Ariel Burdett DEAD?

Joined
May 9, 2014
Messages
10,765
Seemingly unconfirmed as yet, but has been doing the rounds on Twitter

https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/breaking-x-factor-star-ariel-20959321.amp

This was of course her breakthrough moment:



I have watched that clip so many times, and know it off by heart but I’ve often also thought how awful it must have been to have your entire life defined by a 3 minute X Factor audition clip. If she has died I hope it is unrelated.
 
Is there any suggestion that it IS related to the show?

I'd have thought with the audition being over a year ago, it would be fairly easy to argue against a causal link, but in a post Kyle world who knows?
 
That audition must have been over 10 years ago? How can the show still be responsible for her death?

Love Island 2048 CANCELLED due to 2018 contestant dying of old age. :(
 
X-Factor retroactively CANCELLED because Betty ‘Gang Bang’ Bryce dies of natural causes.

If a show is cancelled and there’s nobody there to watch it, is it really cancelled?
 
That audition must have been over 10 years ago? How can the show still be responsible for her death?

Love Island 2048 CANCELLED due to 2018 contestant dying of old age. :(

Well her audition has over 10 million views over 2 videos on YouTube and has been parodied multiple times, apparently it recently became a thing on TikTok (NO IDEA!) and has become a bit of a go-to for gay internet humour.

About a year ago I googled her to see where she is now, and it didn’t take too long to find her Facebook page (under a different name). One of her more recent status updates was literally asking people to stop messaging her if they didn’t know her in real life and that the joke wasn’t funny anymore.

We are definitely not in a world anymore where something dies after it goes out on TV 10 years previous, especially an audition like HERS where every single line is a quote.
 
I don't think it's necessarily ridiculous at all, if it's mental health related.

It is a whole lot of speculation at this stage, though.
 
The world has moved on so much from how people used to be treated on TV shows, especially with the Jeremy Kyle incident earlier this year. This woman was RIDICULED for 10 years. Of course we can't speculate whether her death was related, but there will be serious questions to answer if it turns out it played a part.
 
All I can find online is that she was found dead at home, and her cause of death is unexplained. Could mean a number of things.
 
The world has moved on so much from how people used to be treated on TV shows, especially with the Jeremy Kyle incident earlier this year. This woman was RIDICULED for 10 years. Of course we can't speculate whether her death was related, but there will be serious questions to answer if it turns out it played a part.

Wow. This is a lot.

For starters I don’t really know what point you’re making regarding show aftercare? You’re saying so much has changed in the past year. Has it really? Have the TV shows become more transparent in how they protect the vulnerable or is a mere box ticking exercise to say they’ve changed their policy? It’s not viable for a a production to be in contact with someone TEN YEARS LATER.

And that’s my next point, was she REALLY ridiculed for 10 years solid? I know Gay Twitter has recently made a big thing about icons like Holly Jervis and Dawn the Jockey but really? As far as I’m aware, and I may be completely wrong, she already said that that whole Holistic Singing Coach thing was a total piss take and she was playing a role, she wasn’t using her real name, she has a different looketc. I just don’t know if she was in the public consciousness.

But as stated we cannot speculate so carry on with the giant reaches.
 
What is your fucking problem with me? You're constantly swiping at my posts, and it's getting rather tiresome now.

All I am saying is that the world of reality TV has moved on significantly from 10 years ago when people were set up to fail on TV and people were made laughing stocks of on TV. That wouldn't go down now. It was a long time ago, and of course the show wouldn't be in contact, but there's been a growing concern for how people are treated on these types of shows - the two Love Island suicides, the aforementioned Jeremy Kyle incident - my point is that this wouldn't happen today, we are far more aware of people being treated better on these shows. It is a well known fact that many of these acts were told by producers they were fantastic, and were put through solely to be laughed at. Who knows whether her death was in any way related to the show, if it turns out the years of ridicule finally got to her, the show has to take some responsibility for that. Is that too difficult to comprehend?
 
Last edited:
Why does the show have to take responsibility for the way someone went on TV ten years ago and presented themselves for five minutes?
 
Is cwej in Alcoholics Anonymous? :square:

She didn't look a fragile person at all, I can't believe she was suicidal for 10 years until she got away with it.
 
Why does the show have to take responsibility for the way someone went on TV ten years ago and presented themselves for five minutes?
With the current government inquiry, I can well imagine that the format of dressing up the talentless and the unfortunate for our delectation will be more heavily frowned upon, if there is a question of her death being linked to mental health and online comments she was still getting.

I'm sure at the time there was never any intention of anything other than creating an entertainment show, not thinking of someone getting abuse for it years down the line, but it isn't a good look while reality shows are under scrutiny.
 
The X Factor youtube account re-uploaded her audition 2 years ago under the name “Ariel Burdett: is she the angriest woman in the world” and it’s since had 3.5 million views.

So if she was getting abuse, they were arguably actively encouraging it.
 
Do these not need to be signed off to make it to tv? As far as I was aware after the audition takes place these acts need to put their name on the dotted line for the auditions to be shown, surely they could not be put on tv without prior permission. X Factor started back in 2004, so by the time she auditioned she was SURELY aware of how this would be portrayed on tv as this was X Factor at its absolute peak. She knew how the audition went, and agreed for it to be broadcast on television.
 
I am also reading that she was playing a persona in that audition, so basically went on to take the piss out of the process.
 
Who knows WHAT they sign, if anything? I wouldn't be surprised if they did sign anything, it's their rights away regardless of how it goes. Again, more speculation though.

I'm not saying I AGREE that X Factor is responsible - just that things are quite different now than they were two or three years ago, never mind over a decade. And I can well imagine that X Factor will be under scrutiny, and that it can shape the show going forward ( if it must).
 
I've not watched the audition process for a few years though. Do we still get auditions like this and Ablisa?
 
Last edited:
If anything I would feel rather glad if they finally put the show out of its misery.
 
I've not watched the audition process fora few years though. Do we still get auditions like this and Ablisa?

Not so many. Over the past few years they have been concentrating on the “good” auditions, but BGT still show the “bad” ones.
 
I would also say that agreeing something that started as a prank to go out on TV 10 years ago doesn’t necessarily mean you would understand it would still be being re-packaged, re-published and shared years down the line as the internet evolves...
 
My nephew auditioned for the show but did not make it past the 4th audition (before meeting the judges) and had to sign a form that if he made it to the next stage to be televised that basically Cowell owned you.
 
It's all very well saying she knew what she was doing but there's been other contestants in the past who have said that they were misled, coerced or lied to. These people are fed lines by producers who tell them what they want to hear and get them to sign away their rights. Once it's been on TV there's no going back. Ariel may well have gone into it with open eyes but I don't think anyone would have predicted what the reaction would have been like.

Remember Shirlena Johnson? She was the wacky one who suddenly disappeared from the show, apparently there was an incident at bootcamp and then they cut her out completely. Then there was Emma Chawner, a girl who it was clear that she had some issues which they capatalised on.

There has been clear failings in the past with these type of shows - Shahbaz from Big Brother is the one I remember the most, partly because he's from my hometown and was well known on the gay scene for his personality being rather out there. He clearly should not have been allowed on the show, he was mentally ill.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom