X Factor host and Strictly Come Dancing winner Caroline Flack is not unfamiliar with criticism, with everything from her personal to her professional life subjected to it, but it seems that it finally got the better of her in Autumn of last year, when online trolls moved her to tears after the first X Factor live show.
After a successful three year stint hosting the ITV2 spin off show The Xtra Factor, Caroline and co-host Olly Murs were a shoo-in for the job hosting the main show when previous presenter Dermot O’leary stepped down. They were a popular choice at the time, but a decline in the shows quality and a few hiccups on the hosts part lead to widespread criticism that left Caroline feeling a bit under the weather.
Now everyone has an opinion, and it’s ok to take to Twitter to share that opinion (in fact, shows like the X Factor encourage it with on screen hashtags!) but there’s a difference between opinion and abuse, and it seems that it was the criticisms of her personally, rather than professionally, that got the better of her.
“My life is like a sad film. I cried after the first live Sunday night.”
“The reaction was quite overwhelming because I didn’t think people would be talking about how I look, how I stand, how I walk or how I laugh.” she said.
We can only imagine it got worse after that, when a massive blunder from her co-host Olly, who told a contestant she was going home before the results had even been announced, was met with yet more negativity, and suggestions that the pair should be sacked and replaced as quick as possible. Even though the issues arose from her presenting, they soon descended in to the personal as the star was subjected to vicious, verbal attacks on her appearance.
“Not everyone is going to like you all the time, not everyone is going to think you’re beautiful, but there is a difference between opinion and abuse.
“Opinion is fine but I need to stop giving the negative people air time because they love it.”
But the star thinks Social Media can be deceiving, and is not necessarily representative of real life, noting how she often posts pictures that show her to be happy on the days she’s feeling most sad, and how people act differently on Twitter than they would in person.
“You can think social media is real life but you have to remember it’s not. Someone wouldn’t come up to you in the street and say: You’re a big, fat, ugly slut.”
Despite all the negativity, Caroline is refusing to let online abuse and Twitter trolls ruin her day, and says that the good bits outweigh the bad bits and make it all worth while.
“I have a really good job, and a really good life.
“The good bits outweigh the bad by a mile. I don’t ever want to feel ungrateful.
“If I couldn’t handle it any more, I would go home and get out of the media industry.”
In the exclusive interview with the Daily Mirror (who, ironically, employ TV Critic Ian Hyland, one of Caroline’s fiercest critics with whom she has argued with many times on Social Media due to his comments about her), Caroline finishes by saying she’s not sure if she’s going to do X Factor again, but that it was one of the “best experiences of her life.”
We all know that online abuse and trolling is not acceptable, but it’s nice to see Cazza maintain such a positive, optimistic outlook on it all!
Tweet us @CelebMix, or leave a comment below!