Only minutes seem to have passed since Matt Cardle was crowned victor of The X Factor, but the relentless talent searching by Simon Cowell and his minions never ends.
Earlier this week, thousands of fame-hungry wannabes snaked around the Manchester Opera House for their chance in the spotlight on this year’s Britain’s Got Talent.
Their ultimate dream? The fame and wealth of Susan Boyle, who first appeared on our screens in the 2009 series.
Waiting to perform in front of Amanda Holden, along with new judges David Hasselhoff and Michael McIntyre, was the usual rag-tag crew — dancers, singers and magicians.
Since talent shows like these became such ratings winners, we have become used to scenes of the great British public desperate for their 15 minutes of fame.
But how many of the auditionees were genuine hopefuls? For just as last season’s X Factor became known as the ‘Fix Factor’, with rules appearing to change by the week, an investigation by the Daily Mail can reveal that not all the auditionees on the show are what they seem.
While some who attend have applied by queuing up for hours at auditions across the country, others have been ‘scouted’ by the show’s researchers — who almost begged them to appear.
Acts which have been invited on to the show are promised they won’t have to queue like the rest of hoi-polloi — and are given guaranteed time slots.
Others are told they don’t even have to do a ‘first’ audition in front of producers (contrary to appearances, every single act is seen by producers before going in front of the judges), but can simply send in a video showreel instead.
One up-and-coming magician, who asked not to be named, was sent an email from a researcher inviting him on the show which said: ‘To make applications easier for people — especially at this busy time of year — we’re now accepting showreels in lieu of an initial audition.
New faces: Michael McIntyre (left) and David Hasselhoff join Amanda Holden on the panel for this year's Britain's Got Talent
‘If you were interested all you would need to do is forward me a YouTube link or DVD of the type of act you would do for the judges if you got to the theatre. If you then got through to the Live Finals you wouldn’t be needed until the first week of May — so the series really doesn’t take up too much time from your diary.’
Other head-hunted acts have been sent contracts tying them to Simon Cowell before even singing a note in front of anyone from the show — or even applying to be on it.
Some have been invited on but only after being firmly told exactly what to wear, and given short shrift for suggesting their own opinions.
One of these was singer K Anderson. He writes songs about urban living and, at a festival last summer, dressed up as a fox for one of his songs. A video of the performance was posted on the internet, and last October he received an email from a BGT researcher.
‘I am not sure if you caught the show last year,’ the email started, ‘but it did really well; it was watched by nearly 15 million viewers and uncovered a huge amount of great British talent.
‘The show is back for a fifth consecutive year and we are more eager than ever to find the most talented people in the country. We are just about to start with our new series and so I thought I’d drop you a line to see if it’s something you may be interested in and if you had considered auditioning for us this year?’
K, 28, from London, says: ‘The email came out of the blue, followed by a phone call. I was surprised because I thought so many people auditioned of their own accord. You don’t expect people to be head-hunted.
‘The researcher was so pushy that it put me off — she said I would be missing such a fantastic opportunity as an artist if I didn’t go on. But she also very much steered me that I had to perform in my fox outfit. I felt that they just wanted to make me into one of their novelty acts.’
Another of the acts approached was put off by the Draconian conditions demanded by the producers from the very beginning.
Stafford schoolboy Sam Hollyman became a minor internet sensation after an impromptu performance with Canadian singer Michael Buble at Birmingham Arena last October.
It was Sam’s 15th birthday, and Michael invited him onstage to sing Nina Simone’s Feeling Good. But when the teenager joined in, the singer was blown away by his voice and joked: ‘Holy s***. I’ve got about five years before Sam appears on The X Factor and drives my career into the ground.’
Sam was subsequently interviewed by American entertainment channel E!, who christened him ‘the next Justin Bieber’. It didn’t take long for BGT scouts to track Sam down and ask him to appear on the show.
‘We were quite shocked,’ says family friend Sophie Davies. ‘We didn’t realise how manufactured it was.’
Before Sam had even decided whether to take up the offer of an audition, a contract with a time slot to audition was sent to his house.
The four-page document states that if a contestant progresses past the first audition stages they agree to an exclusive worldwide recording agreement with Simon Cowell’s company Syco as well as ‘an exclusive publishing agreement’, ‘an exclusive touring/tour merchandising agreement’ an ‘exclusive management agreement’ and ‘an exclusive agency agreement’.
None of the agreements has a time frame — so the contestants could be tied in for their entire career.
‘It would have really restricted Sam,’ says Sophie. ‘Our understanding is that it would have even meant that he couldn’t perform at school or his weekly pub gig.’
Sam and his family decided that the pressure was too much — and he declined the offer.
Others are wary about the invitation to appear for different reasons. Lisa Rollin is part of a professional electronic music group called Blayz, which has been asked to appear on the show for two years running.
Although appearing on the show can up your performance fees, she says, there is always the fear that it will backfire.
Her electronic quartet group, which also sings pop songs, was originally scouted in 2008. ‘Last year the researcher was really pressuring us to go on,’ says Lisa. ‘She called our manager three times in one day and promised to give us an allocated time so we did not have to stand in line.
‘It led to some disagreements in the band as some wanted to go for it and others didn’t. There will always be a part of me that wonders what if, because if you’ve been on television you can add a nought on the end of your fee. But I don’t think it is a show that wants professionals; they want the checkout person from Tesco. They don’t really want to hear about someone toiling on the professional circuit — we don’t have a story.’
Fame-hungry: Thousands of applicants line-up every year hoping to emulate the success of Susan Boyle
Perhaps it’s not surprising that professionals are wary, when some scouting for the show is clearly often about the pursuit of cheap laughs.
Another former contestant to be talent-scouted is accounts clerk Paul Hunn, who appeared on last year’s show as the world’s loudest burper.
Although he holds the Guinness World Record for the loudest burp and has been on shows ranging from Jay Leno in the U.S. to the Paul O’Grady show in Britain, he refused scouts for two years before finally agreeing to appear.
He was surprised, therefore, when the judges voted him off before he had even really started his ‘act’.
‘I didn’t really feel like I had an act, so politely declined to go on the show twice,’ he recalls. ‘But last year they managed to twist my arm.
‘I had to sign a lengthy contract, which I didn’t get an opportunity to read in full, before appearing on the show. I was asked to produce a video of me belching but I didn’t have enough time and referred them to YouTube where there are clips of me.
‘When I finally appeared I didn’t really feel like I got a fair chance at it because it takes a few burps to reach a decent decibel level. I was very nervous and got buzzed off after two burps. I was told very clearly on a couple of occasions by people working on the show that I was not supposed to tell anyone I had been scouted.’
It begs the question – is there anything the producers would not scout to make the programme ever more like a freak show?
But if there is an air of desperation about all this behaviour, perhaps it’s not surprising. The show may still be one of the biggest ratings winners on television, but last year’s series lost more than a million viewers. Acrobatic group Spellbound won partly thanks to the paucity of other competitors.
Cowell himself last year said he found the initial stages of the auditions so boring that he contemplated walking out. ‘There are times when you watch these horrific acts and you genuinely think you can’t go on,’ he said. He is alleged to have told producers that they needed to up their game.
This year, Simon is busy with his launch of The X Factor in America, so is not appearing in the show until it goes live in the spring.
He has been replaced by American actor David Hasselhoff, whose contract was not renewed for a similar role on America’s Got Talent last year allegedly because of his drinking. The immodest actor is said to have stunned producers by insisting on two dressing-rooms.
Meanwhile, Piers Morgan has also been replaced by comedian Michael McIntyre, who has admitted being so nervous about the gig that he has lost two stone to look more svelte for prime-time TV. We’ll have to wait until the show is aired in spring to see if they’re up to the job — and are suitably impressed by the scouted talent.
Of course, some people are simply so enthusiastic about being approached that they don’t mind the stringent demands. One of the acts hoping to appear this year is a schoolboy street dance group called Ignition, who were crowned winners of the National Highschool Street Dance Championships last November.
The group, from Northampton School for Boys, were shortlisted after being seen by producers and are waiting to hear whether they will go in front of the judges in
Birmingham later this month.
‘They were scouted when they were at the national finals,’ explains their dance teacher Alison Clinton. ‘A Britain’s Got Talent scout asked them to audition and we were pleased to do it.’
But although the desperate scouting may have increased for this series, in reality it has gone on for years.
One source from the show told me this week that even the 2009 winners Diversity, who beat Susan Boyle to the title, had been asked to appear on the show after being spotted by a runner while performing at Lakeside shopping centre. ‘Scouting is a secret of the reality show world,’ admitted the source.
‘Britain’s Got Talent is a competition open to everyone. It does not discriminate or offer a more favourable or advantageous auditioning opportunity to any act,’ says a BGT spokesman.
‘Prior to the auditions the researchers are notified of and deal with talent via many avenues, these include word of mouth and the internet, all in line with industry practice.’
It is not, however, a practice its millions of viewers know anything about.
Among the Mancunian crowd that had gathered last week for the chance to get a glimpse of this year’s hopefuls, most were amazed to hear that several of those auditioning had been corralled into attending.
Housewife Claire Howell, 39 from Macclesfield, Cheshire, said: ‘It defeats the object. This is meant to be showcasing talent that hadn’t had the breaks.
While student Michelle Derbyshire, 25, added: ‘I think it’s cheating if people are picked out by scouts. It just isn’t fair.’
Source:Dailymail
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