Today's Sun says that Lee stormed off after the first show on Saturday night, saying he was sick of the show. After speaking to members of his family, he decided to come back.

Assuming this is true, I think it illustrates how much pressure even the most experienced contestants are under.Perhaps judges like Zoe ought to bear that in mind when making 'over the top comments' on the programme.

I'm afraid I don't know how to provide a link, but it's easy enough to find in The Sun online.

Here's the link:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2...210064,00.html

I dunno... voices in my head saying "Do i trust the Sun newspaper" and also "seems totally out of character for Lee". Those are just my voices though :P

As the Sun is known to be reliable and trustworthy newspaper ...

I read it and thought so what. Not changed my opinion.

They are couped up 24/7 away from friends and family and if he has been ill he properly needed a hug from his mum or girlfriend and it was probably a culmination of everything and he needed downtime.

I think he will come back saturday showing us why he is one of the final 3

I can't say I blame him.

Zoe was particularly harsh, (he wasn't straining his voice, he'd been ill & she knew that) and he got a really unsympathetic edit this week. Usually, when a contestant is ill, they make a bit deal of it and do a "will he/won't he be able to perform this week?" piece & give some sympathy. No such luck for Lee.

And it was a c**p song choice.

I'm sure the last thing he felt like was scaling a barricade! But he didn't choose to stay at home in bed, he had a go...

Rough week at the best of times, but if he was a bit under the weather, I can understand him thinking "S*d this for a lark!" after the panel's remarks.

I'm sure he had a moment, and the papers have blown it out of proportion. He's professional enough to have calmed down & will be back to normal by next week. Storm in a teacup.

thats precisley it storm in a tea cup.

yes songs have been poor and samey.

Also I believe that ALW should explain to the panel why he chooses the songs, and what he really has aked from the individuals in the private sessions.

I get the feeling the lads are all getting contradicator advice

1. When have we ever been able to rely on The Sun not to exaggerate or embellish the truth.

2. Asumming there is shred of truth in this, I wouldn't be surprised. I think the criticism he got on Saturday must have come like a ton of bricks and Lee has never struck me as someone who would take that particularly well.

3. I refer to point 1



I have to disagree with that. Lee was straining his voice. He always does to get any power. It's not just audible, it's visible too.



I thought that was good. There was enough focus on his problems during the week to get the point across and probably excuse any shortfalls in his performance this week but not so over the top as to make it obvious that they were pleading for the sympathy vote.


Sorry but Alright Now is an all-time classic. Unfortunately the choice of song and the later group performance of a Meatloaf song proved that Lee cannot sing or perform rock.


If he had been that ill he would have been excused doing that.


Why? He's not the first contestant and certainly won't be the last to have to perform and be judged when he was feeling less than 100%.


I hope so but whatever the circumstances or how severe his reaction, if this is at all true, a question mark now lies over Lee's so-called professionalism.

Is there not the faintest possibility that Lee just wanted some time on his own after his performance and those comments- I really don't think he'd have threatened to walk off knowing how much he wants this

Agree with every word

If he did, they'll give him a bad song to get him voted off, the press wont help as joe public, believes it.

If you're leading a company, you are one of the people who cannot take time off during a show. What if he had a poor performance of just one song or there was a particularly negative or unresponsive audience that day? Is the leading man supposed to say "Sorry, people, time out" and storm off stage for a bit time alone?

No I know what you mean- I'm not talking about during the show- I was talking about the break in between the first show and the results show which is when I'm assuming all this is supposed to have happened.

[quote=sHAYneWARD;14400914 Is the leading man supposed to say "Sorry, people, time out" and storm off stage for a bit time alone?[/QUOTE]

The answer is YES. He is human, even leading men and women need the five minutes to gather their thoughts and then turn round to gather the troops. If he did this everytime and turned into a diva then thats a different matter. but I dont believe he was.

For all we know he could have said he felt sick and not sick of the show. My concern is if zoe picks the songs then she likes setting people up for a fall (eg John Deep) she should have told him the story of his song.

