A FORMER stylist on The X Factor has told of the “dark misogyny” that was rife on the talent show at its peak — claiming every woman on it was seen as expendable.
Grace Woodward, 46, was the fashion director on the hit ITV series in 2010 — the year in which 14 million viewers watched Simon Cowell launch superstars One Direction, Matt Cardle and Rebecca Ferguson.
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It emerged this month that Simon and entertainment company Syco have been hit by legal claims by former contestants who say they did not receive adequate care on the show.
And lifting the lid on the show’s secrets, Grace told how she watched the show’s female stars — including named complainant Katie Waissel — struggle under the pressure.
Meanwhile she claimed many male contestants felt untouchable and said she was left unnerved when One Direction’s Liam Payne asked her to come and sit on his lap backstage.
She said: “Every woman on that show was expendable, and that was implicit in everything.
“I felt that everyone who took part was exploited for financial gain. But what I saw over and over again was the women having a hard time, fighting for their places, while the men did what they wanted.
“Liam was 17 at that time. Towards the end of the show he asked to me to sit on his lap.
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“That kind of behaviour was part of the culture on the show, so presumably he would have considered it normal.
“One Direction were very much seen as untouchable. But the same was not true of the female contestants. I watched them struggle one by one.”
Grace told how hopeful Cher Lloyd, then just 16, got so stressed that during one costume fitting she aggressively waved scissors at a colleague. Despite the incident, she performed on Saturday’s live show as planned.
Show runner-up Rebecca, who has spoken about the damage she has suffered since taking part, was also a concern as she became increasingly withdrawn behind the scenes.
Meanwhile Katie, who had a record deal when she was persuaded to audition, struggled with feelings that she had been let down.
Grace said: “The contestants were under huge pressure, and for me the show was like a circus. It was mayhem — I think deliberately so, because it made it so much more explosive.
“Cher seemed very fragile when she came on the show, but she had no help or support.
“It felt that she was constantly fighting, fighting for her dream, and she became more and more on edge.
“In the final weeks of the show she was so upset about an outfit that she aggressively waved scissors at one of my assistants. But there was no protocol in place for when something like that happened.
“No one came to sit her down and talk to her, or counsel her, because there was nothing in place. I felt very sorry for her.
“Whatever came across on screen, the contestants had no mentors — the judges were only with them when the cameras were rolling. They were looked after by the runners most of the time.
“I was worried about Rebecca as she was quiet anyway, but as the weeks went by she grew quieter. She was away from her children and I could see she was struggling.
“Katie already had a record deal when she agreed to come on the show and she felt let down when she was slated by fans.
“During one show she told Simon, ‘This isn’t what I planned,’ and I thought that said it all. I only saw Simon speak to the contestants when they were on camera or on stage.
“His attitude appeared to be divide and rule. He wanted everyone fighting against each other for his good opinion, rather than supporting each other. And the same was true of the female judges.
‘IT CREATED A LOT OF TENSION’
Grace said she saw judges Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue in tears as they struggled with the pressure.
And she revealed she had a row with Cheryl when they clashed over her costume for Rebecca.
She said: “Cheryl always seemed quite vulnerable. And Simon — though they seemed close — seemed to pit her against Dannii. Everyone knew there was some history there.
“She also seemed volatile. The mask would be on, but then it would slip and you could see that underneath it there was a real sensitivity. In week two we had quite a heated disagreement ahead of the show.
“It was Cheryl, me and Rebecca in a corridor at the Wembley Studios.
“Cheryl told me that the costume wasn’t right because Rebecca needed to look homely and innocent, and we were going back and forth on it.
“It created a lot of tension from that point on. But I always thought that was because of the pressure Cheryl was under in her role. She was singing for her supper as much as the rest of us.
“She had to present her artists in the right way when she wasn’t an agent or a manager. The same was true of Dannii. During the series I remember seeing both in tears.
