The 2016 winner of the ITV singing competition said that he and the other contestants were ‘pawns’
An X Factor winner has claimed that ‘no one protected him’ as he asked Simon Cowell to have a conversation with him about the ITV series.
Britain’s Got Talent star Simon is best known in the UK for his time as head judge on The X Factor. The singing competition ran from 2004 until 2008 on ITV, with the likes of Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh and Cheryl Tweedy appearing on the judging panel alongside him over the years.
Click here to prioritise Manchester news in Google from the MEN
The X Factor is remembered for producing a number of the UK’s biggest pop stars of the 21st century, including One Direction, Little Mix, JLS, Leona Lewis, Olly Murs and James Arthur to name a few.
Recent years have seen several former contestants speak out against the series, including 2010 participant Katie Waissel saying she was ‘completely ridiculed’ in internal emails when she was at her ‘lowest point’.
As part of Magic Radio’s new series Popstars at 25: The Story of a Talent Show Revolution, Matt Terry, who won the X Factor in 2016, has had his say on the care contestants received from the series.
“All of a sudden, I looked around and I was like ‘no one here is protecting me – and I think some of these things that are in the tabloids are coming from within’. And I get it now, I understand, it’s all to do with the show.
“The more me – and any other contestant – is in the press, the more scandalous, the more viewers – and we are pawns. I would love to have a conversation with Simon and know how he feels about it today.
“Everyone’s journey has been different, and I’ll speak for myself, but I won’t ever let it consume me. For me The X Factor is … something I did a very small percentage of my entire life.
“It’s not who I am, it’s not my identity and I will never let anyone identify me by that again. I’m an X Factor winner – but I’m also many other things,” he said.
Speaking about reactions to the series at home and around the world, Matt noted: “I feel like – especially in this country I will say – I’ve travelled the world, but it seems that in my own country winning The X Factor isn’t that great.
“Whereas other countries I visit, it’s respected you’ve done such a great thing. Here it doesn’t feel like that.”
Looking back on the songs that are picked, Matt said that he had his audition changed at the last minute and had to quickly compose himself to perform in front of the judges.
He recalled: “It’s all very secretive [the audition process] so I would go and do the producer rounds first and then again and again and again, and I just turned up one time and I didn’t know I was going to be in front of the judges.
“I got there and I was like ‘I’m not really ready, I’ve just got a t-shirt and a pair of jeans on’ and I wasn’t prepared. I’d chosen to sing When I was Your Man by Bruno Mars for my first audition but instead I heard the intro to Stand by Me – they’d changed my song.”
Sharing a similar experience, 2009 contestant Lucie Jones stated: “[Producers told me] This is the song we want you to sing [Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You] please bring three or four back-ups and backing tracks.
“And then just before I sang it Simon said ‘Are you sure you want to sing that song?’ You can see my face going ‘you told me too’.”
During the first week of the live shows, Lucie said she was asked to send in a list of songs for Idols Week. After putting Thriller by Michael Jackson at the top of her list, Lucie was then told she’d be performing Footprints in the Sand by Leona Lewis.
“I just went OK, cool. Not in a million years [would I have said anything]. It’s all good and well thinking ‘maybe I could have said something’ but can you imagine in 2009 a 17-year-old little girl from Wales standing up to Simon Cowell? Absolutely not,” she said.
JLS member Marvin Humes called Simon ‘the greatest TV judge there’s ever been’, saying that he is ‘very good at creating jeopardy with an artist’.
“JLS had no competition as a band that came through the auditions, Simon, I think for the first time, deliberately put together a band of four solo artists just to compete with us.
“Because he knew that we were good but he didn’t want us to know that he knew that we were good,” he said.
Listen to Nicki Chapman on Mellow Magic every Monday – Thursday night from 8 – 10pm. Episode 1 of Popstars at 25: The Story of a Talent Show is available on the Rayo app and Episode 2 will be on Magic Radio at 7pm on Sunday, February 22.