Hold for applause… and that’s a wrap, people. Altiyan - thanks for coming.
It must have been so promising to be voted number one on X Factor - the poor man’s Australian Idol - but ultimately Australia was done with reality singing contests years ago.
We’ve had Guy Sebastian (easily the most successful, praise the lord), Lisa Mitchell (a real winner who was kicked out early), Jessica Mauboy, (good, but still filling the support role) and Damien Leith (to handle Mother’s Day releases).
But wait, there’s more! Remember Paulini? Casey Donovon? Natalie Gauci?
Cast the net wider.
How about Scandal’us (I was served a coffee by one of them a couple years ago), Bardot (Sophie Monk is barely recogniseable on those Pepsi ads), and - my favourites - Scott Cain and Kayne “the postie” Taylor (according to his Wiki page, as of 2007 Scott Cain was working at Harvey Norman).
The latter disappeared faster than a fart in the breeze and Altiyan Childs will suffer the same fate.
Five months on, Altiyan’s X Factor win is more akin to Charlie Sheen’s “winning” than the dream career in the music industry he envisioned.
It began with a raid on his manager’s house - his manager then fled from police in his underwear before he was arrested on gun possession and other charges.
He fled from a house Altiyan had vacated just days earlier.
Then, on Monday night, Channel Seven showed the broke singer living with a fan and her mother, and his plans to marry 19-year-old Nikki Kingston - a fan he’d met through Facebook two months earlier.
Apart from poor record sales, this was the last thing his record label Sony Music needed to see.
Altiyan has always been one to wear his heart on his sleeve, but after these events the passionate and emotional singer’s antics won’t be back for an encore.
His album, which consisted of the cover versions he performed in the series along with the winner’s single Somewhere in the World, may be Altiyan’s legacy.
“I surely will tell you now I have no money, that’s as simple as that. I think I’m probably about $400,000, $300,000 down,” Childs said.
“I don’t know what I’m doing it for, I would rather be a forklift driver. I saw my (old) boss two days ago and I said ‘mate, you keep that seat warm for me’.”
Altiyan may have no choice but to return to his old job.
Not only is the singer alienating his fans, he’s dating them as well, something the wholesome folks at Sony Music will examine closely before they think about backing the eccentric singer for another record.
The vulnerable and naive singer may have been taken advantage of by his manager, Steve Gold, but what Altiyan must realise is that a manufactured career is something you have zero control over.
Public appearances, corporate shows, soul-destroying appearances - it’s part of being a pop star whose career was built on television.
If the singer pulls his head in and plays the game he might just have a chance of releasing the album he’s “waited 24 years to make” - but it will be too late.
Australia’s Got Talent already has its promos up and running and The X Factor will likely be back for an all-new season.
Can a man who couldn’t remember the words in his auditions, perpetually cried on television and ran away to a cave survive?
Who knows - but it’s better television and that’s the real X Factor in this industry.
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