| Zoe Alexander | |
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| Contestant Profile | |
| Birth Date | 6 September 1989 |
| Hometown | Caerphilly |
| Occupation | Singer, Pink tribute artist |
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| Category | Girls |
| Mentor | N/A |
| Placement | Refused at auditions |
| Gallery | |
Zoe Alexander (born 6 September 1989) is a Welsh singer and former Pink tribute artist from Caerphilly, Wales who auditioned for Series 9 of The X Factor UK. She sang ‘So What’ by Pink before being stopped halfway through the song. The judges then asked her to sing a second song. She then sang ‘Next to Me’ by Emeli Sandé. The judges said she needed to find her own identity and said no, however Zoe hit back saying ‘You guys told me to sing a Pink song‘. Zoe’s father then came on stage and Zoe swore at the judges. She was shown shoving equipment and cameras backstage.
After X Factor[]
In July 2020, 8 years after her audition, Zoe posted two videos to her YouTube channel alleging that her audition was set up and that producers had told her to sing a P!nk song to increase her chances of getting through. Zoe claimed that most of the footage was edited in after her audition, and that all the producers wanted to talk about was P!nk. Zoe's video went viral on TikTok in November 2020.
The video largely received praise from the public. Many were sympathetic to her claims that she was set up, and that her audition was likely an attempt to craft a contrived storyline about the importance of artistic originality - using Zoe as an example of a "P!nk impersonator". However, Zoe's claims that footage was edited, or even doctored using CGI, have not held up against independent reviews and formal inquiries. Back in 2013, an investigative report by independent TV watchdog Ofcom dismissed Zoe's claims that X Factor doctored the audition footage to show her throwing a microphone, knocking over stage equipment, or appearing on stage with her dad (all of which Zoe claims never happened). Editing footage in such a manner would not have been feasible or even possible on a 2012 TV budget.
Zoe's account of events also contained factual inconsistencies and holes. For instance, in her first video detailing her X Factor experience, Zoe insisted that she did not throw over a stanchion backstage (as is shown in her X Factor audition footage), and that she merely shook it. In her second video, however, she made a reference to "when I pushed the stanchion over." Zoe also claimed that she had no intention of looking like P!nk, and that the "P!nk thing" was purely pushed onto her by the X Factor. However, in the audition video, Zoe clearly said that "P!nk's my favourite singer, so I decided to have my hair cut like P!nk." In her YouTube videos, Zoe omitted the fact that she was a P!nk tribute artist at the time of her X Factor audition.
A few months after her first two X Factor videos, Zoe posted a new video titled "Xfactor [sic] Most Shocking Conspiracy Ever Revealed". This video argued that the X Factor used CGI to digitally alter Zoe's appearance to turn public opinion against her. Zoe claimed that, among other things, her teeth were digitally altered, her eyes were blacked out, her lips were darkened, and that her nose was made to look more pointed. All of these supposed edits were, in fact, the result of lighting, motion blur, poor camera quality, or some combination of all three.