Every journalist and his dog seems to be talking about TV and how it misleads us at the moment. With that in mind I went searching for something quite interesting I read a long time ago, that should add something to the whole issue.
Most of you will probably remember a Channel 4 TV show called Faking It. You might even remember this particular edition, where a Choir girl Laura-Jane Foley was challenged to fake being a Rock Chic in the space of four weeks.
Well, the day after the show was broadcast, she popped up on the Channel 4 website's forum putting her side across. The posting has long since disappeared from there, but I found it knocking around thanks to Google Desktop, and so thought I'd put it up here to see what people think...
"Well, well, well. I've stumbled upon this forum and thought I'd contribute and clear up a few misconceptions and misunderstandings about me. Before any of you say differently this is Laura-Jane Foley - not someone faking being me (haha!) nor is it one of the many people who have pretended to know me/ be related to me! For my sins... this is me...like me or loathe me! And from what I've read a great many of you seem to loathe me. It's a good job I'm not a depressive kind of person because some of the vile comments some of you have made about me could have sent another person to the brink.
I'm not going to defend myself (those who know and love me know full well that the Laura-Jane Foley on Faking It was not the real me) but I will just point out some issues you may not be aware of.
Out of the many hundreds of hours of filming, Sidra Khan, the director chose to show one hour of the most negative parts of the four weeks. She did not show any of the occasions on which I threw myself wholeheartedly into the project. She did not show me having a tattoo in a tattoo parlour (bet that surprises you!) riding on the back of motorbikes with Nikki, dancing into the night with Harry and various other rockers and getting on with Harry... I never at any stage criticised Harry. The very careful editing and pointed questions made it seem otherwise. And by the way the house wasn't hers (she lives in Ascot... how very rock!)it was rented for the four weeks by channel 4... yet another of the many cons!! And did you know that I spent just as much time with my other mentor singing teacher, Nikki who has become a good friend of mine and with whom I got on really well. Strange that they didn't show any of that or the footage of her lifting me in the air after the final gig? Of course they wouldn't would they because those were positive aspects!
And another bombshell. Did you have any idea that Faking It is scripted? Every single event, movement and reaction by me and my mentors was planned well in advance of even meeting me! So much for spontaneity and life-changing experiences! At the beginning of Week 2 I found the script which Khan carelessly left behind after a days filming and discovered that I was to be reduced to tears the following Friday by the band who were going to tell me I was rubbish - even though I hadn't even met them at this point! and that my first gig was going to be lied about to me and then thrust upon me at the last minute with no preparation time. Nice people eh? When I found this the production nearly stopped and quite frankly I wish it had. From then on it was Khan's intent to portray badly. She'd been told off by her boss, Stephen Lambert and wanted to get her revenge.
Finally to those of you who have asked why did I do it... I didn't know what I was letting myself in for. Khan misled me from the beginning. I was conned into signing a contract by saying that the show would make good use of my classical voice. I was under the impression that I would be performing on the West End stage or something like that... at the beginning of filming I was told I would be transformed into a Blondie-style singer... it was only when I went for my make-over two weeks into the project that the punk rock element was thrust on me.
So there you have it. Faking It is one big fake from start to finish. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if this email gets removed. After all they've already removed me from the list of shows on this website!
Anyway, there's plenty more I could say but I'm really not bothered about it anymore. I am very happy with the REAL life of Laura-Jane Foley!"
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