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X Factor exposed: finalist mysteriously erased from Seven show

Exclusive: They got a standing ovation at the 5 Seat Challenge, so why Seven has refused to show Bianca & Johanna?

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EXCLUSIVE: X Factor fans are demanding answers from the Seven reality show after one of the Boot Camp finalists has failed to perform across the entire series.

Mother and Daughter act “Bianca & Johanna” progressed all the way through to the Five Seat Challenge in the Seven series, receiving a standing ovation from the audience, but failing to win a place in Guy Sebastian’s Final 5.

Yet none of their performances have been broadcast in the series, denying the duo any TV exposure.

Audience member Melanie Saunders who was in attendance for the Five Seat Challenge told TV Tonight there was an uproar when they were not selected to be in Guy Sebastian’s final 5 acts.

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“I thought they were wonderful. The whole crowd was going berserk to bring them back. I don’t think Guy really liked it, because everybody was going crazy, saying ‘Bring them back!’ I was really shocked. All the seats weren’t even taken,” she said.

After they were eliminated filming stopped while Sebastian and producers were huddled in conversation.

When the series was broadcast several weeks later “Bianca and Johanna” did not perform. Even their original audition with 3 judges voting them into Boot Camp was cut. Both can only be glimpsed in backstage group shots during the 5 Seat Challenge.

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“I sat there waiting and waiting, but I didn’t see them,” says Saunders.

“I think they were a bit robbed. Not even a bit of recognition. They went to all that effort, and nothing came of it at all. I feel for them.

“I just wonder if it has happened to anybody else?”

Her disappointment has been matched by other outraged fans who have flooded X Factor’s Facebook page:

Jesse Te Maro:
X factor is another rigged show. Filmed everyone except for Johanna Vitalone and Bianca who made it to the top 12 and 5 seat challenge yet weren’t aired. How rude

Colleen Mulcahy:
PLEASE EXPLAIN WHY WE DIDNT SEE Bianca and Johanna, only watched to support them. Wont be bothering for the rest of the season.

Kym Andrewartha:
Not fair for Johanna Johanna Vitalone and Bianca vitalone. They made it to the top 12 and their auditions or their performance was not even aired in TV. Whats going on!!!

John Slaven:
Having followed the show since the season start, am very disappointed that there has been so far NO airing of Bianca and Johanna. Surely, airing ALL the contestants would be a fairer way to run the show rather than to just concentrate on ones who might be ratings grabbers!!!! The mind boggles.

Sue Maree Palfreyman:
Not impressed X factor. Why wasn’t Johanna Vitalone and her daughter Bianca have the same opportunity as the other groups in the 5 seat challenge. They made it to the top 12. Absolutely disgusted. Please explain!!!

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Blake Wallace:
Funny how Bianca Vitalone and Johanna Vitalone aren’t shown even though they made it through! Bit unfair X Factor!!!

Troy Attard Bec Purdon:
I was so excited in the weeks leading up to X factor and have been watching since the start to see these two wonderful ladies perform. Im very disappointed not to have seen Johanna Vitalone and Bianca’s mother and daughter act frown emoticon how many others were pushed to the side and also not aired??? The show appears rigged?

Maria Hemara Yodelmaria:
shame !! shame !! XFACTOR showing everyone exept johanna and bianca vitalone…well i won’t be watching again and so will the thousands of people who only watched because of these 2 girls…plus why getting judges from overseas when we have entertainers here who are thousand times better than these two ..not very nice what this show is doing to the young people ..im very disgusted .. !!!!!

Jill Hudson:
X factor can you please explain why if Johanna Vitalone and Bianca Vitalone made it through to the 5 seat stage why they were not aired on tv thats terrible, thousands of people were watching around australia just because of these 2 ladies now there are thousands not going to watch!! Disrespectful to these ladies..Disappointed very disappointed!

Scott Morton:
Very disappointing not to see any part of Johanna Vitalone and bianca’s auditions or performance. All contestants that make it through to the 5 set stage should had a little air time . Very very disappointing X factor

Miss-Nat:
Nat I see many of you are as disgusted as me about only seeing who X factor thinks has a heartstrings story! Johanna and bianca lined up and waited outside like any other contestant! They auditioned and got 4 yes votes got through the 5 seat challenge and did everything that the show required of them including not revealing anything to anyone! They travelled many hours to attend all of this for them just to not air any of it! Shame on you X factor. If they didn’t want people not to see the audition they wouldn’t of went on there in the first place! Maybe it’s for the best if that’s how you treat people! Good luck to those that did make it through.

