X Factor, or sex factor?

X Factor judges past and present have had varying fortunes in the media recently. Where Tulisa has emerged from the release of a sex tape a ‘feminist icon’, opinions of Simon Cowell have dropped dramatically.

Cowell has facilitated the release of an unauthorised biography, written by Tom Bower, sharing details of the various women he’s slept with and his relationship with the talent show judges.

The celebrities on the judging panel of The X-Factor and Britain’s Got Talent are represented as aspirational figures, seemingly having achieved what is a dream career for hundreds of thousands of young people in Britain. It is implied that a judging position on one of these shows mean that you’ve reached the top of your music career. Unless you’re Louis Walsh.

What Cowell’s supposedly ‘unauthorised’ biography has revealed is that a position on the judging panel for a woman establishes you as Cowell’s latest ‘toy’. He describes his affair with Minogue as eloquently as a character from The Inbetweeners: “It was Dannii’s hair, the sexy clothes and the tits.” He added: “There were a few bonks and then it petered out while I was in America.”

Despite seeming un-gentlemanlike and coming across as a slightly desperate old man, the real damage is done by Cowell’s relationship with his fellow female judges, having said of Dannii: “She’ll be the new toy.” This leads us to believe that Dannii’s success as an X Factor judge was purely down to her willingness to sleep with her boss. He expressed a similar sentiment towards Cheryl Cole, admitting that he had feelings for her, although his feelings were not reciprocated. Perhaps Cheryl was shipped to the American show and later sacked from the British one simply for refusing to sleep with Simon.

> It appears that to achieve longevity and success on shows like X factor, sleeping with Simon is a must, even for well-established female figures.

It appears that to achieve longevity and success on shows like The X Factor, sleeping with Simon is a must, even for well-established female figures within the music industry. This isn’t just the case on his TV shows; it has also been alleged that Sinitta’s relationship with Simon only began at the time he promised to help her music career get off the ground.

This creates a damaging trend, where the message to young girls auditioning on Cowell’s shows is that their female idols succeeded by sleeping with the show’s producer. Those seeking a way into the business could be left thinking that all paths to success rely on relationships with the men that control the industry.

The blame doesn’t just lie with Cowell, however. It’s hard to know how female judges who have slept with Simon to maintain their status as judges feel able to look young girls in the eye and tell them that success on the show depends on talent alone. Their success didn’t seem to.