Imagine this:
You’re sat at the Britain’s Got Talent auditions, you’ve seen a few hopeless acts fail miserably at the Judges vote, another lady comes out who just looks like the rest and tells Simon she want’s to be a professional singer. Your normal reaction will be to snigger or to roll your eyes.
That’s exactly what this young lady did:
The "1.24 girl"
Because of it, she’s endured months of threats and was even filmed by a man on a train. Jennifer said:
It was a split-second reaction that changed my life. All I did was roll my eyes and I’m targeted by a hate campaign for months. I just can’t believe how I have been targeted by total strangers around the world who don’t even know what kind of person I am. I really didn’t mean any harm. I think Susan’s a fantastic singer who deserves all of her success. I’ve been pretty shocked by it all and I really just want it all to stop now. They could have filmed 100 people around me with exactly the same expressions.
The nickname, “the 1.24 girl” refers to how many minutes and seconds into the clip that made Susan a celebrity within 24 hours.
Within days, Jennifer’s Facebook was bombarded by messages. Her friends recieved threats including, “That wee bitch will burn in hell” and, “Anyone smacked the bitch yet?”
Jennifer continued:
Going to the BGT auditions was supposed to be a great night out with pals. I can’t believe how it all turned out. What really bothers me is how the production company only kept in that split-second shot of me when there were hundreds of other people doing exactly the same thing. The moment Susan started to sing I did what everyone else in the audience did. I jumped to my feet and started cheering because her voice was so unbelievable.
Jennifer mentioned that at last minute, staff asked if she wanted to be near a camera. She said that even though they were close to a camera, they soon forget because her and her friends were having a good time.
What really annoys me is that the producers didn’t show me when I was up clapping and cheering Susan. It looks as though I didn’t appreciate her, which is not true.
Talking about how stunned she was when it was aired on April 11th 2009:
We were all sitting watching it and then suddenly my face popped up. I couldn’t believe it. All my pals started texting saying they’d seen me. But even then I said to my mum, ‘Why did they show me looking like that?’
Within a few days people started messaging me on the internet with some really nasty stuff. They were saying things like, ‘Let’s get the bitch’, and, ‘We’ll hunt her down and slap her’. It was really upsetting to see such horrible things being said about you. Over the weeks and months it got worse and worse. One day I was on the train and somebody recognised me and started to try to film me on their mobile phone.
Jennifer talks about how Sharon Osbourne escaped backlash after apologizing for saying Susan was ugly.
It’s pretty shocking when you see the really horrible stuff she said and she escaped with a quick apology.
Susan has also commented on Jennifer’s reaction:
Leave the poor girl alone. She had the same reaction as the judges and everyone else and she doesn’t deserve to be singled out.
Jennifer says:
It really meant a lot when Susan defended me. At least she’s knows I’m a big fan.
She finally concluded:
I’ve applied for tickets for the auditions in Glasgow again next year but I won’t be sitting anywhere near any cameras!
Simon Cowell’s company, Syco, have said they want Jennifer to appear in an documentary about Susan’s rise to fame, but Jennifer isn’t keen as she thinks they could edit it again and make her look bad.
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