Ariel Burdett DEAD?

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.

I would agree if someone took part in an early series and really did not know how big a juggernaut the show would become. By 2008 the show was MASSIVE, and all over the media( maybe not social media, but television and newspapers which ruled the roost then). She swore at the judges, and slagged off Cheryl Cole. She was pretty vile.
 
there's been other contestants in the past who have said that they were misled, coerced or lied to.
I totally believe that.

And yes, I remember Shahbaz, that was uncomfortable to watch, and I'm sure they knew exactly that was going to happen. Reality tv was like that back then. It's a miracle nobody was raped in BB (it happened here 2 years ago and they hided it, it surfaced just now :square:).
 
I would agree if someone took part in an early series and really did not know how big a juggernaut the show would become. By 2008 the show was MASSIVE, and all over the media( maybe not social media, but television and newspapers which ruled the roost then). She swore at the judges, and slagged off Cheryl Cole. She was pretty vile.

The media bit is important. With newspapers it's all forgotten about. With social media nothing ever dies. And X Factor have been actively preventing it from going away.
 
Remember that ALL of the people who get to see the judges have gone through countless rounds of auditions. The ones who are bad are put through deliberately for entertainment, and they will have been told by producers that they are talented and amazing etc - why do you think most of them are shocked when the judges hate them? They are being set up for a huge fall.

By this time they may well have known what the series is like but that doesn't stop people being taken advantage of, and it's easy for them to get caught up in the moment of it all. The producers of a show like this have a responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of their contestants. It may well be that Ariel went in their as a piss-take but her reactions are clearly genuine otherwise she is an amazing actor. Once you've signed your rights away, that's it, you can't go back on that once it's on TV and you don't like how you have been portrayed. It's too late then, and there's nothing you can do about it. I'm pretty sure the post-show care back then was completely non-existent and I bet X Factor didn't contact Ariel to ask her if it was ok if they re uploaded her audition. She would have had no rights to that anymore.
 
You are correct that she would not have had any rights anymore as she agreed to sign them away. She went on the show to take the piss out of it, and the joke reversed on her. I find it hard to feel sorry for her, personally.
 
Doesn't 'not suspicious' just mean they are satisfied nobody else was involved?
 
I never understand this. Is suicide seen as suspicious?

I thought as long as police are satisfied that it was suicide and nobody else was involved, it would still be 'not suspicious'. I don't think it's a reflection on how she died.
 
I don’t know what I hate more; those stupid talent shows or the poor idiots that participate in them. If I were her, I’d have killed myself on the spot.
 
PS - I have no idea who this person is but The X Factor had a "Let's All Laugh At Some Nutters" element a loooooong time ago. I remember they had a bloke who claimed to be writing songs with John Lennon - he would leave a cassette running and Lennon would sing to him through the ether then he would finish things off. He was obviously off his box and I remember thinking that this was mocking the afflicted and I genuinely don't think I watched the programme voluntarily again.
 
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.

The reaction to her death online (particularly Twitter) really doesn’t sit right with me. There are lots of accounts making it into a joke, and I think it’s a bit gross tbh.

So yeah, her audition, along with a few others have enjoyed a recent second wind of popularity online... she, along with a few others like Kelly and Dawn the Jockey have essentially become memes, particularly among the gays. It is quite easy to underestimate their reach, but they clearly aren’t the preserve of a few far-too-online gays when contestants on Drag Race UK are quoting them.

I can entirely believe that some of those sharing the content may have taken things entirely too far, and the Facebook post you mention above is clear evidence that that may have been the case. I have seen people posting content from Kelly and Dawn’s personal Facebook pages. I don’t think she has suffered ten years of sustained harassment after her appearance on TV... I think she suffered as a result of her memeification and the public’s complete and utter lack of decency and boundaries with regards to people in that situation. I can 100% believe she committed suicide as a result of that happening and people’s resultant behaviour.

I saw someone posting earlier today, when people were speculating as to whether Ariel had infact passed away, a post from a friend’s Facebook with details as to how to contact her brother with regards to a funeral.

Now, a lot of the content shared today has been, as you say, very much on the vaguely tongue-in-cheek (but sincere enough to have plausible deniability) “omg babes rip, gone too soon xoxo” stuff. Having seen that, and being in an era where people are asking Charli XCX to pose for photos with their dead mother’s ashes as we are, I would ABSOLUTELY NOT BE SURPRISED at all if a few people tried to crash her funeral for the retweets and likes.
 
It really is. The poor woman must have been going through major mental turmoil. :(
 
I find everything about this horribly depressing.

+ as mentioned yesterday, some of the stuff I’ve seen written online surrounding her death makes my blood boil.
 
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