'Humiliated' BGT contestant takes Cowell to court
Britain's Got Talent producers Fremantle Media and Simon Cowell's company Simco are facing an Employment Tribunal hearing brought by a former contestant of the ITV1 show. Emma Czikai was a contestant in the 2009 series, but because of a disability she contends that an agreed special environment wasn't created via sound and microphone levels for her to perform at her best. The judges unanimously voted her off, with Cowell saying: "Emma, Emma, reality check here, it's not the music; it's not the microphone; it's you." However, Ms Czikai subsequently performed to the level she considers her best on ITV2's Britain's Got More Talent. But producers didn't link the two performances and she believes she has been 'degraded and humiliated'. She began proceedings against Fremantle and Simco at the Employment Tribunal because she believes Britain's Got Talent contestants compete for short-term contracts on the road show. The Employment Tribunal confirmed that a privated case management discussion will proceed between the three parties later in April, ahead of a full merits case. Watch Emmza Czikai in Britain's Got More Talent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0E4KCfiuN8&hl=en_GB&fs=1
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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.
An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.