seX Factor

Sounds like 'X Factor' is going to be all about sex and scandal rather than singing and talent this year as numerous papers reveal the sex scandals of the talent search.

The Daily Mail and The Mirror have both reported sex romps at Judge Tulisa's  Greek Villa during the "judges houses" stages shot in the last few weeks. The 23-year-old X Factor judge took eight groups to the Greek Island of Mykonos, but enforced a strict policy of no drinking or romping.

But after just two days, "The Sex Factor" broke loose and Tulisa was informed that six of the singers had been caught locked in passion.

Producers found out that two of the girls from one band had slept with two of the boys from another band, while two others from a mixed group had also took part in a sex act.

The N-Dubz mentor was apparently furious over the discovery and said: ‘If they’re just mucking about, just for fun to have a sex when they should be rehearsing then I’m not into that at all.’

Tulisa continued: ‘My villa was purposely higher up so I could see their villa at night-time. 

'I could see who was awake and who wasn’t and I was also listening to see who was rehearsing and who was not’, the tabloid reported.

The judge had made her rules clear from the beginning, as soon as the bands landed on the Greek Island, but didn't seem to be taken seriously.

Despite Tulisa having a party girl reputation during her early days with N-Dubz, she says that she would never go out before a gig and thinks the X Factor contestants should follow the same discipline. The judge has reportedly kicked out contestants for breaking her rules- dont mess with hard candy Tulisa!

 It seems the new breed of X Factor judges are all laying the rules down as Kelly bans booze, sex, smoking and even talking loudly.

Speaking to The Sun, Kelly Rowland revealed she won't be standing for any diva antics (good luck with that one, Kel) and insists hard partying is strictly off limits. Kelly is determined that nothing will ruin her chances of winning, which means her X Factor girls won't be getting up to any of the groups kind of naughtiness.

But are all these rules a mere rouse to boost ratings? Some media sources are reporting a set-up where partying is encouraged by mogul, Si Cowell. Off-stage won't necessarily mean off-camera, as Simon Cowell has apparently decided to get cameras installed in the finalists' bedrooms at the 'X Factor' mansion!

A source said: "Producers want scandal, sex and break-ups" to "boost ratings".

The free alcohol plan is already reportedly in action, with champagne and cocktails flowing at the hotel where the 250 contestants checked in for bootcamp.

There you have it, gone are the days of talent search, this years all about sex, scandal and spirits. This is one journo saying just change the name to sex factor, because ultimately that is all the talentless, unethical and bias "talent search" has left.

-ZB 

Fashion Forward.

The fashion pack headed en masse to the tent this morning for the opening show of London Fashion Week, where the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and the chairman of the British Fashion Council, Harold Tillman CBE,  officially opened LFW's spring/summer 2012 shows. Johnson also revealed the British Fashion Council's plans for Fashion 2012 - Britain's fashion showcase during the year of the London Olympics.
British athletes, who were dressed to the nines in clothes by British designers, helped open the renowned London Fashion Week, showcasing the spring-summer 2012 collections. Amy Williams, skeleton medallist, said she was delighted to swap her tracksuit for a designer outfit for the day. She said: "It is amazing to have all these British designers and British athletes here trying to kick it off for London 2012. "I do love fashion. As an athlete you live in your tracksuits, and it is lovely to put on British designers. I am wearing Holly Fulton."

Heather Fell, modern pentathlete, who donned a brightly coloured Matthew Williamson dress, added: "It is great that British fashion is getting involved with London 2012. The connection between 2012 and fashion is very cool and it is another great sphere to the Olympics."


But to some designers who kicked off the fashion fest.

Ann-Sofie Back gave us sharp silhouettes in a largely monochrome colour palette this afternoon - although peppered with the odd pink look to give the collection a summer feel.

Sass & Bide placed spots into the limelight, teaming maxi skirts with silver, sleeveless tops for a real pop in bright colours and monochrome palettes. 

