X-Factor and Strictly: Why the judges will never, ever, lose

By Remote Control on Nov 24, 08 06:59 PM

I HAVE to admit, my Saturday nights now revolve around Strictly Come Dancing and the X-Factor. I'm blaming the credit crunch, too.

I've never particularly enjoyed Strictly. I don't particularly think much of Bruce Forsyth as a presenter, and the idea of ballroom dancing as entertainment appears to have passed me by.

As for the X-Factor, it's normally round about now that I become interested once again - once the rubbish make-up-the-numbers-because-they-have-a-sob-story contestants have been binned off.

Both programmes are excellent at what they do, both are very different in many ways but strangely, both are suffering the same affliction, at the same time.

Both have judges who are suddenly trying to steal the show.

Let's start with X-Factor. What was with Danni Minogue crying, all because Louis Walsh accused her of stealing a song one of his groups wanted to sing that weekend?

Surely Danni's concern should have been for the ex-druggie over-25s singer - the one who was ultimately knocked out after singing the song Danni "stole" from Louis's rather naff boy band.

It almost made you forget that it's supposed to be a singing competition - one in which the viewers are supposed to make the choice.

Over on BBC 1, the judges were rather getting ahead of themselves by bemoaning John Sargeant's massive popularity in the competition. Sure, it is supposed to be dancing and the like, but crucially it's us, the public who are supposed to have the final say, isn't it?

If that is the case, then I have this question: Why have the sing-off/dance-off? Is it to add to the drama, or merely to pad out the programme?

Or is it so that the judges retain a degree of control over who goes through, and who goes home? Let's face it, it's very rare that two superb acts end up in the bottom two. Normally, it's the duff one, and one of the ones marked for the final -especially in the case of X-Factor.

And what happens when the judges don't get to chuck out the useless one? Well, they get crabby - just look at what happened on Strictly when John failed to make the bottom two. He probably deserved to go, but the public took its vote and used it exactly how it saw fit - to keep in the one they liked.

What am I driving at? Well, put it this way, for as long as we have the sing-off or dance-off, we don't have a competition where we decide who stays and who goes. We have a bit of a say, but the public's vote is strictly controlled.

And that, to me, simply isn't worth voting for.