Here is some valuable advice should you make it on to one of these amazing reality shows that can truly launch your career.

Social media is everything and every interview you can do helps...you make fans one person at a time and you can't afford to act like a star until you are one and even then you have to stay focused on reaching the people who will support your career. There's a great saying, "Be nice to the people you meet on the way up because they are the ones who will kick you on the way down." This entire industry has changed, gone are the days when being on a show was enough and publicists did all the work.

Fans are connected these days - they are on twitter, Instagram and Facebook and they expect a connection. The people who do well on these fan voted shows are the ones working the social media. The talent who have the longer careers outside of the show are the ones who have the fan bases to support that. The only way to do that is to do every interview you can, learn how to interview well, learn how to share yourself so your fans connect with you and want to invest in keeping you around. 

And this is the example I will use. It was only yesterday that I was predicting to someone that the incredibly talented Sugar from The Voice on NBC will leave the competition before she should because she blew us off during the backstage interviews the other night. Now Reality Wanted may not be Extra or ET, but we have a quarter of a million members and connect to so many more fans through our articles and interviews on Twitter and Youtube. Fans follow our videos, they tweet and rewteet them, the talent tweet their interviews to their fans, their fans create fan pages and drive people to vote. They are the ones who will campaign to save you and take you all the way and they get involved. REALLY involved. And sometimes all it takes is a simple tweet to reach millions of people who have your fate in their hands.

Luke Wade, who had that horrible moment on stage when he forgot his lyrics was the last to leave that night and even came back and gave us more time when we asked. He was working that press line like a pro and today, he is still in the show. That's what it's all about. And it wasn't like it was late. We were finished an hour after the show (which records early for the Eastern feed so we were finished by 8pm) but she decided we (and a few other outlets) were not important enough to her campaign to hang around and now today she is off the show, having not garnered enough fan votes to save her. Tough lesson but now you, the future stars of these shows, will learn from her mistakes. 

Now I'm not saying we were responsible in any way but that's how it goes...sometimes it's a tiny margin of votes that gets you over the line and you just can't afford to be a diva, or even feel safe, especially when you've yet to make it. And I do wish her the very best in her career after this and sometimes the toughest lessons are the ones that shape us the most. She will rise up from this no doubt. 

And it's not just her. I've seen it time and time again. People who give terrible interviews, who are grumpy, who won't share or who look around as if they'd rather be anywhere but there. Just remember, if you give a bad interview or are rude to the interviewer, then they may well not even air it. And you never know when that person turns up as a producer or interviewer on another bigger show. Everyone is always potentially "someone" because in this town, you never know when the person sitting next to you will make it. Never burn bridges unless you can afford to stay exactly where you are.

Should you be lucky enough to land one of these fan driven shows, then take the time to do the press line, talk to everyone: The weirdest looking guy in line holding just a dictaphone might have a million or more followers - the internet is king these days and you just can't underestimate the support you might get from the net.

I'm sorry Sugar is gone. She was great. But let it be a lesson - all press IS good press (remember that saying? It's so true), so don't blow people off, honor your commitments, give your fans something to get excited by, be professional, say yes to as many press opportunities you can get, be gracious and never ever be a flake. 

And to see who actually stayed around to do the work check out our backstage interview videos here: