XFactor Controversy - The Rylan Clark Debacle

Well lovelies, today I was going to tell you about my date last night (I’ll tell you about my date tomorrow, suffice to say that this guy was tiny and I felt like I was out with a Polly Pocket!) but my friend Tony thought I really should cover what’s going on in the UK’s XFactor at the moment.  Now, I know that over half of you, my lovely readers, aren’t from the UK so probably won’t be aware (or care) what’s going on in our XFactor, but it’s so bazaar that I don’t think the fact that it’s not happening in your country will make it any less amusing.

Firstly, let me just say that I’m not usually a fan of these types of shows, but for the very first time I watched Britain’s Got Talent this year (when a dog won!) and actually quite enjoyed it (not the dog winning ... the show in general).  So thought I’d watch XFactor and see if I could actually enjoy that.

Well, I can’t really comment on the talent from previous years, but I’ve got to say that not all of the talent that the judges have taken through to the live finals this year actually have any talent – which is a shame because there were some really good people at the auditions that apparently weren’t good enough to get through. Go figure.

Anyway, there is one in particularly that seems rather unfathomable, his name is Rylan Clark and I really cannot for the life of me figure out why Nicole Scherzinger (who’s is mentor) took him through to the live finals (well I can actually, it's all about the ratings).  Before I go on to his singing (if you can call it that) let me just mention his ‘look’ and more than that ... his overall ‘campness’ and lack of command of the English language. 

Now I have a number of gay friends and even they say that he takes campness to a whole different level.  He’s so over the top that he’s incredibly annoying and it really doesn’t help that he has an annoyed Essex accent that makes him sound doubly unintelligent.  In his first audition, he had dyed long blonde hair with a very ‘shaped’ black beard (very odd) and more facial fillers than a sandwich deli before the lunch time rush.  He's also one of those that seem to have a speech impedement in that he can't say 'th' so every word that has a 'th' is replaced with a v or f eg "I fink wiv vis programme I gotta take my singing more serious"  What?  So annoying.  For some unknown reason, he then got through the original auditions and through to Boot Camp (with a whole new look – I’ll get to that in a bit) and then incredibly through to Judges Houses – unbelievable – and that’s where I’ll pick up the story again. 

His new look ... I’m not sure how to describe it ... he’s had his hair cut and dyed jet black and his beard is even more tailored (he actually looks like a cartoon character ... The Mail Online likened him to Dastardly out of Dastardly and Muttley – I can’t say I disagree) but what got me the most what how ‘affected’ he was when he did his audition ... he had some weird sort of warped Kylie get up on with a hooded top, shorts and bare feet.  I can’t really put into words what I mean by ‘affected’ – it’s quite a common term where I live – I guess it means someone who thinks an awful lot about themselves without good reason.  Here’s his audition see what you think for yourself...
 

 

After this audition, Nicole picked him to go through  to the next stage and his response was off the scale and unbelievably odd.  I think the amount of fillers he has in his lips doesn't help with his ability to articulate either.  See what you think...

 

Who behaves like that?  WHO BEHAVES LIKE THAT!  I really don’t get it.  He should be ashamed of himself ... I had to turn over channels because I was cringing so much.  When I was looking for the clip to put in this post I actually couldn't watch it again.

So that brings us up to last night’s show.  As you know, I was out on my date but couldn’t fail not to see from my Facebook timeline when I got home that something had happened on the XFactor show that evening.  It turns out that this Rylan and another really good singer, Carolynne Poole ended up in a head to head at the end of the show.  Now, let me just point out that Carolynne, who is being mentored by Gary Barlow, can actually sing really well.

To summarise what happened, Louis Walsh had the final vote as to who stayed and who went.  He originally said Carolynne then back tracked and put it to the public vote and unfortunately, she didn't win.  It’s been alleged that he was told to do that by producers because they wanted Rylan to stay in because of all the publicity and controversy he generates (well afterall, the story has been on every morning show today and is splattered across all the papers ... and I'm talking about it here too!).  Gary Barlow then stood up and stormed off the stage and I really can’t blame him.  It was all very dramatic.

All in all, I know it’s only a game show but it seems such a shame that people with genuine talent are being over looked in order to gain ratings from this ‘joke’ contestant.  I really have to show you the audition of someone that was chucked out who has the most amazing voice.  This is the first audition of Joseph Whelan who was rejected at Boot Camp.
 

Unbeliveable!  How can you choose the joke act, Rylan over real talent.  It does put me off watching in future I have to say, when it looks like results are so obviously being manipulated (allegedly!).

Right lovelies, that’s me for today ... I’ll tell you about the date tomorrow.  Until then, have a lovely day and be fabulous.

Lots of love

Jx