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X Factor’s crew held at airport
By Georgina Littlejohn, London Lite Last updated at 17:02pm on 29.09.09Related links
An X Factor camera crew was stopped and held in Dubai as they flew in with a group of finalists to work with mentor Dannii Minogue.
The TV production staff were detained for two hours by airport security, who quizzed them about their reason for being in the United Arab Emirates state.
Finalist: singer Stacey Solomon was in Dubai
According to reports, guards suspected the crew might be spying on them to make a negative show about their customs, or that they were filming a raunchy pop video.
Their camera equipment was also taken apart and examined, until guards were given documents that proved the team was part of the ITV talent show and released them.
The crew was travelling with six female contestants — Lucie Jones, 18, Stacey Solomon, 19, Rachel Adedeji, 18, Nicole Jackson, 19, Despina Pilavakis, 20, and Stacey McLean, 20 — who were joining Dannii, 37, at the five-star Atlantis Palm hotel.
It was initially reported that the girls were also stopped and held, but it was later confirmed they had made it through customs and were taken straight to their hotel.
Mentor: Dannii Minogue arrives back in the UK yesterday
A source said: “When camera crews fly abroad to film, many countries have agreements in place to let them in without any fuss. But Dubai is a lot stricter.”
A show spokesman confirmed: “The crew was held at security for a couple of hours.” The girls were later treated to not just one, but two Minogues as Dannii was joined by big sister Kylie, 41.
The pop star sisters put the six through a final audition before whittling them down to three finalists, in scenes to be aired this Saturday.
The other judges also picked a final three with Simon Cowell mentoring the over-25s at his Barbados home, Louis Walsh auditioning the groups in Ireland and the male singers flying to Morocco to sing for Cheryl Cole.
Video: The best bits from the X Factor auditions
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Reader views (3)
Miles, Point taken but I think its preferable to Big Brother and I'm a Celebrity etc.
- Peace Maker, Battersea
A similar thing happened to a crew I was working with in Morocco earlier this year, but strangely that never made the news...These things happen, and if it hadn't involved The Z Factor, we'd never have heard about it.
- Jock, London
Pity they didn't throw the lot of them in jail,then we wouldn't have to endure weeks of that trash on the television and in the papers.
- Miles, London, England
