Eurovision star Brendan vows show is NOT fixed
Brendan Murray X FACTOR star Brendan Murray has denied claims the show is fixed after Simon Cowell gave him four chances to get the lyrics right during his audition.
The 21-year-old, who was mentored by Louis Walsh in boyband Hometown and represented Ireland last year in the Eurovision Song Contest, faced backlash online after Cowell let him read lyrics during Saturday’s show.
Cowell asked Brendan to learn 80s hit This Woman’s Work by Kate Bush just hours earlier as he wasn’t a fan of his original bid with Jermaine Stewart’s song We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off.
But the Galway singer brushed off the social media criticism and said: “There’s always going to be people criticising you and knocking your confidence a lot, dragging you down.
POSITIVE
“I’ve learnt to ignore it from Eurovision and from Hometown as well. They can give out all they want but I don’t go looking for it [on social media].
“It doesn’t do anyone any good looking at that sort of stuff. I just surround myself with positive people – friends and family especially who have been very supportive over the past few years and are very supportive now. It’s great to have them with me.”
Brendan made it through to the next round of the show after his controversial audition, with all four judges giving him a yes.
The former boyband star, who has been working as an apprentice plumber after his Eurovision bid, insisted he hadn’t spoken to former judge Louis before his appearance on the show.
He added: “We both went down our different paths after Eurovision – he went back to X Factor, I went gigging for a year.
“Gigs started to get scarce, so that’s when I decided to take up a trade. I’ve been plumbing now for the past six or seven months.”