Tania Telford:
Your recapping what YOU chose to show. Why didn’t Johanna Vitalone &; Bianca get even the slightest bit of respect shown to them. They gave X Factor everything, worked so very hard to get to the 5 chair challenge. But not one bit respect shown back. If you get to the 5 chair challenge that deserves to be aired. They were right there, but to everyone who didn’t know it they didn’t exist..invisible.. That’s disgusting Johanna &; Bianca deserved better. Australia, the voting audience deserved to see. No respect for anyone who treats people like that…

Sonya Thornberry:
So sad, you can’t leave two beautiful girls sitting in the waiting groups – then magically make them disappear! Really a shame not to at least see Johanna Vitalone and Bianca’s performance – surely the audience can have some opinion – the audience includes the viewers at home – we are left wondering with no explanation as to that disappearance! This is the first time I won’t continue to watch X Factor.

Christie McWhirter:
Bit unfair that you didnt show Bianca Vitalone and johanna at all throughout all of the episodes!

While Reality shows have been accused of manipulating and selectively-editing contestants for storylines, erasing an act entirely is something of a rarity. It’s not clear if audience anger over missing Sebastian’s Top 5 was behind them being excluded from the full series.

Tamworth-based Johanna Vitalone, and 18 year old daughter Bianca, were unable to comment due to strict confidentiality clauses in the FremantleMedia contract.

On their Facebook page, they feature videos including Little Talks, “…the song that we performed at the 5 seat challenge on xfactor, not the greatest song but we made it work considering we had no say in what we sang!”

Channel Seven and FremantleMedia Australia did not respond to enquiries by TV Tonight.

36 Responses

  1. I’ve watched Johanna perform for many years starting at just 11 years old on star search.
    I believe it’s totally unfair that they have shown every other contestant in the 5 seat challenge excluding Johanna and Bianca.

  2. Not a big X-Factor watcher, but It always reminds me of that Pink Floyd song “Welcome to the Machine”. It includes the line- What did you dream? It’s alright, we told you what to dream… I don’t know why people are surprised at this sort of thing…

  3. There has been a lot of people missing in this years telecast.

    We went straight from auditions where people were told yes, they’re going through and then we don’t even see them again. It seemed there was a bootcamp stage between the auditions and the stupid 5 seat challenge that shouldn’t come back.

    Although we probably didn’t get to see more of that bootcamp stage like other years due to them starting x factor later this year.

    1. Yes there was a stage between the auditions and the five seat challenge. It was mentioned at the start of the bootcamp episode, that after the auditions were completed, the four judges trimmed the 100 acts who initially made it to bootcamp to 48 acts, 12 acts for each category, who would perform at the five seat challenge.

  4. I’m more with you David Knox,
    People are just complaining about being sore losers and the conspiracy of wether the contestants are behind the outrage rather than the public and audience who were there.
    How about Channel 7 being that BIG a company and X Factor a high rated program, how many negative responses are due to their involvement in trying to dull down, accurate and deserving Outrage by the Australian & International Public.
    You can pick a YouTube video out and pick it to pieces. Yay to you, you should be proud,but ultimately Bianca & Johanna worked hard got there, had amazing responses by the the audience, competed in the 5 chair challenge and got hand picked to be edited out. I’ve worked in editing too, so can’t use the non selective bit on me. Can’t use the ran out of time when they showed the judges laughing at contestants for long periods of time and didn’t put them…

  5. Wonder how long it will be before this Mother and Daughter are approached by channel 9 for an ‘exclusive interview’ I am sure that channel 7 had a reason why this act was not shown even if they are not saying what it was at present and who actually brought this out in the open was it the people themselves or one of the other contestants?

  6. As these 2 never made it to air, the confidentiality contract clause, is, to put it mildly unfair. It is not going to impact on the outcome of the show, it may lead to some adverse publicity, but that is all. Now as a result of the gag, it has led to considerable adverse comment. IMO, this type of gag should be made illegal as it is a breach of freedom of speech and human rights. The execes who instigate this type of contract should face jail or deportation to Nauru….the law must change

  7. Meh. Duos never win this series or get far anyway. Brekkie and daveinprogress are on the money. Too many storylines to follow that go nowhere = pointless. They already had that Say Something song performed by Matt and Jess anyway and that would have been hard to beat

  8. I’ve neve seem the show only the adds but perhaps they were a genuine chance of winning and that frightened producers and the record industry $$ people. The show really needs to be on every other year, having a new winner every year would be hard for the previous winner to maintain any traction in the industry by being replaced 12 months later with someone new and shiny.

    1. I hate auto-tuning with a passion. All of the tween-pop singers use it, I suspect because none of them can hit the notes properly.

