The gloves came off when Howie Mandel and “The X Factor” alum Katie Waissel clashed over Liam Payne’s death.
The gloves came off when Howie Mandel and “The X Factor” alum Katie Waissel clashed over Liam Payne’s death and whether the singing competition show had a “duty of care” when it came to his mental health decline.
The pair appeared on “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” where they got into a heated exchange over the “legal and moral duty” between the show, its participants and Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment company, which owns the “Got Talent” and “The X Factor” franchises.
Mandel is a judge of the US competition show “America’s Got Talent.” Waissel competed in the UK’s “X Factor” for Season 7 alongside Liam in 2010.
“When it comes to participants on those types of shows myself … there is a legal and moral duty of care, which should be upheld and adhered to,” argued Waissel, to which Mandel interjected by saying he believes everyone has a “moral and legal duty to take care of those people that we come across in life.”
He drove home his point by claiming that every competition show he’s worked on has psychologists on staff for those struggling, adding contestants who are “rejected” seem to have a “harder” time.
