Now, I’m not really one for the ‘sleb bashing, I try my best to have a “live and let live” mindset. But every now and again someone in the public eye gets my really gets my goat, and these days you can’t really get much more public (read: attention seeking) than on The X Factor.
Yes it’s back. For me The X Factor heralds the END OF SUMMERRRR (said in booming announcer voice) and Christmas being just around the corner. I’m not ready to give up on summer yet, sure it hasn’t even started in Ireland for feck sake! This was my grumpy mindset as I was half watching the first X Factor installment last Saturday eve. Yet however grumpy I was, or can be, I do have an ounce of tact when it comes to dealing with others. Unlike a certain Spice Girl who was a guest judge on the panel – Mel B. Scary Spice certainly lived up to her nickname for the poor auditionees.
X Factor Logo copyright Talkback Thames, ITV. Liberty taken all my own.
After a genuinely funny anecdote (of how he had a Spice Girls cutout in his house) Curtis Golden played guitar and sang very well. He received praise from the other judges, and a standing ovation from the audience. However Mel B “found it all a little bit irritating, the overdoing the comedic personality thing.” Cue all the other judges looking at her as if she had sprouted a number of hydra heads. She was duly dubbed “Grumpy Spice“. Luckily Curtis sailed through with a “yes” from all the other judges, but instead of being elated he said in a following interview he was “disappointed” after Mel B’s thoughtless comments.
The gentle 82 year old, Louis Dilke, braved the no doubt gruelling audition process to perform Adele’s Make You Feel My Love, and sang it very sweetly. The other judges, the audience, and the whole nation squeed at his utter adorableness and vulnerability. The nicest thing Mel B had to say to him was, “I actually wanted to fall asleep.”
Hercules battles the mythical hydra of venomous breath (by John Singer Sargent). Crudely ‘shopped by moi. When you cut off its head, two more appear! How apt.
It’s not even what she said that irked me, it’s the way she said it – with genuine venom and without a jot of care for how it stung the recipient. Some people might say she’s just being honest, but I disagree. Tulisa defended her in a press conference, “I just love her. Obviously there are moments…The problem is that she always tells the truth so you can’t knock her for it so there’s going to be moments when you say ‘did you have to be that honest’, but at the same time she’s telling the truth so you can’t knock her for it.”
No Tulisa. There’s a way to tell people the truth without thrashing their dignity. I’m not one to mollycoddle, and am more than happy to see honesty and criticism dished out where it’s due. For the (too) many years that I’ve been watching X Factor, the judge I agreed with the most was always Simon Cowell. However Simon, like most people, was able to be straight with someone without being nasty. You’re dealing with another human being, the least you can do is treat them with some respect.
At a young girl, who granted didn’t have the best audition in the world, Mel B spat, “I’m going to give you a big reality check, you should not be singing, find something else to do, it’s a waste of time for you, it’s a definite no from me.”
Here’s your reality check Mel B. You got where you are today, not due to your talent, but because you were in the right place at the right time. If it wasn’t you, it would have been another random girl. Your life could be very different right now. You could be eking out a meager existence day to day like the rest of us. If you hadn’t been extremely lucky, it might have been you standing on that stage with a dream of a better life, like those people you destroyed.
Been there, done that, now buy the t-shirt.
Ah how good does it feel to get that off my chest! TL;DR, In my opinion a certain Spice Girl and X Factor guest judge needs to learn some tact and count her blessings.
What did you make of it ladies? Do you love the X Factor drama, or are you sick of it all and blocking it out for the next 4 months? Do tell!
