X Factor

I watched some last night, it was brutally awful, I am going to write in and complain. They are playing with peoples dreams and lives, and torturing them for our "entertainment". Giving someone a place, snatching it from them, giving it back, then finally discarding them would be bullying in any other environment. I feel very strongly about this, and in my most cynical, wonder if a breakdown or two, or someone feeling their life had been ruined, and in front of millions, and attempting suicide, which the programme will of course regret, would affect their ratings? I am more than prepared to be labelled killjoy, or bleeding heart, but I found it disturbing on many levels.

Never watched it,but someone tried to explain some business they do with chairs,and I nearly died laughing.
Firstly you get a chair,then the chair can be taken away. Sounds barmy.
As I say,I've never watched it,but Cheryl Cole judging singers? Really?

I can't believe this shit has been running since 2004!

The first couple of series were ok but then the novelty wears off and it's just the same shite time and time again.

I know someone who went to the auditions in Manchester once and all the people who queued up had to spend all day waving their arms around and pretending to cheer etc whilst they dubbed the sounds over the top of them, the first bit you see when the program starts.

it was a must see in our house until this year, the chairs thing is brutal. Imagine being sat there while people chant to get rid of you? I think this will be the last year it's on.

Moronic television for moronic people.

They know what they are signing up for, just like these mugs who sign up for Big brother and The Apprentice etc!

Anyone can get on any of these shows, hell i even made it to the latter stages of the apprentice auditions and i was only doing it for a laugh

It's simply cheap TV.

karlypants wrote:It's simply cheap people on TV.

fixed

The thing is we get BGT for half of the year which is simply the X Factor in disguise and singers should simply be banned from it and then for the other half of the year it's the bloody X Factor.

One thing that annoyed me with the X Factor/BGT was when watching an act, half way through they would switch cameras to see the reactions of Ant and Dec dancing about pulling silly faces. 

Saturday entertainment at it's worst!

I wouldn't worry too much about the contestants. Like all audience participation and "reality" telly, it's scripted, staged and edited to drag out every Hollywoodesque "emotional" moment and a two hour show is probably filmed over 8 or 10 hours to get the raw material.

It uses a tried and tested FORMULA that has worked for at least 10 years with identifiable elements such as the "personal back story".

Whether you are watching XF or Australian Masterchef you can guarantee that every "contestant" will be asked "why are you here?" but only the most emotive ones (usually dead relative watching down from Heaven or overcame disability/prejudice/disadvantage) will make the editing cut.

Then there's the "and what will winning this mean to your life/your family's life?" where the phrase "life-changing" will be bandied about as often as possible.

There's the "we made a (deliberate) mistake" routine when somebody has been sacked and reinstated. These are just devices to wring every bit of drama out of what is a fairly mundane situation and if any of them say that they packed in their job/moved country/left their wife to be in the show, you know it's an embellishment for the role. What actually happened was they were sacked, deported or dumped - but that doesn't make as good a back story in these days of sanitised 
spontaneity. 

Just don't make the mistake of attending as an audience member as I was roped into doing years ago for a quiz show. We were literally locked into the studio for hours and nobody could leave so they had continuity on the audience shots. There was a small army of floor managers holding up cards telling us when to clap, how to clap, when to "act surprised", yell, scream, fart, breathe....every aspect was managed. 

It's all light entertainment as scripted as a Hollywood movie and everyone - including the "contestants" - is playing a role.

Chairmanda wrote:I watched some last night, it was brutally awful, I am going to write in and complain.

No, just stop watching it. If everyone stopped watching it there wouldn't be an X-Factor.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Chairmanda wrote:I watched some last night, it was brutally awful, I am going to write in and complain.

No, just stop watching it. If everyone stopped watching it there wouldn't be an X-Factor.

fair call, but I can do both

Chairmanda wrote:I watched some last night, it was brutally awful, I am going to write in and complain. They are playing with peoples dreams and lives, and torturing them for our "entertainment". Giving someone a place, snatching it from them, giving it back, then finally discarding them would be bullying in any other environment. I feel very strongly about this, and in my most cynical, wonder if a breakdown or two, or someone feeling their life had been ruined, and in front of millions, and attempting suicide, which the programme will of course regret, would affect their ratings? I am more than prepared to be labelled killjoy, or bleeding heart, but I found it disturbing on many levels.

I agree. As I see it, the six chair challenge is nothing more than a cynical ploy by Simon Cowell to boost flagging ratings. I don't think he cares about the emotional trauma inflicted on the contestants and in my opinion it is incredibly cruel. Unfortunately, it is also must see TV for many of the younger generation who have aspirations and dreams of being singing superstars of the future.

Totally agree with you, Manda. I hadn't watched any of this series until last night. I had forgotten how sickeningly cruel it is, playing with people's emotions for "entertainment". The whole thing is orchestrated to play out at a seedy, sensationalist level on a par with the Daily Mail's most base articles. 

The judges should be ashamed of themselves for acting as if they are upset or in turmoil at being forced to make their decisions. The transparent Cowell hams it up in a way that makes junior-school productions look like the RSC by comparison. But even the greatest actor would be unable to compensate for the grotesque, vicious, bullying pantomime which is at the heart of the programme.

Members of the audience need to look at themselves too. They are whipped into a frenzy of thoughtless, atavistic prejudice and cruelty at the expense of contestants being used for Cowell's gratification.

The only justification for this programme is that they do sometimes find real talent, such as Leona, but the hoops that have to be jumped through to arrive at such a conclusion are not worth the degradation suffered by the majority.

And yet you still watched it Okocha. Until you learn to switch off there will always be an X-Factor.

Id rather watch bargain hunt.

Natasha Whittam wrote:And yet you still watched it Okocha. Until you learn to switch off there will always be an X-Factor.

Stop pretending you are a woman

Oh we switched off alright! Spellbound horror gripped us for about 20 minutes. Then Downton proceeded to provide more melodramatics. Two shows desperate to boost ratings.....

I really couldn't care less about the contestants and their "dreams". So they don't get to be a popstar. Big deal. They don't die, they just go back to being ordinary people with ordinary jobs that they hate. Welcome to the real world. They should try working their arses off and paying thousands for an education and having nothing to show for it. That's something proper to cry about.

doffcocker wrote:I really couldn't care less about the contestants and their "dreams". So they don't get to be a popstar. Big deal. They don't die, they just go back to being ordinary people with ordinary jobs that they hate. Welcome to the real world. They should try working their arses off and paying thousands for an education and having nothing to show for it. That's something proper to cry about.

Now there's a show to watch!