+++ UPDATE: DID KATIE PERFORM WITH JEDWARD LAST YEAR ON X FACTOR?+++
Controversy surrounding 24-year-old X Factor finalist Katie Waissel has intensified today after it emerged that she may have broken X Factor rules as a track featuring her vocals was released last week.
The latest furore concerns a song entitled Moving Mountains (see right – the full song has been repeatedly removed from YouTube, but we have a short clip), the tenth song on the self titled album The Private Life of David Reed, which was released on Chamberlain Records, a Florida based indie label on November 9th.
Reed wrote on his official Myspace Page on May 5th 2010: ‘There are some songs that you define. There are some songs that define you. Moving Mountains is one that defines me– as a songwriter and as a person. I had the life-changing event of meeting the lovely Katie Waissel and she was kind enough to lend her voice to the song. I’m looking forward to you hearing it.’
For several months now, Katie has been under intense scrutiny by many fans who believe that she is part of a larger scale fix, partially because of her historic connections to the music industry, and also because of the way she has been continually saved by the judges despite (often) turning out below par performances.
There is no secret that Katie has being attempting a career in the music industry for many years now, and last year starred in her own Internet television show called Green Eyed World, sponsored by Coca-Cola brand Sprite.
X Factor rules do not automatically exclude singers who have had some form of musical success in the past, but to the Beehive’s understanding, they do state that any current contracts or musical relationships with companies must be declared before entering the final stages of the show.
The Sun newspaper today report that Katie ‘was supposed to have cut all links with Chamberlain Records after Simon Cowell’s lawyers spent thousands of pounds to pull her out of a US record deal.’
However, in a rather confusing turn of events, they also quote an X Factor official saying, ‘We were unaware of this [the David Reed song] until today.”
Hmm? Well both of the above statements can’t be true, that’s for sure.
Katie Waissel (as Lola Fontaine) with David Reed
And that’s what’s making the X Factor fans mad … the confusion in this Katie Waissel affair. How much did / do the X Factor know about her musical background, have they intervened at any stage, and to what extent (if any) is that influencing the way she is treated in the competition?
On Sunday’s results show, Katie found herself in the bottom two for the fourth time this series, but for the first time, the judges allowed the public vote to count, and Aiden Grimshaw was eliminated at the ‘deadlock’ stage.
Immediately, fans took to the forums, chatrooms and Twitter crying ‘fix’ as they simply couldn’t believe that Grimshaw had received the fewest votes. In previous weeks, several sources have reported Katie has been bottom of the voting pile by some margin, and if these leaks were true (and it must be stressed they are uncorroborated by X Factor officials) it is difficult to see why Katie’s fortunes would have so dramatically changed in the past seven days.
For now at least, the Katie Waissel ‘fix’ claims rage on, but the evidence behind it, and the X Factor’s response to the raft of allegations remain less than conclusive.
The Beehive has contacted both the X Factor and Chamberlain records for comment on this issue, but as of yet has received no reply.
X FACTOR IS OFFICIALLY FIX FACTOR! there is NO way aiden recieved the least votes!! He is amazzzinnggg and hope he gets a record deal. No longer watching fix factor!!! its a disgrace!!