ArchivesNormally, criticism on a reality TV talent show saves the public from pain, and the contestant from a life of further humiliation. But on his UK series The X Factor, Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne’s criticism actually ended up saving a woman’s life.
After she performed during an episode that aired Saturday night, 46-year-old Jacqui Gray faced the judges, and Simon said, “You have a very odd-sounding voice. Something happens to your throat when you sing. It is quite raspy. It sounds as if you have someone else in there, like you were choking on something.” Sharon Osbourne told her, “get it checked out.” Then they cut her from the competition.
Still, Jacqui is thrilled. “I want to thank them both. I may not have got through X Factor but they gave me something much more important than that…they really did save my life,” Jacqui told The Mirror. “I have been singing since I was a kid but that had never been pointed out to me before. … I thought I was suffering from a chest infection or swollen glands. … I was diagnosed with bronchiectasis and told if I had not got it seen to, it could have killed me,” she said.
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