The judges are sniping more, which is childish and futile rather than entertaining; the rules are being bent more as the weeks go by in terms of what songs people are singing and exactly how they comply with these absurd themes that we see every week; and the judges aren’t even judging anymore.
It’s this last one in particular that inspired this blog.
I’m just going to come out and say it: I don’t like Jay James. I don’t like his voice, his tone, and I don’t find him to be a particularly likeable character. I also highly resent the fact that he’s had a record deal previously and, for whatever reasons, the producers of the show have decided to not be open about that, leaving the world’s media to dig out the information for themselves. I do, however, have a lot of love for Paul Akister.
Can you see where I’m going with this?
Despite my dislike of Jay James, I don’t really understand how either of these lads came to be in the bottom two of last night’s show. What I really don’t understand is how Louis Walsh, the great-grandfather of X Factor, failed to make a JUDGEment and instead handed the decision over to the public voters. The further we get into this series, the more inclined I am to brand Walsh as the senile uncle of the show who either makes terrible decisions, or makes no decisions at all. Okay, Paul was voted out fair and square by the public, but that only seemed to happen because Louis, rather than saying ‘I think Jay was the better singer’ instead said, I can’t decide, so I’m taking it to deadlock, as if that’s a fallback option for the judges to rely on when they fail to do their jobs. Which, incidentally, is something they’re failing to do more frequently as this series goes on!
I’ll miss Paul, I really will, and I’ll hold my hands up and admit that if Jay had been booted last night, I probably wouldn’t even be writing this post - so yes, it boils down to a little bit of favouritism. It also boils down to my, and everyone else’s, utter frustration at the fact that these so-called judges are being paid more than the average-Jo worker will earn in a year to sit on a panel and cast judgement on the contestants who sprawl themselves out in front of them. And it seems this year, the judges aren’t even equipped to do that right.
C x