Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1044434
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 OCTOBER 2018 KARL AZZOPARDI IT'S the show that will give Malta its next Eurovision Song Contest performer, and fame for its winner. But as the first weeks of X Factor give us a taste of the perils of delusion, the 'losers' in X Factor are having to con- tend with the shame of having desired fame in the first place. It is a harsh business, but as- pirants who had to face up to the bluntness of four 'no's from the judges are part and parcel of X Factor's magnetism: not only do viewers get to be swept off their feet by some beauti- ful voices, but they also get to snigger, laugh and cringe at hearing some of Malta's worst talent try to prove otherwise. And once the floodgates of social media are opened wide, so do the memes come in thick and fast: 'trumpet girl', 'the rap- per who sang with headphones in his ears', 'the passionate couple'… or, dealt a less-than- diplomatic observation by one of the judges, 'cake girl'. Cake girl, it turns out, is aware of what has happened since she tried to wow judges with her rendition of 'Que Sera Sera'. "It's an entertainment show, so you have to accept that re- ality. And I knew failure is a consideration when signing up to this… but I felt the judges could have been more courte- ous, maybe sent me off in a dif- ferent way," says Ruth Xuereb, whose peroxide-blonde hair extensions and yellow-and-red costume immediately struck a mirthful note with the judges. "I think that when judging me, they talked and addressed me in a funny way in order to entertain the audience," Xuer- eb says, referring to Alexandra Alden's 'cake' quip (Ira Losco patched it up by insisting Ruth looked like a 'nice cake'). "I think the image I portrayed was not to her liking and she was overly harsh with me," Xuereb claimed. Xuereb, who in her off-stage interview had told X Fac- tor that she had already been mocked for her personal, zany fashion sense, said that despite being slightly offended, she would not take it too personal. "A cake brings people togeth- er… if I can make people smile that's good enough for me," she said. Shown the 'cake' memes that have made the rounds on Face- book pages, Xuereb takes it in as best as she can. "A humor- ous post doesn't bother me as it's publicity for me. What bothers me is when people take things too far," she said. One other contestant who had to be shown the door, says she had a more unpleasant ex- perience. Speaking to us on condition of anonymity, she felt that the second she started performing, she could notice the judges' expressions and body language. And although her perfor- mance was objectively disap- pointing, and – as the memes show – entertainingly so, she thinks she could have been let down a little more gently. "I ac- cepted that failure might be a possibility when I signed up… I knew that I wasn't going to be the best, but there are ways of turning down people without being too rough on them," she said. "Ira was the only judge who took the time to actually care about my feelings, the others just blatantly took the piss out of me," she said, com- plaining that some judges' re- actions fuelled the sarcasm on social media. "Someone said I had given them 'cancer to their ears', others called me a screeching cat, a disgrace to the country, and a million and one other things," she said, unhappy also about the final edit of her performance for the Sunday show. "The first two days after the show aired, I just couldn't stand the hate on social me- dia," she said, admitting she was reluctant to speak to Mal- taToday in the first place. But X Factor's brand is also about sorting the wheat from the chaff, and that often means putting delusional candidates in their place. The music busi- ness… is a tough business. Albert Bell, a University of Malta sociologist who is him- self a musician, suggests that a psychologist should assess whether contestants are fit enough to perform on TV and face the social media onslaught that such 'karaoke' type con- tests provoke. "They should be made aware of the potential psychological and personal effects, failure on live television would have on them," he said. "Full consent entails that you are given every detail to what your participation involves, including the psychological impact on the individual. The music business is a very cut- throat business. Contestants who have never been in it need to be made aware. "In some instances, if par- ticipants are not deemed to be mentally stable by psychologi- NEWS Invitation for the Provision of Professional Services by 'Periti' Reference: EOI / 002/ 2018 / LA EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EO1) For further information kindly visit: landsauthority.org.mt/resources/eoi Lands Authority St. Sebastian Street, Valletta Costly delusion brings home reality of TV talent shows X Factor Malta can extract raw undiscovered talent, but some contestants will end up with the short end of the stick when social media turns your f lat performance into a living nightmare Eggs factor Beware the judges on social media Hairdresser Ruth Xuereb in full Battenburg cake glory (left) but her rendition of Que Sera Sera hurt the judges' ears, especially Alexandra Alden (middle row, left) who coined the confectionery soubriquet ("harsh", Xuereb said). Ira Losco made a smart diplomatic intervention to remind Alden that Xuereb was 'a nice cake'... 'Trumpet girl' becomes a thing (middle, right), 'boy who sang Feels Like Heaven' (bottom, left) becomes one of X Factor's unforgettable performances, although judge Ray Mercieca (bottom, right) tries hard to survive the audition