X Factor mocks Advanced Driving

[Strangely Brown]

Cows on the road?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPjSnEDimi4

[Horse]

You only have to recall how . . . someone . . . [Hugh Noblett?] was made to look an idiot on TV to begin to understand how cruel selective editing can be - and that was on a programme about driving!

People (subjects, stars, victims?) really are at the mercy of editors - controlled by directors etc. Believe what you see, but remember you won't see much. A rare occasion when it's worth thinking of what might have been

[X Factor Nerd]

If any of your groups' programme secretaries are desperate for speakers, I could give a talk about the whole experience. I am not quite as boring in real life as they made me out to be.

[martine]

Hi 'X Factor Nerd' aka Rachel!

Great to see you here. Hope you find your visit interesting...there's some great people here with loads of experience from different backgrounds and everyone is open to questions/discussion/sharing - we're all still learning to drive...

[waremark]

Hi Rachel. As the X Factor viewer here who started the thread I have long wondered about the manufactured nature of what is presented on the show as 'simultaneous'. I assumed that not everyone who enters gets to audition with the main judges and that they decided to feature you on the main show deliberately to present you as a nerd (I love your username by the way). Am I wronging them? - was it a genuine and fair audition, and only presented like that as a result of cruel editing?

As Horse so rightly recalls, Hugh Noblett who was a very highly respected top end advanced driver trainer (running Cadence, High Performance Course Manager, had worked at Hendon police driving school) was edited to his disadvantage on a specific driving programme.

[X Factor Nerd]

Well, it all started when I saw in my local paper that the X Factor were coming to my home city the following day. I decided to pitch up, never expecting to get anywhere. There weren't the usual crowds you'd expect at these things and I got listened to fairly quickly. I chose to sing hymns in Welsh. I expected to get laughed out of town at that stage, but I could tell from the girls' reactions (members of the production team) that they loved it, and I was given the "golden slip" for the next round when others were being sent home. I filled in further paperwork and had another audition with members of the production team. That was it for the day and they said they would let me know.

To my surprise, I did get through to the next round, which was to be up in front of Simon Cowell and friends, also in my home city (or I wouldn't have bothered). I was under pressure to pick modern pop songs and I had to give a list of five choices. I wanted to stick to my traditional stuff and managed to insist on having Cwm Rhondda as my first choice, All About that Bass as second, then Roar, Irish Rover and Jamaica Farewell. The production team raved on about my "unusual" hobbies, rambling and advanced driving. My boyfriend asked if I was sure I was not the novelty act. Well, with the Welsh stuff alone, yes, I knew I would be, and I thought they would use that to make a fool out of me rather than the driving and the pop song.

So, there is a certain amount of free will, but they do guide you the way they want you. Some contestants have complained about being "made" to sing songs they weren't comfortable with, and the X Factor denies this. Well, they don't force you, but there is very definite compulsion.

[X Factor Nerd]

Also, I can sing a bit better than shown in the X Factor. Watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMnEohkmIB0

(I don't know how to do links on here.)

[waremark]

Thanks for that Rachel, very interesting. And yes, X Factor did not give a fair view of your singing.

[dvenman]

I assume that the answer to cows on the road is BBQ?!

Brake Bloody Quickly ?

[akirk]

I assume that the answer to cows on the road is BBQ?!

Brake Bloody Quickly ?

Alasdair