X Factor contestant, Dexter Haygood was cut from Nicole Scherzinger’s Over 30’s team last Tuesday. His bizarre, confused take on Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” certainly earned him a place on the chopping block. He deserved to be sent home.
But now, Dexter says he wasn’t pushed, he jumped.
He claims that he told Nicole two days before the live show that he wanted to exit.
Reportedly, Nicole took Dexter’s complaint to X Factor producers and came back the same day with an offer–He would be bounced on Thursday’s results show if he agreed to return for the season finale.
“I wanted to leave the show because I was unhappy that I was unable to be a rock artist. I grew up on rock.”
Dexter didn’t like singing pop songs such as Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love” and Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl”. “Can you imagine Steven Tyler, Mick Jagger, James Brown, doing (the ‘Crazy in Love’ chorus) ‘uh oh uh oh uh’?”
Producers “seemed to have their way of doing things. I’m not sure why they wouldn’t let me be me,” he said Tuesday.
This account isn’t quite passing the smell test for me. Dexter seemed pretty upset when he was cut. Is he just saving face now? I don’t know if we’ll find out or not. It’ll be interesting to see how the X Factor powers-that-be respond. If they did “cut a deal” with Dexter, would they be willing to admit it now, after going through the charade of Dexter’s audition and elimination?
“They (producers) took the opportunity to cut me, to let me just fly and do things the way I want to do them,” he said.
Although Dexter said he was willing to play along before he was cut, he decided he owed it to himself and fans he made through X Factor to tell his side of events.
Dexter was frustrated by how much the show featured his difficult backstory as a homeless person.
“I was treated more like a character than an artist. This is TV, they want a good story, you know? But they took that and I didn’t get a chance to be an artist. I was doing things I would never do,” he said.
Reportedly, for the 2 weeks Dexter was in Los Angeles, he was paid $250 for expenses, another $500 for the live show and cab fare for his ride to the airport after he was cut.
Dexter is currently back in touch with his former band, Xavion and are in talks for a comeback tour and may appear on the X Factor finale.
“The judges are great,” Dexter said, including Simon, whom he called “a very nice guy.”
“They understood me even though they couldn’t give me what I wanted.”
Another hopeful who had no clue what they were getting into. Yes, if you’re a contestant on a reality show, you’re going to be treated like a character. That’s the deal you sign with the devil. (Source: Associated Press)
