Paul Potts Backlash Begins
Paul Potts has been seen to have done no wrong so far on his rise up the ladder to stardom. The hyperbole about the guy has reached astronomical proportions, with everyone and their mother having an opinion, and loving the fact this guy came from nowhere to win Britain’s Got Talent. And what happens straight after someone reaches the peak of celebrity? They get knocked down from their pedestal in a glorious twist of going from underdog to the guy everyone has seen enough of.
PopBitch has reported this week that:
Ah, how Britain loves an underdog. Opera singing Paul Potts becomes a national TV star thanks to his back story of being a bullied phone salesman with a lack of confidence.
Residents of Eastville, Bristol, were most surprised at his TV billing, as Potts has been a prominent local politician, confident enough to be elected a Lib-Dem Councillor in 1999. Potts told TV judges that he’d spent several months at opera school in Italy in 2000, which must have impressed the constituents who thought they’d voted for someone to represent their interests in Bristol.
This plucky newcomer had also previously appeared on Michael Barrymore’s My Kind of Music, sung with Bath Opera and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and performed as soloist all over Northern Italy.
So if they’re to be believed, was the shy, common man angle all an act by a guy trying to get the public on his side? I don’t doubt the truth and validity of these claims about Potts past, but I don’t think it matters at the end of the day. He was still a guy who worked at Carphone Warehouse who wowed everyone with his singing on a talent show. I don’t really care that he’d had a little bit of exposure in the past, I’d certainly never heard of him!
Paul Potts, Britains Got Talent, Opera, Music, Singing, Singer, Carphone Warehouse, Simon Cowell, Bristol, Michael Barrymore, Lib Dems, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Italy
June 25th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
I don’t think it’s fair to aim the criticism directly at Paul - the publicists on the TV show know what makes a good public interest story, and they’ll bend reality around it if necessary.
Paul’s been a member of our reality TV forum since before BGT, and he came across as a really nice guy in fairness.
June 26th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
I don’t disagree Gerard, he comes across as a nice, genune guy on TV. I was merely asking the question and fanning the flames.