Katie Waissel says her mental health was 'ridiculed' by X Factor staff

Former X Factor contestant Katie Waissel has claimed her mental health was mocked by the show's staff during her time on the series.

The 37-year-old took part in the contest alongside One Direction in 2010, and finished seventh overall.

Vilified in the press as the year's "most hated" entrant, she said her mental state was not taken seriously.

Waissel described being "completely ridiculed" in internal emails when she was at her "lowest point".

In one email seen by the BBC, she was referred to as a "drama queen".

A spokesperson for X Factor said "robust measures" were in place to support those involved in the show.

On a Twitter space last Wednesday, Waissel read out several other emails she had obtained through a GDPR request to ITV and the production companies involved in X Factor.

In one, written after she'd collapsed during a shopping trip, a member of the production wrote: "I don't think she was over-dramatising this situation".

She also cited another, sent after she had suffered a series of "panic attacks", where producers called her parents and asked them to convince her to see a doctor.

Instead, Waissel said, the production "should have sent me home".

"I wanted to go home. It was absolutely awful."

A spokesperson for X Factor told the BBC: "Duty of care is of the utmost importance to us, and we always take contributor welfare extremely seriously.

"During the 2010 series of The X Factor, there were robust measures in place to ensure everyone involved in the making of the programme was supported throughout their experience and beyond including a dedicated welfare team made up of psychologists, doctors, welfare producers and independent legal and management advisors with no time limit on aftercare once the show had aired.

"These measures were under constant review, and we have always been proactive in adapting and updating them for future series to reflect the requirements of the show."

Waissel called on MPs to revive a 2019 inquiry into realty TV shows and asked why ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall had only recently been called to address parliament on the broadcaster's safeguarding policies, when she and other contestants had been speaking out for years.

Dame Carolyn is due to appear before MPs next Tuesday, having been called to explain reports of a relationship between This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield and an younger, male employee on the programme.

Waissel's comments came after fellow X Factor contestant Rebecca Ferguson revealed that ITV refused to conduct an internal investigation following her claims about a "traumatic experience" and "foul play" during the 2010 series of X Factor.

On Tuesday, she shared screenshots of an email she claimed to have sent to ITV and Ofcom in 2021 making a "formal complaint" about the treatment of contestants.

She alleged that contestants had been "mentally manipulated and abused " and were "reduced to tears due to pressure/bullying".

However, she said, her request for an inquiry had been "fobbed off".

An Ofcom spokesperson said that they did reply to Ferguson and met with her virtually in 2021 to discuss her concerns, while explaining that it has no jurisdiction over the "conditions imposed by broadcasters on participants" on reality shows.

A statement from ITV said the broadcaster was "committed to having in place suitable processes to protect the mental health and welfare of programme participants".

The broadcaster added that in its correspondence with Ferguson it had stressed that contestant welfare was of the "highest priority", as reflected in its Duty of Care Charter and "detailed guidance" - introduced in 2019.

The singer told BBC News that she had decided to raise the issue now, because "I've realised, if I'm honest, that the public is waking up" following claims of a toxic working culture at This Morning.

Despite that, Ferguson said she had been "afraid" to raise the issue because of the potential impact on her mental health.

"I'm in a really good place in life," she said. "I'm really happy, and I thought, 'Don't do it, Becky, don't do it.'

"But I was like, if I don't say something now, there'll never be an investigation."

She alleged that she was compelled to sign management and recording contracts - one of which was "the size of a bible" - under duress, believing she would be kicked off the X Factor if she declined.

Ferguson also claimed she was chased into a toilet in an attempt to persuade her to sign, and was not given access to a lawyer.

She described an atmosphere of "abuse and fear" on the show and claimed "there was no aftercare".

"I remember they accidentally put my house number and my address on the telly. After I got off the show, I couldn't go home, because there were people sitting outside my house," she said, alleging that she had not been offered security or assistance after being besieged by fans and photographers.

However, Fremantle Television, which produced the show, said participants were provided with a choice of independent legal advisors, as well as a dedicated welfare officer and aftercare support.

The contracts Ferguson mentions were not made with X Factor itself, but with external companies she worked with at the start of her career.

Ferguson, who said her time on X Factor "amounts to servitude", stressed that she still felt "traumatised" by the experience.

"A lot of people are like, 'Oh why is she still going on about it?' But what they're not realizing is the aftermath.

"You just want that acknowledgement of this is real, this happened to you and we are sorry. I don't want money, I just want them to acknowledge what happened."

X Factor was produced by Simon Cowell's production company Syco and Freemantle TV and broadcast on ITV.