Simon Cowell Changes X Factor Format, Against Contestant Psych Evaluations, Plus Susan Boyle Back on Tour
A couple of items from across the pond here,
Simon Cowell tells GMTV that the auditions for his UK hit competition show, X Factor will be held in front of a live audience.
X Factor auditions were similar to American Idol auditions, with auditioners performing in a room in front of the judges panel.
Also, he admits that Susan Boyle was having such a difficult time on Britain’s Got Talent, he told her she didn’t have to do the final if she didn’t feel up to it.
How did Susan Boyle land on BGT, despite her fragile mental state? Simon eschews psych evals for potential contestants, “What I don’t want to do at the beginning is go through a whole kind of psychological evaluation because I think, for me, that is almost discrimination.”
Last night, Susan returned to the Britain’s Got Talent tour in Glasgow, Scotland, after taking Sunday off.
Explaining the changes to the X Factor format, Simon said:
“I decided that we were going to change the way we do the auditions, for the first time in all the years that I’ve been doing these music shows and certainly on the X Factor, and we made a decision last week that we are now going to do the auditions in front of a live audience.”
He said the decision to change the audition format would help contestants as they would have an audience supporting them but denied it would make the X Factor show similar to Britain’s Got Talent.
I hope Idol producer, Ken “I never met a crappy idea I wouldn’t try” Warwick isn’t paying attention. Holding Idol auditions in front of a live audience would be oh-so lame.
About Susan Boyle,
Cowell said: “Everyone is writing about her, she’s in the spotlight and she found it difficult to cope with and, at that point, even I sat down with her and said ‘Look, if this is getting too much for you, you don’t have to go into the final, no-one is going to force you.’
“‘You do whatever you want, no-one is going to force you.’
“And she looked me in the eye and said ‘No, I want to win this competition, I want to give it a go’ and that was the decision we all made and I thought that she wanted to do it, but it was only at the moment that she lost that it hits you and you go ‘How is she going to cope with this?’ and she found it very, very difficult.”
Regarding her no-show at Manchester Sunday night,
“I genuinely didn’t know what she was going to do.
Our feeling was that there are 10 or 12 acts on the bill, but that everyone, like me said ‘We don’t want to force her into performing but hopefully you’ll enjoy the show’ – it’s a tricky one.”
Erm, Simon, you might want to revisit your psych evaluation policy…
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11 Responses to “Simon Cowell Changes X Factor Format, Against Contestant Psych Evaluations, Plus Susan Boyle Back on Tour”
Always got the feeling on Idol that often great talent was eliminated along the way as contestants were identified as not being able to handle the strain of the competition(josiah lemming). When they made it in to the top 10 and started to show signs of breakdown judges comments were sometimes planned to help them leave the competition(Jason Castro). I do see Simon’s point that trying to evaluate people ahead of time may not be fair. I also can see that when someone who shouldn’t be there is extremely popular(susan Boyle) they may keep them in the competition when they shouldn’t. The more you think about it the more complex it becomes. Had they evaluated Danny Gokey they might have decided he was not ready to compete–they might have made the same decision for David Cook. I am not sure whether contestant psych testing is right or not.
sigh.. Simon Cowell is one of the worst producers ever! He has so many bad ideas! I hate the idea of the live auditions! and I thought the whole idea about a psych evaluation is to make sure that they can handle rejection and deal with other issues that might come up, not use it to discriminate so I don’t think Simon really even knows how to cover that up. Also, if she can’t handle doing 2 songs on tour, I don’t see how they would want to push her to have a music career!
Why? I think, David had the best mindset when he auditioned because he wasn’t going to die if he didn’t make it onto the show.
I think that psych testing should be mandatory when they become part of the Top 24/36. Or should be a prt of the requirements in picking the semi-Finalists for AI and other shows.
Nah. Simon is right. It would be discriminatory.
I agree, phych testing makes a lot of sense. Do you think they do that already for AI? I could see it being required by whoever insures the show. You can just imagine the lawsuit a family would file if their son/daughter hurt themselves or someone else due to the stress (and a Simon comment). I’ve always thought they must do drug tests too, but enough Idolers have talked about their drug habits and issues that maybe that isn’t true.
They absolutely do it for AI. I heard a story (can’t remember where) about Ju’Not Joyner joking with Tatiana that when they ran her psych test through the scantron, it was going to blow up. I think they had them do them either while they were waiting in their rooms, or right after, but before they made the Top 36 decisions.
What exactly is psych testing? Is it a multiple choice thing or is it talking to someone? How useful or accurate is it?
It can be a number of different things, including what you mention. there are also standard tests that they give as part of this. A lot of employers use it now, especially for higher level peeps who make a lot of $$, to make sure they’ll fit the culture, aren’t crazy, etc.
When you consider all the meltdowns that Tatiana had over the course of season 8, I think that gives shows like this a reason to do these evaluations if nothing else.
Auditions in front of a live audience? Interesting. However, in front of the judges, I think it is a terrible idea. Yet, it should be done earlier – in a totally different format.
I think, starting with Season 10, AI auditions should be done as follows:
Stage 1 – Regional auditions – Held in dozens or hundreds of cities, between June 1 and July 31, 2010 (they can be concurrent). Judged by local celebrities (past Idols from that area, radio DJ’s, TV reporters, etc.). Those chosen there advance to the next round…
Stage 2 – Regional finals, aka (Region) Idol – Held live (or short-taped) between August 1 and September 5, 2010. This round is televised on the local Fox affiliate(s) in that region and possibly in an audience. The winner automatically moves on to the next round, and the station picks a few more (to make the bad quota and anyone else they think is deserving). Audience voting could be done for the winner as well.
Stage 3 – First stage with the judges – Held in five cities between September 15 and October 15, 2010. Same as the current judges round, and then it is on to Hollywood.
It eliminates the roles of the executive and other producers, and anyone chosen to go on American Idol would already have to have had stage and live TV experience in recent months. It would not change the main show, except maybe for quick highlights, since that would be before the judges.
It also creates opportunities for many, many more to audition – instead of 50,000 to 100,000, maybe 250,000 to 500,000 could audition any given season.
I guess I’m a little late to the conversation here but…
Were those real?
Established musicians have gone on the show (AI) and said how hard it is to sit in front of the judges…perhaps Simon needs to become more human. IDK.