The X Factor - Series 6

The X Factor is, and always has been an ENTERTAINMENT show. If you want a talent show, watch Britain's Got Talent.

The point remains - no matter how 'outraged' people are - Lucie received the LEAST AMOUNT of public votes. If all the people that are so outraged by this actually voted for Lucie, maybe John and Edward would have gone last night.

They are ALL entertainment shows - BGT is no different.

Its just a bit cheeky for Simon to bang on about how certain acts "make a mockery" of the whole thing, when his objective isn't truly to find a "winner".

And by the way - as a non-viewer, I'm always a bit surprised when I flick past to see the judges talking about themselves "winning" more than the contestant they are championing.

But BGT is much more packaged as a Talent Contest than X Factor ever has been.

Simon is a very clever man - he knows that Jedward won't win because the British Public won't let that happen. They may last a few more weeks (or even get to the final show), but they won't win. Chico and Same Difference were the exact same act in previous years.

Every single year there are some controversial exits and every single year the same people moan about it - "It's a fix" - NO, it's not - you just need to vote for your favourite act.

I thought they'd stopped including physical CDs in the official chart (singles anyway!). Laura was never as good as the outrage made out last year.

Back to the so called outrage this year - 14m people watch The X Factor, less than 1m will probably buy the winners material. For the vast majority of people, it's all about the TV show - not what may or may not happen afterwards.

Fame Academy was undeniably a talent show and the focus was solely on the acts to the point we could watch then in the style of Big Brother. X Factor is an entertainment show disguised as a talent show, its a panto and thrives off generating headlines. That simply wouldn't happen at the BBC. Over 16m people watched last night, that is a culmination of the headlines and it looks set to grow even further next week.

Strictly Come Dancing?

SCD is just a massive failure when it comes to attempting controversy. Look at the ratings. And even when it was ahead, SCD never had the social impact X Factor has, and X Factor is much more of a panto.

I received a text message at approximately 13:05 hours this afternoon via twitter to inform me that the 'Online Community are divided by Twins' performances'. Why I needed to know that, I don't know.

From what I can remember, Fame Academy was the kind of safe, low risk format that would've been more suited to a slot within CBBC. Also the whole USP of Face Academy was the fact that it was set in a private school of sorts. So every level of the programme was essentially the same typical pretendy socialist (with a stiff upper lip) nonsense that the BBC does best. Maybe it was a hit, in the south east of England, but I don't think it went down that well in the rest of the country. Whereas, of course, The X Factor has nationwide appeal.

Great to see it peaked with 16.6 million this weekend. 20 million for the final, perhaps?

Its not so much that you've misremembered, more that you've mangled the reality by your own preconceptions.

It was "set" in a school for performing arts - you're applying some inverted comma label to it as if its Rodine. Such schools/uni courses are widely available across the UK (even here in Scotland, dear - I should know) and has nothing to do with class/social background or "southern types". That's your misconception.

Young performers, if they *must* be pigeon-holed for you to grasp the concept are, if anything, liberal types.

The point of it being an "academy" was that we saw the teaching of stagecraft and developing of natural talent through classes and rehearsal. The process was as important as the sing-off.

If that's not your cup of tea, no problem - but you questioned how the BBC might deal with a competition of young talent and there you have it.

I think you're just over-complicating things, Gavin The intended target audience for the programme - which was broadly young people - would pass judgement about such a programme in a much simpler and shorter analysis than yours when deciding whether or not they like the format.

The same goes for the Andrew Lloyd Webber shows as well - who, outside of the south eastern bubble, really cares?? (And while we're here I don't think the 'de-centralisation' of the BBC is going to help one bit.) SCD is a bit different because the geographical appeal is much wider, however the large number of older viewers is the only reason the ratings are as high as they are - but I don't think I could call SCD family entertainment. Anyway, this is The X Factor thread...

(And by the way, I was pigeon-holing the BBC - not the performers.)

My mum. She's northern. Next?