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Guy Sebastian apologises for X Factor comments

Guy Sebastian apologised to singer Mitch Callaway, saying: "I definitely chose the wrong place to say it."

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X Factor judge Guy Sebastian apologised to singer Mitch Callaway after his comments on Monday night drew a lot of attention.

During Monday night’s show.Sebastian had admonished Callaway for his attitude.  Yesterday media, including Seven promos, made the most of the flare-up, speculating whether Callaway would return for the show. He did and survived the elimination vote.

Asked about his comments by host Luke Jacobz, Sebastian acknowledged, “There’s obviously a time and a place to say something like that and I definitely chose the wrong place to say it and for that I’m really sorry. But I definitely stand by what I say to my boys.

“You always have to show love and respect to everybody that you come across and I’ll still stand by that.

“I’m truly sorry for upsetting Mitchell and choosing the wrong time for saying that.”

The Daily Telegraph says what gave rise to the issue was Callaway “stirring up” a few contestants by “pricking them with a pin” when 15 year old Declan Sykes told him to “f*** off.”

But this doesn’t entirely fit with Sebastian’s line about Callaway’s attitude to a crew member.

Last night it was 22 year old singer Jacqui Newland who was sent packing, the second singer mentored by Mel B to exit.

“I never expected to get this far. It’s been tough being in the bottom two each week but I’m not focusing on the negatives, I’ve had an amazing experience. Mel has been a brilliant mentor and Christina and Tyla are now life-long friends. I really hope Christina wins this for the girls!” Newland said.

21 Responses

  1. There was no need to apologise – they are judging who is the whole package – that person that has the “x factor” and that includes a person’s personality, attitude and drive to be the winner of x factor. Guy was doing his judging job and I really have no idea why there was so much backlash against him for making comments about Mitchell modifying his behaviour so that he would have the best possible chance of staying in the competition as long as possible.

  2. @Peter A. George may not have stories about x factor but he sure does have his fair share of Masterchef stories and othe ten-related stories. Same principle.

  4. After re-reading the article now that I’m not stressed out about one of the bloody exams I had to sit for uni today, I have to agree with other commenters here

    Mitchell is going around pricking people with a pin? What a childish oaf. And to a 15 year old kid no less, with Aspergers, that’s just mean and downright malicious.

    Who the heck even does that? Guy’s comments are lenient IMO.

    @Angus T: Two of my favourite shows are Mad Men and Breaking Bad, but The X Factor is entertaining in it’s own right. I wouldn’t say “its dumbing down for the masses”, certainly no different than what Australian Idol did for seven years, and I’d certainly watch this over other reality formats like Masterchef or The Block.

    different strokes for different folks. I can certainly see how people could dislike the show though, I refused to watch Big Brother for eight years and look where it is now. About to make a comeback on Nein

  5. @Kenny – the piece in the Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun both said Guy had spoken to producers about it beforehand. Who knows if we’ll ever find out the whole issue though.

    Its for things like this I’m really missing the Xtra Factor. It would have been great to have it on these past few weeks straight after the live performance shows.

  7. So Guy Sebastian says that you should show love and respect to everyone and yet he completely humiliated someone on national TV. I don’t condone what Mitchell did, I don’t even think he is very good but why didn’t Guy say something to Nat B or the producers before speaking out on camera. Let them handle it. Nat B should also apologise for that woeful performance and song she did last night.

  8. Good on Guy for apologising. I wonder if he did it on his own back or was encouraged to do it by TPTB.

    In one of the clips they did show at one stage on Monday night that Guy was wearing an ear piece in one ear. So maybe that was what we saw on Monday night?

  9. I’m sorry, I just think this is all a stunt by seven. And if I see one more “x-factor scandal” storey on TT i’m going to scream. George at 6.30 has had some great stories this week and nothing about x-factor, how refreshing

  10. Am I the only one who refuses to watch this junk sliced up and served as entertainment?

    It is more of the bile that Seven is throwing at us, to dumb down the nation.

    And I am not being an intellectual snob – I love a range of TV, but this is just another addition to Seven’s pile of junk – Beauty and the Geek, Sunrise, Winners and Losers, Andrew O’Keefe…

    My DVD player has never been so busy.

  11. Who is voting for mitchell. What am I not getting? Even before this incident I always thought he looked like he didn’t want to be there, I think he has a dull personality and his talent doesn’t do enough to compensate.

    Jacqui wasn’t the strongest but definitely wasn’t one of the weakest, and she had a great attitude, especially after being in the bottom 2 twice. Australia really seems to favor men in SMS reality shows

  15. @julian I think Declan spoke about it during his audition – but it’s also mentioned in the Daily Telegraph article that David referred to in his post above 🙂

  17. Yeah, I’m not sure if that’s all there is to this story or not. The Herald Sun today also said “Insiders said Sebastian’s comments also related to concerns over comments to crew.”

    Anyway was a bit bummed to see Jacqui go last night. I did like her. It seems these shows are quite hard for girls at times. They all seem to be getting popped off one by one at the moment, whereas boys can be almost forgiven for anything (some probably don’t even need to turn up and they’ll still get voted through).

  18. Meh.

    I’m more happy that YMS were in the bottom two last night. They were awful on Monday and are ridiculously overrated IMO

    Cristina/Audio Vixen to win!

  20. Mitchell is in the over 25’s group, and he is bullying a 15 year old. I think he totally deserved the dressing down that Guy gave him on-air.

  21. Mitchell has been bullyIng Declan behind the scenes. Declan’s a teenager with aspergers – so I’m glad Guy put Mitchell in his place. Guy didn’t say anything malicious, unlike Mel and Ronan (who barely copped any flack).

    Kyle said worse to Amanda last year – yet no one cared.

    For Guy to say something, knowing his usual nice-guy demeanor, Mitchell’s behavior must have been pretty bad. That said, yes it was the wrong timing, but it probably helped Mitchell out in the long term.

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