Emilia Wickstead brought a touch of her signature high society femininity to LFW this morning, with more of the season's emerging colour trend - sherbet pastels - taking to the catwalk interspersed with nostalgic Parisian prints.

And there’s a heart-warming story behind Bora Aksu’s spring/summer 2012 show that enables him to tell a tale through his collection. Inspired by four postcards found in Geneva, he creates the story of Rose and Charles – two French lovers in 1905 – and the course of their love through the clever use of colour: creams and fleshy pinks for romance, corals and turquoise for desire, midnight blues and blacks for sorrow. Curved lines in dresses reflect Rose’s Edwardian handwriting, while sweeping curves, larger by the dress, reference cinched waists of the decade. Decadent pleats, hand-sculpted leather roses, lace, crushed glass beading and draping appear adorned on delicate silk gazette dresses, and other, more extravagant versions – some full-circle-ruffle-skirted, others fishtail. For Bora Asku separates are key for spring, with silk blouses, tailored trousers and short summer jackets proving as wearable as they are layerable in silks, cottons and tulle.

Heres to hoping there'll be even more inspiring looks for the rest of this week.

-ZB

The Anti-Social reveal of the Social Network.

For those of you who live your lives under a rock, social networking is really what makes the world go round these days. The emo Myspace, the chavvy Bebo, the infamous Facebook; it is the ultimate way of contacting anyone from your friend across the world to your flat mate in the next room. A way of sharing photos from your latest drunken debacles to private messaging, group sharing, event organising- you know exactly who these people are, what they look like, where they are, who their with- everything. As Mark Zuckerberg says in the recent "Social Network" movie: "people want to go online and check out their friends, so why not build a website that offers that? Friends, pictures, profiles, whatever you can visit, browse around, maybe it's someone you just met at a party. I'm not talking about a dating site, I'm talking about taking the entire social experience of college and putting it online." And that readers is definitely what weve got, a social experience that lets us live our lives online, behind our computer screens, where anything can happen. Weve lived our lives in farms, and then cities, and now online- but for some that luxury life online is a way of hidding from the world, becoming capable of anything.

A Berkshire man has been jailed for posting abusive messages online about a schoolgirl after she committed suicide. Sean Duffy, 25, of Reading, was handed an 18-week sentence this week for posts on social networking sites about Worcestershire teenager Natasha MacBryde, among others. The internet troll posted videos of defaced teenagers post their deaths and messages mocking the  teenagers and their families. Among his victims was Natasha MacBryde, 15, who died instantly when hit by a passenger train near her home in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. The day after Natasha's death in February, Duffy posted comments including "I fell asleep on the track lolz" on the Facebook tribute page created by her brother James and a further four days later he created a YouTube video called "Tasha the Tank Engine" featuring her face superimposed on to the front of the fictional childhood engine.

Duffy, didn't know any of his victims but pleaded guilty to two counts of sending malicious communications relating to Natasha and was found guilty on 3 other counts of "trolling". These included Lauren Drew, 14, of Gloucestershire, who was found dead after suffering a suspected epileptic seizure, Hayley Bates, 16, of Staffordshire, who died in a car crash, and Jordan Cooper, 14, who was stabbed to death in Northumberland.

On Mother's Day Sean Duffy posted a message on an online memorial page to Lauren reading: "Help me mummy, it's hot in hell". Duffy also produced an image of Hayley with crosses on her eyes and red marks on her face and wrote explicit messages to Hayley's sister Heather.The family of stabbing victim Jordan had also seen abusive messages directed at the youngster on an online memorial and a YouTube video defacing an image of the teenager. Magistrates saw fit to give Duffy an Asbo, banning him from using social networking sites for five years.

Is this finally a sign that our beloved Social Networking has gone a stretch too far? Albeit malicious communication through social networking is a new phenomenon but unfortunately it shows how such  technology can be abused. Will offenders stay hidden behind their computer screens under the guise of  'User 1' or will the likes of Facebook clamp down on trolls of cyber bullying.

-ZB