Page 83 of Going Solo (The Brent Boys #2)

POP STAR SHOCKER!

Cole blows the lid on TV show’s dark secrets

Cole Kennedy’s WebFlix documentary, “A Fire Inside Me,” has revealed a cornucopia of scandalous abuses at the heart of the TV show that made him famous.

Kennedy and other celebrities interviewed for the show—including former judge Robbie Johnswagger and series one winner Jocasta Rose—levelled a plethora of disturbing accusations at Felicity Quant’s Totally Television and the producers of “Make Me a Pop Star.”

Revelations include contestants being forced to sign complicated contracts after days with little sleep, often without parental or independent legal advice, “gruelling” sixteen-hour rehearsal sessions, the exploitation of mentally and emotionally vulnerable people for entertainment purposes and contestants being sent home from the show with absolutely no aftercare.

Kennedy revealed how producers forced him back into the closet and booted his teenage sweetheart, now boyfriend, Tobias Lyngstad off the show so female fans wouldn’t realise he was gay. He alleged producers deliberately humiliated Lyngstad by turning “marriage material” into a phenomenon, then stole and leaked their private messages to the press to drive a wedge between the young lovers.

The documentary also cast doubt on the explosive claims made by Kennedy’s ex, Jasper Horner, in his tell-all memoir, with a series of witnesses, including a New York paramedic, giving versions of events markedly different to Horner’s.

Backing up Kennedy’s scandalous claims about Totally Records’ business practices, singer Jocasta Rose revealed Quant had subjected her to “routine body-shaming, crash diets and dangerous weight loss.”

Rose split with Totally Records a decade ago and said Quant “has done everything in her power to try to tie me up in legal disputes over my music, including songs I wrote, for years.”

“I wouldn’t let anyone I know or love sign a contract with Totally Records,” Rose said. “It’s an abusive relationship, and you’ll spend years trying to escape it.”

Rose yesterday released a funk version of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” arranged by Kennedy. Rose has previously revealed that she and Kennedy have written and will perform several duets on her next album.

The documentary also revealed Johnswagger was sacked from “Pop Star” not for drinking, as Totally Television claimed, but for standing up to Quant and the show’s producers over the treatment of contestants and Totally Records’ signed artists.

Quant has been contacted for comment.