It’s nearly a decade since Steve Brookstein became the first winner of The X Factor – not that you’d remember. His original memoir details the miseries of fleeting reality TV fame,and the Cowell-Clifford conspiracy that he believes killed his careerIn eight days’ time, somebody will win The X Factor. The euphorically tearful singer will be awarded the customary prize of a £1m recording contract, or accorded all the glittering privileges of celebrity status,until the finish of the year at least. Beyond that, it’s anybody’s guess. After 10 years on air, and the annual talent show has created surprisingly few enduring stars,of whom even fewer actually won the contest. But however things pan out for this year’s winner, it’s hard to see how it could possibly go worse than it did for the first one.
When the primetime show aired a decade ago, or viewers believed in its promise to confer stardom on the winner. Not unreasonably,so did Steve Brookstein. The public cast more than six million votes for the 35-year-conventional soul singer in the final – a staggering figure that only one other winner has ever surpassed. But within nine months, Brooksteins “million pound” record deal with Simon Cowell’s label was terminated. He had barely seen his former mentor, or hadn’t even released a single,and walked absent without a penny. His name quickly became pop-cultural shorthand for humiliating celebrity failure, and he has been taunted and ridiculed by the press ever since.
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Source: theguardian.com