“You only have to look at how many times the female judges changed during the show’s history to see their places on that panel were not that secure.”
During the series, Grace enjoyed a reported romance with eventual winner Matt Cardle.
She told how it came after the wannabe spent a night in her London flat after turning up in her neighbourhood unannounced.
And while he escaped without reproach and went on to date show dancer Sarah Robinson, Grace said she felt belittled by the show’s production team and executives for the rest of the series.
She said: “To this day I don’t know how it became public knowledge when all that happened was Matt stayed at my flat once. I have even wondered if I was set up because of the way it happened.
“Things at that point became difficult for me. I felt like I was being shamed on a daily basis. I can remember Simon stopping me in the corridor and telling me, ‘You’ve changed.’ It was a really strange moment, because that was it, he didn’t say anything else.
He didn’t care enough to speak to me about it properly.
“Then two of the executives stormed up to me and yelled, ‘This ends now’. It was really unfair because there was nothing to end.
“We weren’t in a relationship — we’d never even been on a date — but they didn’t care about that
“No one ever asked for my side of the story or if I was OK about it. I was deeply shamed and I felt it was all my fault, when in fact I didn’t do anything wrong.
“I still feel deeply shamed today. But to my knowledge, there were no repercussions for Matt. Days later I was told he was dating one of the dancers. The attitude there was, ‘Boys will be boys.’
“Weeks later Matt had a bad week on the show and sickness was blamed for his poor performance, but I was told he had partied until the early hours one night with a member of Syco staff.
“But that wasn’t a problem. I told Simon long before the show. But he still let him perform.
“He gave him a bit of a roasting in his comments but that was the end of the matter. If it had been one of the girls, I feel they would have been made to pay a much higher price.”
Grace added: “After the story about Matt and I having an affair, the way some of the other men involved in the show treated me changed. That was when Liam began paying me more attention.
“When he asked me to sit on his lap it was light-hearted. But how many ordinary 17-year-olds would ask that of someone working with them in a professional capacity? But no one said a word.
“To me it was always evident that the One Direction boys were treated differently. They were set apart from the rest from the start.
“Unlike the other acts, who shared the styling team, they always had the same stylist. And the show clothes all had to be obsessively pre-approved by Louis Walsh, who was mentoring them.
“They were the first to get their own rooms when they became available. So it’s not surprising that they never seemed as vulnerable as the other teenagers.”
‘MY SHAME NEARLY DESTROYED ME’
After the show finished in December, Grace was asked to return for the 2011 series.
She told bosses she would sign up only if she was paid a higher fee — which they rejected.
Weeks later she was shocked when it was falsely reported she had been fired from the show.
And she told how the fall-out from the reports irrevocably damaged her reputation and ended her career. She went on to suffer a nervous breakdown, and even attempted suicide.
Grace, a campaigner for Women’s Aid, said: “After that I appeared on one more series of Britain’s Next Top Model but I wasn’t the same person. I felt traumatised, and I have felt like that for ten years.
“The X Factor might be gone now, but I’m speaking out because I worry that the misogynistic, exploitative culture has morphed rather than vanished.
“It’s taken me a long time to get to this point to be able to talk about this. But I want to, because if people, especially women, don’t speak out about how they are treated it becomes normal.
“My shame nearly destroyed me. I wasn’t a weak person when I signed up for the show — I was a strong woman at the pinnacle of my career. But the show was a vortex, a black hole.
“My experience on it broke me and left my career in tatters. And I wasn’t ready for that. No one warned me. I wish to this day I’d never gone on the show.
“So I want to give that warning now. No one should ever have to accept their boundaries being crossed or compromise for a job.”
An X Factor spokesman called the allegations unsubstantiated and said: “The well-being of everyone involved in any of our programming is paramount.
“We have thorough and robust duty-of-care protocols in place to provide support for anyone who may need it, including psychologists on hand to provide expert opinion.
“If we are made aware of any concerns, we treat the issue seriously and investigate immediately.”
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