Scandals & Boundaries

15th

of March, 2015.

It was the first live episode of the second season of The X Factor New Zealand.

Contestant Joe Irvine, competing in the show's Over 25s category as a stylish crooner, was to be the final live performance of the evening.

The performance and the performer were a hit with fans, but the entire show and country was about to be rocked by what came next.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am just going to state the obvious.

We have a doppelganger in our midst.

As I try and explain what happened, it doesn't sound like nearly enough to be a scandal.

It sounds completely quaked.

Duncan Grieve was writing about The X Factor for the spin-off, and he's right.

In retrospect, it doesn't seem like a big deal.

But it became the most significant TV scandal in years.

British pop star Natalia Kills and her Kiwi singer-songwriter husband Willie Moon were the new judges for the show's second season.

And already by this stage of the show, they'd established themselves as the quote-unquote mean judges.

But that was about to be dialed up to 11 on live TV.

Joe Irvine, who was this gentle soul who was on the show, lovely voice, came out wearing a suit.

And, you know, it was as if no one had ever worn a suit before Willie Moon, whose shtick was that he wore a suit.

Natalia Kills very memorably said...

I am disgusted at how much you have copied my husband.

It was over the top.

From the hair to the suit, do you not have any value or respect for

originality? I remember watching this happen, rising out of my couch, being like, what is going on?

The spin-off's Alex Casey also has that moment vividly set into her memory.

I still think about Willie Moon and Natalia Kills on X Factor about once a week.

But I think what gets underplayed in the recollection is what Willie Moon says.