      However, having listened to the embedded YT above, the mother could actually do with a little bit of help. She’s out by around 400 cents in places – nearly half a semitone. Also clashes that she sings with vibrato whilst her daughter doesn’t.

  9. I assumed this happen to hundreds of acts every year? Seems to me the fans are just sore losers. There were plenty of acts that had standing ovations from everyone then didn’t make the 5 seat and the audience was in uproar. It was getting repetitive as it was, doesn’t surprise that they cut some acts out.

    1. I don’t think people are complaining that they missed the 5. They are questioning why every other act appearing in the 5 seat challenge has been shown on air. It’s around 39 of 40 acts shown. If contracts don’t let the act explain, and network declines to answer repeated questions, is it really just a case of sore losers?

      1. I may be incorrect, but it seemed to me that not all of the acts in bootcamp were shown performing; some were shown the door, but it seemed in at least two groups that the room emptied faster than I would have expected. Again, judicious editing required. It was a marathon as it was! I gave the show a complete miss last season, but have been enjoying the improvements and sassier production elements. It’s easy to get talent show fatigue. I agree with Nathan’s comment that it is hard for the talent whether they be winner or runner up to gain and keep momentum; especially when The Voice comes around and then another X Factor.

      2. the reason is most likely ‘there were time constraints and the act was not interesting enough to make it to air’ I don’t think a response from 7 or fremantle wouldn’t achieve anything other than humiliation towards the act. if 39 or 40 acts were shown then there were plenty that weren’t shown, this is just one. i’d actually be impressed that they squeezed in 40 considering tv in general usually takes 3hrs for a top 12 show, ie. 4 per hour.

        1. Rather than misquote me please read my comment again. I did not say 39 or 40 acts were shown, I said 39 of 40 acts. Every act in the 5 Seat Challenge was shown except one, as the story indicates. The whole concept of the 5 Seat Challenge is for the acts to perform and nab a precious seat as the audience viewed on the night.

      3. Seven wants the X Factor to rate well, not be too long so that viewers switch off and it leaves e.g. 800 Words a good start time. So they overbook acts and don’t screen the least teleogenic acts.

        It is not a fair contest as far as TV time goes. Seven isn’t going to comment on that it would damage the X Factors ratings, they aren’t going to let the contestants say it either. And what would they say Seven didn’t like us.

        However, we live in a society where what Seven can’t control what people know, even with gag orders. They will have to find a balance that is best for them.

  10. I stopped watching it one year, as I felt it was rigged, as the promos were about the same talent. Two years in a row two contestants were bagged by the judges a few weeks from the finale and then both went on to win (Reece Mastin and Samantha Jade). You can always tell who will win as the network promotes the talent. I was not surprised when Marisa (sp?) won last year as she featured heavily in the promos even before the show began!
    I think this article highlights even more blatant favouritism about wanting young talent to win and boost ratings and record sales! Of course this would be denied by all involved in X factor!

      1. I haven’t watched an episode, but based on the promos, I’d pick the blonde girl who’s father died, or the singing tradie. They’ve been heavily featured in every promo.

    1. No I don’t think there was any foul play – just the fact that their elimination was inconsequential.

      Come on David – this is nothing new. I’ve watched past seasons of the show and they’ve sometimes never shown all bootcamp performers. I think the fact that this year was a live round made this act a bit pissed they weren’t featured for their 15 seconds.

  11. Why should they have to show them. They didn’t make the top 12 and got eliminated. Other years there have been people shown at the bootcamp stage of the competition who’s audition wasn’t aired and their bootcamp performance wasn’t shown either. I don’t see what the big deal is to be honest.

  12. TV show in editing shock. This clearly falls into the disclaimer “portions of the show not affecting the outcome may have been edited” – might not seem fair but it happens.

    1. I agree. Having spent a lot of my career in edit suites, if you have to keep your programs to length, and let’s face it, X Factor still had a lot of duration during those initial rounds, it might be the only way to keep balance of all 4 strands by losing an entire storyline, rather than introducing them, only to have them go nowhere. It is ultimately cleaner, narrative wise; but yes, inexplicable for those in the audience, but as others have said, it is a TV show.

      1. Agreed. Storyline editing is much easier than add-hoc editing.
        Who knows what the real reason is. It will probably come out in the social media at some time.
        I don’t believe Seven need to answer every request that’s put to them.

    2. I agree. It happens on The Voice too. It may not seem fair but thats how tv works. I know someone who auditioned last year and made it to bootcamp but never got recognised. They were disappointed sure but they knew it might happen.

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