An X-cruciating travesty! (The X Factor)

Member Name: ~*pink-pilgrim*~

Product:	The X Factor
Date:	14/12/08 (110 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: it used to be great

Disadvantages: it's gone a little over the top now - boring boring year after year!

It seems that X-Factor this year has caused more controversy than normal. I have always been a fan of X-Factor however they have now in my opinion 'over-egged the pudding' somewhat.


I though Alex performed very well tonight and that she deserved to win, I am not happy however at Simon Cowell's song choice. I feel that using a much loved song 'Halleluiah' written and performed by Leonard Cohen. The song later covered by Jeff Buckley is beautiful and I think X-Factor have made a wrong choice this year to cover it - The single has overtly sexual themes and has been described by Buckley as an 'homage to "the hallelujah of the orgasm' hardly appropriate for Christmas time. I for one will not be buying the single this year - or at least before Christmas - thats not to say I will not support Alex in the future with her future releases.


SHOW FORMAT
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The X Factor is a talent show aired on ITV1 Saturday nights. It is a popular show and attracts many viewers each year. The X-Factor replaced the popular 'Pop Idol' a similar type of talent contest. The show aims to create stars from normal people with talent. The premise is great and I do support the whole idea of creating a star from an average, normal member of the public but feel that the show has overdone things now and each year turns out to be a fight for Christmas Number 1 with the public generally knowing who will get the much coveted title of Christmas Number 1 almost instantly after the winner is announced on the final show.

He show was created by Simon Cowell and is joined by three other judges. This year the judges are Louis Walsh, Danni Minogue, Cheryl Cole and Simon himself. Until last year Sharron Osbourne was one of the judges and I must say that the show was much better with her as a judge.

The competitions are usually split into four categories, although until 2007 it was split into 3. This years categories consisted of: The Groups, The Over 25's, Under 25's Girls and Under 25's Boys.

The show follows a typical format and admittedly my favorite part has to be the auditions as some candidates are hilarious. I tend to switch off after this point and get more into it near the end.
Stage 1: First stage Auditions - consisting of some awful contestants and at this point we can spot potential winners

Stage 2: Boot camp - all judges are responsible for selecting the best to go into each group.

Stage 3: Visits to judges' houses - this is where the final contestants will be selected

Stage 4: Live shows - usually about 10 weeks of live shows and the audience and viewers votes for the winners.

X-FACTOR 2008
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This years X-factor has been entertaining, and in my opinion has been one of the best series so far. The quality of contestants exceeded my expectations and that of previous years. I have really enjoyed watching the live shows this year and have not been bored one bit, unlike previous years.

In the first week I predicted that Diana Vickers, JLS and Alexandra would be in the final and I wasn't far off with my prediction. I do believe that Alexandra deserved to win tonight as she performed consistently throughout the series.

THE CONTESTANTS
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Groups

Bad Lashes - Bad Lashes was the first act to leave the X-Factor, not always the easiest or most pleasant title of a series but that title has to go to someone. They went out with their version of Wonderwall - I thought it was a different but good version of the song. Bad Lashes has since turned on the Plymouth Christmas Lights where I live...yes that's right Plymouth pulled out all the stops yet again this Christmas!

Girl Band - The public don't really value girl bands especially on shows such as X-Factor this act didn't last too long at all and they ended up suffering a similar fate to Bad Lashes.

JLS - This band made it to the final. I thought JLS were brilliant and as runners-up I can see a great future ahead for the talented four-piece group.

Over 25's

Daniel Evans - Daniel caused a bit of controversy and was the first of the 'Over 25's' to leave the show. Many people on the radio and on Facebook groups were urging the public to vote for daniels despite the negative comments he received from the judges week after week.

Ruth Lorenzo - Ruth the fiery Spaniard was one of my favourites throughout and her performance of 'Purple Rain' was spectacular. I really thought she would have remained until the very end and was quite sad to see her go.

Rachel Hylton - I really didn't like Rachel, I found her too overpowering and outspoken. I also thought she was rude and didn't think she really had much reason to be so big-headed. She was not the best singer in the competition and I was surprised to see her stay in for so long.