But if she picked Lee's then she knew he would strain and to turn round and say it was awful, flat and horrible, if I were the lads I'd be thinking twice about how much i would take to get the part.

He took the criticism stoically while it was being given, which is what's important. Knowing the Sun, what probably happened was that Lee went to talk to his family between shows instead of being cooped up in the Joseph Staging Area. It's not as if he threw off the coat and went out to get blind drunk. Let's not blow this out of proportion until we know the facts as reality shows them, not as the Sun chooses to blow them up.

Give the guy a break. He had been ill, had to keep going through the barricade challenge, learned and rehearsed a song which was completely unsuitable for him and not what he should be pushing his voice through when he was vulnerable, had to sing meatloaf as one of the group numbers, and THEN was criticised for doing as he had being told and being "a bit rubbish." Very helpful.

I don't believe for a minute that he stormed off in the way it has been suggested, but if he did I'm on his side and I think if he managed to storm off without chinning Zoe on the way that showed great self control.

But as he is not auditioning for a leading role in Jesus Christ Superstar it doesn't matter that he can't sing rock. Which is, of course, my major gripe with the programme and with Maria last year. I have no clue which of these distinctly average guys would be the best Joseph as the only time we get to hear them singing musical theatre is when they have been booted off and are doing their finale. There are a few exceptions of course when the producers do dare to allow disgraceful musical theatre songs through and that to me proved that Seamus had a great voice (Being Alive) and that Johndeep should not have been in the competition at all (Something's Coming).

Not sure I really like Lee. He seems a bit smug to me but of course that could largely be the editing.

If it did happen between the show and the results show, could that be why Zoe said he shouldn't be Joseph?

Exactly! I can't understand why people are assuming something printed in the Sun is true. He was probably seen talking to his family while looking unhappy and that was twisted into the story that was actually printed.

We don't know if it is true? but then let the show come out and deny it on behalf of Lee??

Sometimes I feel Lee has lead perhaps a life in the Theatre always being told in his own personal "field" of stand in and chorus how good he is and perhaps he finds it hard to take some comments, but look at what younger inexperienced JOSEPH contestants have had to listen to.

LIFE is not easy, you have to take the Ups and the downs! - not run away from them.

We're being baited, the press are reeling us in, trying to change our minds. From the start the bookies had Lee to win, now he's meant to be throughing a strop!? Come on, all press is good press esp for the show.

Put it like this, if it had been a normal audition would we be discussing every little thing? But Zoe does like to set people up as I said earlier, shes done it all the way through with the other guys too.

"if zoe picks the songs then she likes setting people up for a fall (eg John Deep) she should have told him the story of his song.

But if she picked Lee's then she knew he would strain and to turn round and say it was awful, flat and horrible, if I were the lads I'd be thinking twice about how much i would take to get the part."

Stand in's and Chours get even worse comments than the main cast, I've had them been said to me. I'm sure he knows the pitfalls if he doesnt then thats a big shame.

Who else saw the tatic Keith used, "Let me sing Close every door, but not on this show" John Barrowman even rolled his eyes at that.

So it must be true

I didn't say it was true. I prefaced my comments by saying ' assuming this is true'. Just thought it was an article people might be interested in!

Why? Is he SO popular that they are then stuffed should he walk? Also, which show? First or second? Because he seemed calm enough on the VT clip when he was talking about the comments he received.


Sick or he was sick? Bit of an odd choice of word considering he was sick this weel.

The sing-off is if you're in the bottom two, and we already know from the BBC website he was ill this week and worried that he'd miss the show.


He didn't from recollection - he spoke about the need to hold something back for the actual performance. The harshest comments came from Zoe Tyler.

Anonymous sources, people close to...etc. hold no weight. For those of you who are fans of the West Wing - chicken-assed wannabees who don't get any cider.

Wrong show, darling. That would be Big Brother. Stop recycling you articles for each reality show.

It's the Sun. ::shrugs:: They could have written this about ANY of the guys. If someone steps away for ten minutes after a show where they have been slated on, in a manner that many posters who aren't even fans of Lee have described as nasty, to see friends and family then what's the big deal? Gotta get interest up in the show and gotta sell newspapers.