'There's nothing I could have done before that show that would have prepared me for boot camp,' Gene Simmons' daughter tells MTV News. By Gil Kaufman
Sophie Simmons on "X Factor" Photo: FOX
Most kids who audition for "X Factor" are not only faced with singing for world-famous judges for the first time, but also with making magic happen while being filmed by a number of giant cameras.
Though she had never really sung in public for strangers before, the one leg up Sophie Simmons had on her competition when she tried for the show earlier this year was the seven seasons she's spent being shadowed by a reality TV crew on her family's A&E series, "Gene Simmons Family Jewels."
But less than 24 hours after America learned that Simmons, 20, had not made it to the judge's house round on the show, she told MTV News that no prior Hollywood experience could have made her "Factor" ride any easier.
"There's nothing I could have done before that show that would have prepared me for boot camp," said Simmons of the grueling cut-down episodes that followed the initial auditions. "It's unlike any reality show I've ever experienced because it's a competition and you're really working hard."
One of the most unsettling aspects of boot camp for Simmons was that she never even got to unpack her suitcase because another elimination was always just around the corner. "We'd wake up really early in the morning, meet with vocal coaches and do some physical exercise, try to eat a meal as a group and then go back to working with our coaches," she said.
Contestants had to learn a song in a few hours, sing it in an elimination round and then start on the next song and have it ready by the following morning. "You're constantly learning new material and really not getting any sleep. It was one of the most difficult weeks of my life," she said.
Simmons was sent packing on Wednesday night's episode,
getting just a brief on-camera nod as the judges pared down the singers to the group of 24 that advanced to the judge's homes.
Frankly, despite her pedigree, we didn't get to see that much of Simmons during her brief run on "Factor." The daughter of legendary Kiss bassist/singer Gene Simmons and model Shannon Tweed tried to audition for the show fairly anonymously in San Francisco. But when your dad has sold more than 100 million albums and is a rock icon, it's kind of hard to blend into the crowd.
She said she decided to audition on the spur-of-the-moment after seeing a 4 a.m. infomercial about the San Francisco try-outs. She flew up the day before auditions and called her parents at midnight to let them know she'd be missing Father's Day, which did not go over well. Gene and Shannon flew out at 3 a.m. that same night and the whole clan woke up at 7 a.m. to join the thousands of other wannabees lined up in the Cow Palace parking lot.
"They weren't really giving advice, but just being supportive and saying, 'we believe in you and we love you,'" she said of her folks. "It was a unique experience of me ... I've never sung in front of a crowd that wasn't just my friends."
Simmons impressed the judges with her cover of Adele-by-way-of-Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love," making it to the next round despite Simon Cowell's protestations in an earlier episode about how sick he was of people singing Adele songs.
"I think if you just got a little bit more control, you could be really, really great," said judge Demi Lovato. "I think you have an amazing voice," added Britney Spears.
"It was really great to see two strong female examples of what it's like to be in the industry," Simmons said of Spears and Lovato. "And to hear them say I did a good job. It was encouraging and made me want to work hard."
On the day she was eliminated, Simmons said she missed the bus to the venue, got lost and was left behind, just barely running on to the stage in time to get the bad news. "It was s such a mess of a day," she said. "I wasn't even expecting to make it past the first audition in all honesty. I didn't do it for the singing, I did it for myself."
Her infamously opinionated dad held his emotions in check when his little girl got the boot. "They were sad, of course, every parent thinks their kid is the best," she said. "But I told him very specifically that this was the one thing he is not allowed to meddle in. He also understands that that's what it's like because he got said no to a lot and it's a lesson he's glad I learned."
As for what's next, Simmons said she has some plans, but isn't ready to talk about them just yet. "I'm not sure about singing ... being fresh off the elimination," she said. "I'm sure we'll be doing big things in the future."
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