Boys under 25's

Eoghan Quinn - Eoghan made it to the final and rightly so he is a very talented young man, at only 16 he was unable to stay up after the live show as he was too young.

Austin Drage - Austin was one of the unfortunate guys to go out rather early. I thought Austin had a bright future ahead of him, unfortunately he was not good enough for this years standard.

Scott Bruton - Scott was another unfortunate one to go out quite early. Scott like Austin was not strong enough for the high quality acts in this years show.

Girls under 25's

Laura White - Laura's departure caused a lot of controversy. Laura was voted out after being placed in the bottom two; however her popularity over the UK caused people to assume that it was caused by incorrect votes and some people reported not being able to get through on the phone lines. This led to many people saying they'd boycott the show and that Laura should be given another chance.

Diana Vickers - Diana had a distinct, beautiful voice and I would have liked to se her win. She managed to get laryngitis on the week Laura had been voted out which had led to people believing she should have gone. Diana went through a few dodgy weeks with weak performances whilst recovering from her Laryngitis and soon went out the week before the final.

Alexandra Burke - Alexandra is the winner of the contest after some excellent strong performances. I thought her Candyman performance was amazing and overall I am glad that someone with an iota of talent has won the contest. I must admit that her performances tonight were spectacular especially the duet with Beyonce

THE JUDGES/MENTORS
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Louis Walsh - This year Louis has mentored the groups and I think he has done a good job. Louis has also been quite fair this year. Lost a bit of faith in Louis last year when he slated Same Difference every show and tried to make a personal jibe at Simon most shows.

Danni Minogue - Danni is a great mentor and seems to care for her acts. Danni is a fair judge as well giving credit to acts where it is true but giving any negative feedback fairly. Danni has had a rough time this year with the over 25's however Danni did have the winner last year.

Cheryl Cole - Cheryl is new judge on the panel and I feel she has taken to the role brilliantly of supporting the under 25 girls. I have rarely heard her criticise other acts and she has supported her own acts very well. You can see that she cares deeply and she shows true emotion when one of her girls perform on stage.

Simon Cowell - As much as people hate Simon Cowell I feel he makes the show more appealing. The live shows can be quite boring and his comments are wonderful, although sometimes I feel she could tone it down a little. This year Simon has managed the under 25 boys very well.

PRESENTERS
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The show is well presented by Dermot O'Leary and the 'Xtra Factor' presented by Holly Willouby. These two presenters seem to make the show that little more entertaining. Dermot shows a lot of care and consideration to the acts who may have just received negative feedback or worse been voted off

SUMMARY
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X-Factor has seen some high profile talent come out of the show and although I have not liked any of them I cannot doubt that it helps people with talent reach the dizzy heights of fame.

The idea behind the show is good but I do not agree that the destiny is somewhat decided straight after the show has ended. We know that Alexandra will have the Christmas number one as did Shane Ward, Leona Lewis and Leon Jackson. This however does not mean that these stars are any good in fact Leona seems to be the only winner to actually make something out of her success and even then I do not like her style of wailing like a banshee. I will not deny Alex of her chance to have a number 1 as I do actually think she has a real talent and will happily buy her single at a later date. I just don't agree with the timing of the singles every year and the pre-determined assumption that the winner will get a Xmas number 1.

I only hope that this year the British public will use their noggins slightly and not act like sheep. I believe the Christmas number one should be as the title says - Christmas and therefore it should be remotely linked to Christmas.

The show this year seem to have caused more outrage than normal with Facebook groups springing up urging the British Public to buy the Original Jeff Buckley song, buy Rick Astley's song 'Never Gonna Give You Up' or even buy Geraldine McQueen's Christmas song (the spoof of X-Factor but I think Simon Cowell summed it up well when he said thankyou to everyone who has talked about the show - all this publicity year after year about petty squabbles, controversial voting problems and legal battles makes the show stronger.

I think the only thing that will calm the hype down is to ensure that the cycle of X-Factor Christmas numbers 1's is stopped. If people do not buy the singles then the show fails to take over prime time television. I used to love X-Factor it has now reached that annoying stage - please ITV no more next year!

Summary: I used to love X-Factor - now I can barely stand to watch it!