Jamie Archer: 'X Factor demoralised me'

Jamie Archer: 'X Factor demoralised me'
Jamie Archer: 'X Factor demoralised me' (Image credit: Ken McKay)

Jamie Archer has admitted that he felt "depressed" and "demoralised" by some of his experiences on The X Factor. The 34-year-old pub singer from London, voted out on Sunday night after a sing-off with Lloyd Daniels, said he realised the show was not right for him and made him lose confidence in his abilities. Jamie - known as Jamie Afro because of his distinctive hairdo - found it difficult to get to grips with the song choices and realised his "journey had come to an end". He said: "It was really demoralising for me, because it made me feel like 'Is it me? Am I being difficult? No-one knows what to do with me - maybe there just aren't any songs?' but I just got on with it really." He dismissed suggestions that he had planned to quit the show, following disagreements with mentor Simon Cowell over song choices. "I didn't say I was leaving, I just said 'Maybe it's the wrong show for me'. It was after we did Unchained Melody and we tried it, and I had to change my song last minute. "I said at this point 'Maybe this show isn't really the right show for me because we keep having to change my song, which means we quite clearly don't know what to do with me'."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.