a Prokhor as his real name was revealed to be Andrei Zakharenkov. However, prior to applying to Fabrika Zvyozd, Zakharenkov had legally changed his name to Prokhor Chaliapin. The show has received criticism for its extensive use for playback, including for the contestants that took part. Most of the songs that were performed on the stage were playbacked with prerecorded and edited vocals. Accusations of nepotism Fabrika Zvyozd has also received criticism for nepotism. Several contestants have been said to have been admitted to the show based on the fact that they had connections to the producers at that time. Yulia Savicheva, who was a fabrikant in 2003, publicly admitted that she was promised a place on the show by producer Maxim Fadeev as they knew each other from previous efforts. In the third season of 2003, one of the finalists of the show, Yulia Mikhailchik was revealed to be a romantic relantionship with the season's producer Alexander Shulgin since already before the show. During the show, Shulgin gave her more solo songs than any other contestant. Poor treatment of contestants In the fourth season of 2004, there was a food restriction on several female contestants who had started to gain weight. In season 7, Rita Dakota was told "not to cry" and "not to downpour the mood in the house" after a family member had suddenly passed away. Dakota also spoke of a female contestant being harassed by other contestants for her skin colour and that the producers did not do anything about this. In the tour that followed the sixth and seventh series, artists were reportedly underpaid and had to sustain in poor conditions. Several times, there was no place for the artists to sleep on tour and the tour managers did not provide the artists with food. Despite selling out large stadiums, the artists earned as little as 50$ a day. Several artists had gone on a strict diet to save money from the tour. The sleeping venues were often the cheapest hostels in the visited city. At one stage, the 2006 cohort resided in a drug clinic due to lack of hotel space. The 2007 cohort reportedly once slept in a psychiatric hospital and once on the floor of a shop. Notes References External links Official website Channel One Russia original programming Russian music television series 2002 Russian television series debuts 2011 Russian television series endings