Gypsies from across the country gather for The Traveller Factor – with Paddy Doherty acting as judge Simon Cowell
With TV companies queuing up to take it on, the Big Fat Gypsy Wedding star reckons it could be 'bigger than the X Factor'
MOVE over X Factor! Wannabe superstars from Britain’s travelling community took over a theatre in Surrey last weekend for The Traveller Factor - where Paddy Doherty stood in as judge Simon Cowell.
Performers gave their all in front of a cheering crowd and a panel which also included Paddy's fellow Big Fat Gypsy Wedding star Thelma Madine.
And reckons the event, held on Saturday at the , could be bigger than the X Factor.
He told The Sun Online: "I can see it taking off, big time.
"I think it will go bigger now – word of mouth has got out, and I’ve never seen better in my life, it was the bee's knees and it was sold out.
"The quality, it was like, the same as X Factor, but for travellers it was bigger as it wasn’t expected.
"If it hit the telly once, it’d become bigger than any ‘Factor’ to win. It’d become so big, millions of viewers would just love it - ‘Let’s see what we think of these gypsies, these travellers’ – and they’ll just see so much talent it’ll be unbelievable.
"If it went on telly one night, you wouldn’t have seen anything like it, it’d blow everything out of the water. It would be good, I’d love to see it."
The show was organised by married mum-of-two Romani traveller Polly Worner, from Somerset, who revealed TV companies are queuing up to broadcast the event.
The 36-year-old said: "We’ve got production crews interested, ITV are one. It’s in the works at the moment, we are speaking about it – they want to come and film our Christmas special that we’re having.
"If Simon Cowell got in touch and got involved – you never know!
"I can definitely see it taking off and becoming the next X Factor. Down the years I’d like to change it some years to the Travelling Factor and involve different countries, where anyone in the world can apply.
"I’ve turned away a lot of people who aren’t gypsies and travellers from Poland, China, even Australia – they were willing to come over and take part. So this will definitely be an option in the future."
Paddy agreed: "I think at Christmas it will explode bigger, it will definitely go global."
Polly said having Paddy on the panel really made the evening and admitted the former bare-knuckle boxer and Celebrity Big Brother winner's judging style was "less scary" than Simon Cowell's.
She said: "Paddy was absolutely brilliant, he’s so humorous and he made the contestants feel really at ease.
"I asked if he and Thelma would be involved on future shows and they said they would – they were very up for doing it, especially Paddy. It really made the evening having him there.
"He’s well respected in the traveller community and he was just the right man to have on my show."
Paddy said it was "a thousand times better" than he expected it to be, and said he'd love to sit on the panel if it hit the small screen.
He added: "I’d do it for nothing because it’s pleasure. You feel good after it. I was a judge and I’m videoing half of them on my phone, because it was good craic! Half the time I was up clapping and cheering.
"As a judge, with me what you see is what you get. From the judges you’ve got to take the criticism and take the abuse, that’s what we’re there for, to be honest.
"Simon Cowell, he’s sharp and blunt – ‘You’re boring, you’re the weakest link’, and all that. But some people, when they’re young, you give them, ‘Hey you’re a diamond of all diamonds but you’ve just not been cut yet’."
Polly said the competition was a great opportunity for the talented travellers who had been knocked back from other talent shows in the past due to their gypsy heritage.
She explained: "Some of my contestants have been on certain adult competitions and they got on really well, but when they get in the third round and they’re asked where they’re from, their background, and they said they couldn’t get on any further.
"One was actually promised, they said ‘Yeh you’re going to make it into the next round’, and they said ‘What accent have you got?’ and he said ‘I’m a gypsy, traveller’, and he said he didn’t hear anymore from them.
"So I think it is hard, especially entering competitions, when they know what background you got, I just don’t know what they’re scared of. It just puts barriers up.
"With my competition, at last they have the chance to get up on stage and perform, especially in the theatre setting – that’s what means a lot to them."
Paddy also spoke of the difficulty faced by travellers wanting to pursue a career in music.
He said: "How hard it is is unbelievable. Where did you ever have a traveller singing?
"The only traveller that admitted it, but he was never brought up in a caravan, he was more like a country man, was Shayne Ward.
";Travellers are very reserved, they keep on the back foot, a bit protective.
"To see travellers doing what I saw last week, I was just amazed."
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Polly is already busy planning the next Traveller Factor which will be a Christmas special, giving all the contestants an opportunity to get back together and put on a show.
Despite the event turning out to be a great success, Polly admitted it was a struggle getting the show off the ground as many venues refused her once they heard it was a traveller event.
She explained: "I had to really fight for it as the residents really kicked up a fuss. They didn’t want us there.
“They were putting stuff online saying, ‘Whose bright idea was this?’ and ‘We don’t want the gyppos here, pulling up in their caravans’.
“It was quite upsetting really because there is good and bad in any community, but we just don’t seem to get given a chance.
“As soon as you tell venues we're gypsies or travellers, they either say they’re fully booked, or they just won’t let you have it, or they cancel on you.
“I had to go to seven meetings in Surrey, and I live a two-and-a-half hour drive from the theatre, and I had meetings with the council to try and keep the venue.”
Polly said she feels many people are under a misconception about the travelling community and hopes this show will show them for who they really are.
She recalled: "I said to the manager after, 'Look, there was no trouble tonight was there?'
"It just goes to prove, to our community and to the public, that we can hire a venue and be like normal human beings.
"There was no risk of people turning up with their caravans – I put a note in with ticket sales telling people not to. But the whole local community fear this, they tar you all with the same brush.
"I’m a Romani gypsy, in a settled community. My girls go to school local, I work local, I live in a house. They don’t really understand there are different types of community, and I think they need to learn about that.
"There was one production company I turned away because they couldn’t give me it in black and white that they wouldn’t make us look bad on TV, so I couldn’t let them in as I couldn’t take that risk."
The judges crowned singers Theresa Delaney, 11, and 20-year-old Frankie Smith, both from Surrey, as the winners.
They each took home a £500 prize as well as a trophy.
Female winner Theresa sang a version of Sam Cook’s A Change is Gonna Come, while Best Male Frankie thrilled the audience with a 1960s medley.