By Michael MacLennan
After yet another deadlock on Sundayâs elimination sing-off, is the X Factor voting system in need of an overhaul?
Rachel Adedeji and Lloyd Daniels found themselves in the bottom two at the weekend, both then in the usual position of having to sing another song to prove their worth and remain in The X Factor for at least another week.
As has happened several times in the past since the judging line-up was expanded to four members, there was a deadlock.
The deciding vote came down to head honcho Simon Cowell, with it at that point 2-1 in favour of Lloyd being sent home. However, he said he âwanted the public to decideâ and voted for Rachel to be sent home, knowing that the person with the least phone votes would get the heave ho.
That was despite Cowell on previous occasions saying that heâd judge sing-offs based on the contestantâs performance, and admitting that Rachelâs effort on the Sunday night was by far the superior of the two (though Lloyd was suffering from a sore throat).
So does this show that the X Factor judges can take the easy way out, knowing that if they draw at two each then it comes down to the public vote, thus sparing them any blame for the decision? Hmm, surely not...
Thereâs three obvious problems with a voting structure that can lead to this situation: firstly, it can make the judgesâ reasoning for their choices seem like a sham, giving whatever explanation they need to to absolve themselves of responsibility. Just see Simonâs explanation on Sunday, which seemed to go against his usual rationale for making a decision out of the bottom two.
Secondly, it makes the actual sing-off irrelevant, as the phone vote is closed before the final two announced. The public at home may have been swayed by the performances on Sunday night but have no way of registering it. You could certainly imagine that being the case in the Rachel vs Lloyd sing-off.
Also, who they would prefer out of the two isnât registered - somebody could be more generally liked as a second or third favourite, which doesnât count when it comes to picking up the phone and registering a single vote.
And thirdly, the more cynically worried might imagine the judges knowing the results of the phone vote before they make their decisions. Any such accusations could, of course, damage the integrity of the show.
So how can this problem be fixed? There could be an additional judge - perhaps a guest judge for the week, for instance those musical icons appearing on the show to give the contestants advice on the Saturday.
Oh, and instead of coming down to the public vote, perhaps the live X Factor audience could be used to have a studio vote to decide who deserves to stay.
Or perhaps the result of the phone vote can be announced first, and used as a single âvoteâ? That way there would again be no way for their to be a deadlock, with five votes cast. (Well, unless one of the judges flounce off of course...)
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WTF?
. Jedward seem very popular with the others which I love and the press have totally got them wrong also
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