apparently planned beforehand. She said that ‘Thames Tv and Sony Records decide who will be successful long before the auditions take place’ affirming that ‘Simon Cowell’s X factor is not a fair competition’ and is ‘not a competition at all.’
X Factor’s well-known and loved television presenter, Dermot O’Leary, Zoe said looked her up and down and said “Oh, I get it”, which Zoe states affirms that he was in the knowledge of her planned to fail audition. Yet the much loved, ex-Love Island and X Factor Presenter, Caroline Flack was said to have supported Zoe, saying that she can leave if she wanted to. Zoe now thinks Caroline was trying to save her from being manipulated and exploited by the X Factor producers. Zoe claims the X Factor producers wanted to tire her out and break her down which they successfully did, if indeed this whole audition was fabricated. Producers had turned off her microphone leading her to have a breakdown due to being manipulated all day. Her breakdown is shown on television as a huge tantrum, conveying her as an aggressive, violent character yet she was throwing the microphone to the floor, as she was actually trying to tell the audience of how she was massively manipulated by the producers, yet she couldn’t due to the microphone being turned off. She felt like her ‘skin was on fire’.
Zoe also claims that she has ‘much more tea to spill in part two’ of her exposing X Factor on her YouTube channel, ‘Zoe Alexander.’ Part Two has now been uploaded to her YouTube channel.
If this is really how X Factor producers treat their contestants, should there be an investigation into whether the producers really do fabricate their contestants’ auditions? Are they many more X Factor contestants out there staying silent, hugely embarrassed and hurt due to their fabricated audition? Is Zoe Alexander lying about the nature of audition? I guess we’ll find out more in part 2 on her YouTube channel.
If Zoe’s experience is just one of many, if this really is the true nature of X Factor, should it be cancelled?
DISCLAIMER – I want to publicly state my support for all, and stand with everyone who feels mistreated, or feels wronged within or by the industry. I am in sympathy for those who have has had a massive impact on their image and career. However, I do realise there’s two sides to every story and that the producers haven’t commented yet.
