X FACTOR WINNER’S REALITY SNUB COSTS HIM A MILLION
FORMER X Factor winner Matt Cardle claims he has missed out on a million pound pay packet by snubbing every reality show. The star revealed he has had megabucks offers from television producers.
But he rejected the chance of earning a fortune in appearance fees because he cares more about his credibility.
Matt, 35, has just joined West End musical Strictly Ballroom. But he ruled out joining the BBC dance show, saying: “I’ve been offered Strictly, Big Brother, I’m A Celeb and a lot more. I could have done the rounds and been on pretty much every reality show going and made a million if I had wanted to.
“It is easy to be a celebrity for celebrity’s sake but that was never me. If it was I would have done all sorts of s***. It’s harder to come back and be a credible artist if you have done all the reality shows.”
Almost 20million viewers saw Matt beat Rebecca Ferguson and One Direction to win The X Factor in 2010. Less than four years later he was admitted into rehab battling drink and drugs. Matt said: “I went from writers, producers wanting to work with me and TV shows queueing up to slowly see every door shut on me. That’s what really hurt.”
Matt returned earlier this year with his third album Time To Be Alive and has replaced Will Young on Strictly Ballroom.
He insists he is happier than ever, adding: “I went to rock bottom but I’m glad, weirdly, because it has helped me write an album I couldn’t be more proud of.”
Strictly Ballroom The Musical is at London’s Piccadilly Theatre. Check out strictlyballroomthemusical.com for ticket details. Birthday Show, hosted by Sir Trevor McDonald, will also include impersonations of Stormzy and Stevie Wonder. And he will look back over his career. He added: “There’s lots of me reminiscing and talking to Sir Trevor. There’s a lot of laughing.
“It’s a lot of me talking to Sir Trevor about things that happened to me – my love of music, growing up in Dudley, my audition for New Faces [in 1975], my relationship with my mum, and what it was like growing up in a Jamaican household and then suddenly having to integrate with a predominately white Dudley.
“I talk about diversity. It’s quite a wide-ranging conversation. There are a lot of funny things but there are some serious things too.”The show is at 8pm on Wednesday on BBC One.