Dan Boyle: Susan Boyle sacrificed for ratings

SINGING sensation Susan Boyle was sacrificed for TV ratings, her second cousin, Senator Dan Boyle said yesterday.

The Green Party secretary, who bore the brunt of barbed comments from judges in an Irish TV charity talent show, said he can understand why the Britain’s Got Talent runner-up needs time to recover.

“She is in a very uncomfortable place at the moment and it’s completely understandable that exhaustion would follow. I experienced something similar myself,” he said.

Senator Boyle was a member of The Politicians, a band which featured in the Celebrity You’re A Star series two years ago and was subjected to personal criticism by judges Louis Walsh and Brendan O’Connor.

“This was a show for charity and we went into it with a certain amount of tongue in cheek,” he said.

“But I was bothered by Louis Walsh and Brendan O’Connor being rude. The person gets lost in these types of shows. It’s all about ratings and column inches.

“The showbiz world can be quite bitchy. In politics, there are some things you don’t say and some approaches you don’t take. You take a robust but polite approach.

“But in these TV shows, it’s all about being controversial to entertain people.”

Their grandfathers were brothers and he wished Susan Boyle, 48, well in her recovery and said he would like to meet her soon.

“I didn’t know about the family connection until a few weeks ago. But I do intend to follow up with it and I would like to meet her,” he said.

His comments came as Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden insisted that Susan Boyle has “no underlying mental issues” and is simply exhausted.

Boyle, from Blackburn, west Lothian, has been recovering at the Priory clinic in London after suffering what her brother described as an “anxiety attack” after her surprise defeat in the final on Saturday.

Police were called to Boyle’s hotel after she began acting strangely, and she was taken to the Priory on Sunday after being assessed under the Mental Health Act.

In eight weeks, Boyle has gone from a church volunteer in a small town in Scotland to global fame, and Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond said the show should “probably” take better care of its contestants.