There was a lot of talk last year about the X Factor’s move to ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ style auditions. Many felt it was unfair that the show’s nervous contestants, many of whom were just 16 years old, should have to perform immediately in front of massive crowds.
Those criticisms haven’t been taken to heart, though, and it has now been confirmed that the X Factor 2010 will include live auditions – because it’s thought they lead to better ratings.
“The auditions were criticised but the series as a whole felt much bigger, borne out by the ratings. It was the most successful yet.”, a spokesman for the show was quoted as saying.
Normally when you hear complaints about X Factor boot camp it’s those who didn’t make it complaining that they should. This year is different though, with those who attended complaining conditions were “a nightmare”.
The hopefuls complained that during the six-day boot camp they worked from 6am until 10pm, with just £10 for food. At lunch they were taken to a church hall, to be fed ’soup-kitchen’ style. One 18-year old, who left despite being asked back after the first day said:
“They made us sit in the holding room for hours, sometimes eight, while they filmed. You weren’t allowed to rehearse, there was no TV, you couldn’t talk. They even took your jewellery if it was too noisy.”
Were you at the X Factor bootcamp? Would you have loved to be there, even with the harsh conditions? Leave your comments below!
One of the most popular acts from the ‘terrible auditions’ part of the X Factor was Onkar Judge, with his knee-splitting rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song”. Now it’s been announced that Onkar is to release his debut single, “Who’s the Judge?” when X Factor returns on 17th of August.
Onkar was the star of the series 3 finale (well, apart from Leona of course..), so it’ll be great to see him finally getting some recognition.
It seems that this year, not only are the judges auditions being performed in front of a live ‘Britain’s Got Talent’-style audience, but boot-camp is too!
If you’d like to visit bootcamp to watch rather than sing, you can sign up for free tickets at The Applause Store. Boot-camp takes place at the Hammersmith Apollo this Saturday, the 1st of August, and like the competition is open only to those aged 16 or over.
