Niki Evans: X Factor Nearly Broke Me!
It would seem that Susan Boyle hasn’t been the only casualty of reality TV Simon Cowell style. In a revealing interview with the Daily Mail former X Factor star Niki Evans has told of how she felt exploited by the producers of the show.
Niki’s dad died shortly before she auditioned for the show, a fact which she feels the producers played a lot on.
‘They spent three hours literally shouting at me to sing Dance With My Father Again live on the show, with the instruction to cry in the middle of it,’ Niki said.
‘I was in floods of tears, saying: “You can’t make me do this. It’s sick.” I would have completely broken down on live television, in front of millions of people, if I’d sung it – but that was what they wanted.
‘At the end of the day, it’s all about making money, encouraging the public to vote. It isn’t about talent or the people taking part. I don’t think Simon knows half of what is going on, even though it is his show.’
‘One time I refused to say on camera that I was desperate to win,’ she added. ‘The producer shouted at me: “Well, f***ing pack your bags then and get out.”
‘It was intimidation of the worst kind, and I think people ought to know what goes on behind the closed doors.
‘The aim is to make your story as emotional and tear-jerking as possible, and with me they would spend up to two or three hours trying to make me cry. There was an agenda every week, and they knew what they wanted you to say – it is all manipulated.
‘They even took me back to see my father’s grave, and I was just in pieces. I was so overcome I couldn’t breathe, but they got the film they wanted. I used to shout back “I’m not crying today, don’t make me”, but they would keep on at me.
‘Sometimes when I came off after singing, they would say: “Don’t you think you’ve let your father down?” They knew just which emotional buttons to press.’
Niki also spoke at the complete abandonment she felt when she was voted off the show.
‘The morning after the show, at 9am, I left the house which the competitors shared and that was it,’ she explained. ‘There’s a guaranteed record contract for the winner, but for everyone else you are just booted out and forgotten.
‘Thanks to the support of others, I am going on tour in October and I have a new album out. I have survived, but The X Factor nearly broke me.’
The big question here is why didn’t Niki pack her bags and leave? She is not a child but an adult and a mother. She could have set an example and walked from the show, her doing this may have made producers think twice before treating someone in this manner again.
Chat about this on the Unreality TV Forum »
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June 9th, 2009 at 10:46 am
hmmmmmmmmmm. i dunno see, we all know the producers do pile on the sob story etc, but i think this is exaggerated. why would she come out and say now? I mean im sure the producers would be scared of people who are strong enough to shout back at them in the way that they will tell everyone how they treat the contestants…i dunno im sensing a weird feeling. lol.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
It seems very convenient that she decides to talk about this
when she has a album out and a few months before she goes on
tour. If it was really that bad for her she would have walked
during the show and told her story then. She must have told
the X-Factor producers her story in the first place knowing
they would use it. Trouble is she has been forgotten and needs
publicity to sell her album, she needs to remember without the
show she wouldn’t have an album or tour. Personally she is
making herself look silly.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Niki hasn’t been forgotten.
I know a whole bunch of people that have alot to do with her and i can tell you for a fact she’s doing brilliantly, without having stories to tell.
Anyone who knows Niki will know what she said is true.
Good Luck with your Album Nik, you know we’re all behind you
June 12th, 2009 at 10:07 am
This isn’t the first time contestants have spoken up about the way they have been treated. I have heard allsorts over the years and it is true what these people are saying. The reasoning behind the way they are treated is more obscure and not easy to define. In the long run its about what makes television programmes interesting to watch. Cringeworthy television in todays age is watchable by millions.
Breaking out with the way she has been treated on the show will not have any bearings on cd sales or what her fans think of her voice.
The fact that Nikki has a contract means she is very lucky not everyone who was in the show got one, and it is this she needs to concentrate on. Unfortunately for Nikki any profits from sales of the album must also include a percentage to the television and music promoters for the show as without she wouldn’t even be known. Such is the nature of the industry you always have to pay for what services you have used.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Dear Niki,
BooFriggenHoo!
You felt pressured and mistreated and you did nothing about it until you did not win. You could have walked, you did not. You could have complained, you did not. Why is that?
Your complaints are hollow.
June 21st, 2009 at 2:44 pm
I don’t think any complaints from contestants are hollow. What I do know is that because the contestants are engaged in a competition of this nature it is a new experience for them. Think of it like this where else would a regional singer ever get this kind of marketing and promotion without becoming a contestant?
There are genuine critiques of reality talent shows which are true, but unfortunately there is no remedy for them. If folks must audition than it is obvious that they will be herded like cattle, they will feel pressurised to deliver by the tv companies and lets face it. Programmes cost millions to make and the prize at the end of the day is a million pound contract, so they have to be able to cope with a certain amount of pressure.
The commentary we have is also open to interpretation, we only have someones say that this took place, and if handled properly its meaning could be construed as genuine interest by the crew. My father has been long gone dead and if someone said that to me, I would smile and say my father would be proud of me whatever I did.
In actual fact to see this in any other way could be an indicator that someone is to sensitive to survive long in the industry.