14 DAY TRIAL // Katie Waissel, once dubbed by the media the most unpopular X Factor contestant ever, is now speaking out about her time on the show, it’s lasting consequences and how she hopes she’ll be able to pick up her life from where she left it.
In a brand new interview with Grazia magazine, the quirky singer, who was eliminated 2 weeks ago, says that she received so much criticism and hate on the show that she was almost happy when she got the boot because she believed it would all end.
Sadly, that didn’t happen. To this day, Katie avoids stepping out in public alone for fear that she may be recognized in the street and someone would lash out at her, like they promised they would in their death threats.
“I still won’t do anything on my own like go on the Tube or go shopping, I mean that’s how crazy this got. People might not like me but I don’t think I deserve that,” she says of the hate tirade directed at her.
“To be honest it’s been horrendous. I wasn’t prepared for it, I just didn’t know what to do. I’m not a celebrity, I’m just someone who wants to sing. From the moment I got through to the live finals I knew all hell had broken out, but I had absolutely no idea what to do about it,” the former contestant says.
As if all that wasn’t enough, Katie also had to go through being repeatedly in the bottom two and singing for her survival, in what she describes as a few very difficult weeks when she was making efforts not to faint on stage.
Amidst all this, she turned to her mentor, Cheryl Cole, Katie explains. Sadly, she too had a hard time coping with what was going on on the show, so she couldn’t be of much help. Luckily, Louis Walsh was.
“Louis was my absolute favorite,” Katie says. “He gave me his mobile number and I’ll definitely keep in touch. He understood how awful it was for me to be painted in a way I could do nothing about.”
As for plans for the future, Katie adds, “I want to sing but there’s no record contract. Nothing. I just want to do gigs, to carry on writing and to try and turn a negative into a positive.”