PULLING STRINGS
X Factor winner Ben Haenow claims show ‘puppeteers’ contestants after Misha B slammed show for portraying her as a bully
X FACTOR winner Ben Haenow has claimed the show ‘puppeteers’ contestants after Misha B slammed the show for portraying her as a bully.
Ben, 35, won the 2014 series of the singing contest against bookies' favourite Fleur East.
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The singer has now spoken out against the show that made him famous by claiming the contestants are at the producers 'mercy' when it comes to editing.
His remarks come following 2011 contestant Misha B said she felt suicidal after show judges called her 'a bully' live on TV.
Speaking on about The X Factor controversy, Ben said: "It’s all in the edit man, the way that they can make you look.”
He told hosts Joanna Chimonides and Stephen Leng: “You can do and say what you want but when it’s edited into a sort of half an hour, hour programme, you’re at their mercy really.
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"It’s definitely something that I saw looking back, having gone through the year with some of those people and then seeing how they were almost portrayed on the TV was completely different to the person they were, so you’ve got to be careful with it.
"But it’s out of your control when you’re on the show."
He went on: “I think they want to kind of try to create characters and I think that’s the unfortunate thing about it.
“As much as they kind of portray it as these normal people, they’re definitely looking for characters.
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“You kind of see the same thing year in year out.
“There’s always kind of like an emotional one. You know what I mean?”
Ben’s comments come after former contestant Misha B revealed she had experienced suicidal thoughts after Louis Walsh and Tulisa Contostavlos called her a 'bully' on X Factor.
The singer, 28 made the claims on Instagram accusing show producers of giving her the stage name, Misha B to deliberately play into the bully storyline they'd created.
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"Before I went on to the live show, they proposed to change my name to Misha B," she said.
"Little did I know, this was to play into their corrupted agenda for the 'Misha Bully' they had already orchestrated for this."
The Manchester singer also accused producers of feeding lines to judges Louis Walsh and Tulisa, which leant into stereotypes about black women.
Misha was called 'over-confident and feisty' by Louis and Tulisa, and said: "These judges spent about 1% time with me and their contestants, apart from Gary [Barlow] and Kelly [Rowland].
"My understanding is you've created this whole narrative of me being over confident, because you are Black and Black girls are not supposed to be confident," she said.
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"'You look like a younger Tina Turner, you look like a younger Chaka Khan', why can't I just look like me? Why is it always a comparison for Black women?"
Misha then added: "Moving on to Tulisa – if you go back and watch the clip carefully, and I’ve gone back and watched the clip carefully, this woman had every line scripted before she even opened up her mouth.
"I wasn’t fooled. I’m not fooled. I know what it is here. I know exactly what it is here. And, you see, back in 2011 they got away with it. They got away with so much s***."
Following Misha’s racism claims, The X Factor has now launched an investigation into bullying on the show.
Former judge Tulisa Contostavlos hit back at her accusations that she was part of scripted bullying and a sabotage 'storyline' in 2011.
Former X Factor star Janet Devlin reveals she was 'very upset' to hear Misha B 'bully' accusations
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She apologised for what she described as an "emotionally immature" row but denied being racist.
However, in a statement to MailOnline an X Factor spokesperson said they were "very concerned" about her claims and are "committed to diversity and equality".
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They said: “We are very concerned to hear Misha’s comments regarding her experience on The X Factor in 2011.
“We are currently looking into this matter and are reaching out to Misha to discuss the important issues she has raised.”