The X Factor - Series 6

It is a serious talent contest because at the end of the day, the best singer will win. It happens every year.

Like Simon said, neither of them were going to win. It's clear that Jamie, Lloyd, Danyl, Olly and Jedward aren't going to win either. So what does it matter which order they leave in? The public will forget about them within a matter of weeks and they'll be consigned to reality TV history.

Can you name any of the acts from the last series (with the exception of JLS) apart from the winner? Probably not, because the winner is all that matters.

McDonald bothers? I believe there are still going

Lets face it - whoever wins this year is on a one album deal, even if it's the golden boy - as nobody will buy Danyl's wailing! Olly IMO has the best chance of success in the UK, but I think that will be quite limited and like Shayne Ward he wouldn't exactly be considered a flop, but wouldn't be a superstar either.

As for Leona - her song tonight made Bleeding Ears sound good!

The title of the show itself though shows it's not all about the singing - Pop Idol was a vocal competition, this was supposed to be about something more (or in John and Edwards case - less!)

Laura , diana, Eoghan ( owen - why it's spelt like that I don't know) daniel (dead wife ) and rachel ( ex convict)

Ok, you have a good memory But I guess the more general point is that all of those acts were equally mediocre and none of them were winners.

Last year was actually very good, I think it was the best series and definitely an anomaly as it is usually quite poor and once they're voted off thats the last we hear. The standard of talent was quite high and the success rate is higher than usual. Alexandra and JLS have both commercially done well, Diana is in the West End and releasing an album next year signed to RCA, Ruth has signed a contract worth more than Alexandras and is releasing her album which Steve Tyler has written on and Laura White charted today, albeit at #32 but thats on downloads only. The physical CD is released tomorrow. That amount of deals has never happened after the show before. I think the show had a fair bit of credibility last year, but this year it has reverted back to cheesy talent show.

I'm not in the slightest wound up about tonights result. Yes its a shame that Lucie was voted off but Simon was thinking with his head- she was never going to win and axing her would generate more headlines, and in effect the ratings will go up next week. At the end of the day, its an entertainment show.

Exactly, The X Factor is a commercial enterprise after all - of course Simon Cowell and the other people involved want to make as much money out of it as they can. This isn't some kind of schmaltzy socialist effort that other non-commercial broadcasters would produce (Lorraine Heggessey said she wanted to make The X Factor in-house at the BBC when the idea was pitched to her in 2004 - can you imagine...)

That's fine. If the ratings go up, he's correct. If he's pissed off enough people that they slip next week, he'll still get away with it because he'll arrange for John and Edward to be punted to try and make up for it.

The problem is there's a fine line between selling it as a talent contest when it really isn't, and ripping the piss. He's just strayed into the latter, into Peter Kay territory.

I'm not watching it again. Doesn't make me a barometer of public taste though.

Fame Academy was pretty good, so I fail to see your point.

And "schmaltzy socialist"? What does maudlin sentimentality have to do with socialism?

Dude, sometimes you really show yourself up.

Everyone knows (or at least should) that Cowell's objective is to gain as many column inches and viewers as possible - not to find an artist with longevity. If he finds the latter that's a bonus - nothing more.

Sort of makes a mockery of the whole idea of X Factor, and its two fingers up at anyone who takes the programme and their voting seriously.

If as a country we'd just given a collective "Meh, fine" his decision would have backfired. It's 11:15am the morning after and already I'm sick to death of hearing peoples "outrage". You're giving him exactly what he wanted.

Just for the record, I'm not. I'm not watching this year.

ho ho ho