A former X Factor contestant has opened up about her experience on the ITV show, claiming she has been living through "hell for years" after "terrifying" treatment on the programme. Rebecca Ferguson from Liverpool appeared on the television music competition franchise, which was produced for ITV by Thames and Syco Entertainment, during its seventh series in 2010.
She came in second place on the show and then went on to find success as a soul singer and songwriter, with hit singles such as 'Nothing's Real but Love', 'Glitter & Gold' and 'I Hope'. On Twitter on Tuesday evening, Ms Ferguson claimed that she was bound by "multiple NDAs" but felt like she couldn't "continue to not live in [her] full truth".
In her tweets, the singer claimed that contestants were forced into contracts without independent legal advice, "mentally manipulated and abused" and were "forced to sign to a management company". Her post added that she had emailed senior leadership of ITV including chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall asking for an investigation into their reality shows including codes of conduct and post show aftercare.
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In response, ITV has said that the welfare of participants is of their "highest priority" and that the broadcaster had responded to Ms Ferguson with information from producers regarding welfare, aftercare, legal advice, and management at the time of her participation on the show. It comes after it was announced that ITV's boss Ms McCall would be questioned by a group of MPs from the UK Government's Department of Media, Culture and Sport committee next week. MPs have insisted that the questioning is not "a witch hunt about Phillip Schofield" after he stepped down from ITV and admitted to an "unwise but not illegal" relationship with a younger male colleague.
Dame Caroline Dinenage of the Conservative party told Sky News on Tuesday that the purpose of the meeting was to ask wider questions about workplace culture and practices in the wake of Schofield's resignation over the affair.
In her Twitter thread on Tuesday evening, Ms Ferguson said: "I’m bound by multiple NDA’s but I cannot continue to not live in my full truth, being silent is worse I’ve lived through hell for years.
"11th March 2021 I emailed the senior leadership team of ITV including Carolyn McCall asking for an investigation of reality shows including codes of conducts, post show aftercare and freedom of choice of management.
"On the 24th March 2021, ITV COO Sarah Clarke came back apologising about any personal bad experiences but declining to investigate any further - assuring that there is commitment to have these procedures in place already and insisting that they follow a Duty of Care Charter.
"Interestingly they indicated that all parties including legal teams were independent of each other so that constituted providing independent legal advice. [Dame Caroline Dinenage] please ask for an independent inquiry, interview myself and ALL previous staff, and witnesses 2004- present what you’ll uncover is beyond terrifying!"
In another tweet shared later on Tuesday evening, Ms Ferguson shared extracts from an email she claimed to have sent in which she detailed her experience on the TV programme. "Some of my experiences are in some ways unbelievable," she wrote. "And I would not wish this on anyone, hence why am getting in touch with you all - I appreciate you were all not in your current positions and didn't have the oversight in any way with my particular experience.
"However, I believe that ITV now has an opportunity to put things right to ensure safeguarding protocols are adhered and furthermore I would like you to consider conducting an internal investigation for the conduct on the shows spanning from 2004 to the present, by interviewing all former contestants and employees to verify the facts I have stated above."
On Wednesday morning, Ms Ferguson then went on to claim that no investigation had been taken place after sending her complaint both to ITV and Ofcom - the UK's communications regulator - back in 2021. In the tweet, she wrote: "Email to ofcom 21/03/2021.
"I was refused by ITV and OFCOM, no investigation was taken place and my concerns appeared to be fobbed off. I am open to communication should they now wish to follow up with my private complaint now that I have made my complaint public." In response, OFCOM says it exchanged correspondence and met virtually with Ms Ferguson in 2021.
Attached in the tweet, the singer shared a screenshot of an email that she sent to both organisations, claiming that she had sent a formal complaint through the post and that she had filled in an online form as well. She then went on to cover the key reasons she had made the initial complaint, including claims that contestants were forced into contracts without independent legal advice, "mentally manipulated and abused", as well as claims that contestants were "forced to sign to a management company with no freedom of choice" amongst other things.
In the conclusion of the email, the singer expressed her concerns over the "future safety of contestants" and wanted to ensure that "adequate safeguarding measures" were put in place at ITV. In response a spokesperson for ITV said: "ITV is committed to having in place suitable processes to protect the mental health and welfare of programme participants. We have continued to evolve and strengthen our approach, and we expect all producers of commissioned programmes to have in place appropriate procedures to look after the mental health of programme participants as well as their physical safety.
"Those processes and procedures will differ from programme to programme, to ensure that the welfare of all participants in ITV programmes is appropriately safeguarded. Whilst the practical detailed processes required to manage participant welfare in each programme must sit with producers themselves, ITV as a broadcaster and commissioner of content provides guidance on what we consider to be best practice: in the selection of participants before filming, in supporting them during filming, and in continued support up to and after the broadcast of the programme.
"In our correspondence with Rebecca we stressed that the welfare of participants is of the highest priority at ITV as reflected in our Duty of Care Charter and the detailed guidance, introduced in 2019, we now have available for all producers, to ensure that the welfare of participants is adequately safeguarded on all our programmes. ITV responded to Rebecca with information provided to us by the producers, detailing their arrangements regarding welfare, aftercare, legal advice, and management, at the time of her participation."
A spokesperson for Ofcom said: "We exchanged correspondence and met virtually with Ms Ferguson in 2021. We listened carefully to the extent of her concerns about the treatment of contestants during her time on The X Factor in 2010.
"During these exchanges, we explained our powers and how our broadcasting rules apply in detail. We confirmed that new rules introduced to protect participants in programmes were not applicable to programmes broadcast before 5 April 2021. We also clarified that our statutory remit, as set by Parliament, means that our fairness rules do not extend to contractual matters or conditions imposed by broadcasters on participants, and only to content as broadcast.
“We suggested to Ms Ferguson possible routes to escalate her complaints to ITV and the appropriate authorities.”
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