FACTOR IN OUR TALENT; PAUL MARTIN'S VIP PARTIES.Byline: PAUL MARTIN We may not exactly have a proud history in the world of dumbed-down music reality TV shows but we certainly have a colourful one. Remember Fame Academy's Sinead Quinn? How about Malachy Cush or Larne's Keith Semple Keith Fitzpatrick Semple (born August 21, 1970 in Georgetown) is a Guyanese cricketer who played for the West Indies in 1998/99. He has never had the chance to make a name for himself on the Test stage, but he was called up for One day matches during the 1998/99 season against ? At one point they were all the talk of our wee country Our Wee Country is a supporters' association of the Northern Ireland national football team. Rather than an official supporters' club, it operates as a fans' website. The phrase "Our Wee Country" is a nickname for the team, as well as Northern Ireland itself. as they strutted their stuff on shows such as Pop Stars: The Rivals and Pop Idol, with promises of riches and fame. The reality was somewhat different. Supermarket openings, the odd local radio interview and just about enough cash to cover the bus fare home was about as good as it got. Last year we had teenager Eoghan Quigg from Dungiven, Co Derry. He has now just announced a spectacular U-turn to reveal he is returning to school just a few months after quitting. Was it because of the disastrous debut album sales? In fact, the only big success story we've had from any of these shows is my good pal Nadine Coyle in Girls Aloud. But for me the X Factor has never been about fame and riches and No1 hits. It's about good Saturday night entertainment and laughing at some of the not-so-great contestants. Yet this year I'm afraid to announce we will have NO Norn Iron contestants to follow. I suspected we were going to get the cold shoulder when Simon Cowell dumped the Irish auditions from last year's show after complaining the standard was "tortuously poor". I had to agree with him. But this year we've really been left out. I know the 12 contestants who will make it to the live finals of the UTV UTV Ulster Television UTV Utility Terrain Vehicle UTV Unmanned Transport Vehicle show and no one is from Northern Ireland. Why are we the only ITV (1) See interactive TV. (2) (iTV) The code name for Apple's video media hub (see Apple TV). region not to get the chance to audition for Simon, Cheryl, Louis and Dannii? Surely we have punched above our weight in terms of producing contestants over the years. But what chance do we have of putting our talent forward to TV's biggest show when the judges don't even bother coming over here? Bring back the auditions here and give our young stars and talentless wannabes Wannabes is an online interactive soap and game created for the BBC by Illumna Digital. Wannabes follows on from Jamie Kane, the BBC's previous foray into online interactive drama. The show/game consists of 14 10 minute episodes released twice a week. alike a chance to shine. CAPTION(S): BUM NOTE: Cheryl Cole and fellow X Factor judges didn't make to Northern Ireland and, inset, Eoghan Quigg's returned to school |
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