Katie Weisel

She was actually a casting director with no accreditations to mental health or anything else like this.

It was just a welfare person.

who, when I later did a subject access request to everybody involved, and so for those that are unsure, that means we will have a right to see our own data or what's been said about us, et cetera, et cetera.

And so I did this request on the companies and this alleged welfare person completely ridiculed me on email, saying that I was a drama queen, I was being difficult, I was having panic attacks for attention.

awful until one of the last emails that she had sent internally to say I don't think that she is putting this on this is really worrying there was no aftercare either once you're out you're out it sounds like I mean you obviously had quite an intense time on x-factor that puts it politely

Well, I think that they should have had legitimate mental health people available and there, but independent so that there's no conflict of interest.

Because production team don't need to know the specific ins and outs of everything.

And for there to be also parents involved and alerted and in the know.

Because at the time, I think I was 23 or 24.

But then there were other contestants that were 16 or 17 years old.

Well, 16 constitutes as a minor still, so to 17.

I was first so furious that we're still seeing this pattern of, I want to say negligence to participants.

We're in 2026 and still nothing has changed.

I think that it's all empty words and empty promises.

To have a format where two strangers are supposed to pretend like they've known each other forever and act like they're married and, you know, for it to somewhat be normalized to share a bed and to be intimate and...

There's a lot of pressures there.

Even with that, there should have been more protections around those intimate environments.

So I ask why wasn't there?

And I believe that the only way that this industry can change is if we put safety back into our own hands, because they just keep proving these companies and the industry sector that they're not to be trusted because they don't do anything when they actually have the power to do so.

I would say the industry just needs to change first.