A sob story too far?

Even if if you claim you don't like it, it's hard to resist watching people making a fool of themselves on national TV, and the X-Factor auditions certainly provide plenty of them. Has nobody ever told them they can't sing / rap / dance??

Unfortunately, with the hilariously misguided auditionees also come the sob stories, you know the ones, a Westlife track starts playing in the background, Dermot's voice goes down a tone.."Sharon has come a long way to be here today. She lost her dog when she was seven and is here to make Fido proud" etc etc.

Last week, contestant Alan Turner was no different "I just want t'make me real family proud" he said in front a swooning Cheryl and Danni. Alan told judges he was put into foster care at the age of four and doesn't know his real family. The X Factor is apparently his only chance to change all that.

But in the emotion of the audition it appears that the poor fella got confused, by 'foster care' he actually meant his Nan, and by 'I just want...to know my real mum and my real dad' he meant that he spoke to his Dad regularly until last year. Oops.

Do contestants really need a sob story to get them through the rounds? Or is it the X-Factor producers doing their best to seek out even the most tenuous link to a troubled past to get some good TV?

As one X-Factor spokesperson put it, the confusion was 'unfortunate'. But for who? Alan got himself through to the finals, where he and his half decent voice are staying despite the furore, and the X-Factor got some PR different to 'Danni: What I really think of Cheryl' in Heat magazine. All publicity is good publicity right?

Helen