From Britain's Got Talent to Fame Academy and Pop Idol, our television screens have been saturated with opportunities for every lowly microphone-grabber in the country to have their millisecond of fame. Now, just when it seemed that the TV talent contest format had been exhausted, a search for Britain's very biggest stars is about to begin.
Auditions start on Tuesday for The XL Factor, a competition whose only criteria is that performers are at least a size 18. The talent show, which is currently the subject of a bidding war between three television production companies, is to seek out four larger women to form a girl band and find the line-up for a cabaret group called Moulin Huge.
Linda Koch, who set up the contest, is leading a fight back for BBW – Big Beautiful Women. She said overweight people in the UK are treated as second-class citizens and that a separate competition is needed to showcase their talent: "Shows like The X Factor and Pop Idol are great, but it always seems that bigger people are there as the token fat person and the chances of them winning are slight," she said. "I used to be slim, but then I married an American, moved to Las Vegas and doubled my weight. When I came back to the UK, I realised that being big here is not very easy. I wanted to do something to change that."
With more than 100,000 people on her BBW mailing list, Ms Koch has found a whole community of women who feel overlooked because of their size. As well as setting up The XL Factor, Ms Koch has begun a nationwide search for the first Miss Big Beautiful Woman UK, the final of which will be held in 2010 at a three day festival called the "Big Girls Paradise Weekender". Heats for Miss Big Beautiful Woman will take place at seven venues around the country alongside auditions for the UK's Big Handsome Man this autumn.
Although there is a handful of larger women who have done well on television talent shows, Ms Koch argues that they have then gone on to disappear without trace. Michelle McManus, who won ITV's Pop Idol in 2003, was later dropped by her record label Sony BMG, a move that she put down to her weight.
Rik Waller, a 30-stone singer who was a finalist in the first series of Pop Idol, was also ditched by his record company EMI. He will be one of the judges at this week's auditions for The XL Factor.
Waller said he believed that there was a need for a separate contest. "People shouldn't have to go to a separate audition just because they're big, but the truth is that it's hard if you're larger. There's always this stigma attached where you're seen as 'that fattie' and it's difficult to be taken seriously. This will give people the chance to perform without their looks being taken into account."
Susie Orbach, author of Fat is a Feminist Issue, said it was a sad truth that talent was ignored because of size. "People can't see past size at the moment and they denigrate people who are not part of that aesthetic. We just don't see talent unless it comes in a certain shape. The contest sounds like a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it may be attempting to change that perception, but it's also exploiting it."
The first auditions for The XL Factor will be held in London in The Minories on Tower Hill.
Tara May: 'My size gets in the way'
Tara May, 21, XL Factor contestant from Hertfordshire says, "I've been auditioning for years as a vocalist, but my size has always got in the way. I'm now a barber, but I trained in musical theatre. I'm a size 22 to 24. When it comes to pure talent I don't see why size should get in the way, but it does. It's been so hard for me to break into the industry. A couple of years ago I was auditioning to be a cruise ship singer and they said to 'come back when you've lost three stone'. I want everyone to see that big people can perform to the same standard – if not better. Performing is what I've always wanted to do, so for The XL Factor to look at my size and say I'm 'just what they're looking for' would mean a lot. I'm not worried about being stigmatised by auditioning – I'm just grateful there's a competition for someone like me."
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