Oh I remember when my quest for fame and fortune was scuppered by an unprofessional camera woman who was laughing and shaking the camera in the process of filming my audition to be a fitness coach for the nation. I was the real star in that audition waiting room in Manchester all them years ago because the rest of the acts were cliché singers, opera dogs and twirlers.



It broke my heart when I didn’t get through to the judges stage.

What was that I wrote about paying to go spectate in an asylum of a weekend ?

Anyhow back on topic.



I thought it was cruel when they bought a lot of contestants all that way to boot camp then to only to boot a lot of them out without them even singing another note on top of their original audition. It could have been handled in a much better way.



This year I’ve decided just to watch the final because the knock out stages prior to the final are too long winded.

It's taken Gary Barlow, a normally decent and level-headed bloke, (ok his songs are boring tripe), and turned him into a brainless automaton of Cowell's crap empire of crap music. Just seeing that X-Factor advert where there's a close-up shot of him saying the cliched ''wow, that performance is going to change your life'' in wide-eyed amazement makes me want to kick him in the mouth

That was an absolute disgrace to do what they did last night. These people had taken time out of their lives of jobs, studying and arranging child care to be told - sorry we made a mistake you're e and should never ever ever have made it this far, bye bye. Remember these people were originally told they were good enough for boot camp. Just playing with their emotions. Thats not "good telly" imo.



Goldie getting through above the ones who went home without a chance just makes a mockery of the whole "this is a singing contest" mantra they always bang on about.



I'm gonna give Strictly a try next week, not seen it before but I've finally seen the light about X Factor

It's taken this long?!?





The programme is and always has been a complete and utter farce, yet I still watch it almost every week and moan at the television





I find it hilarious at these people in tears when they get kicked out, for example the girl last night who looked like she was having some sort of breakdown on the stairs after coming off stage. You've made it to the last 100 or so of a music competition. FFS worse things can happen in life like finding out you're dying from a terminal illness, or losing a parent. Get a flipping grip, you were lucky to get this far anyway!



While some of the contestants have good voices, you can see that producers are looking for carbon copies of stuff already on the market that they can make as much money from (see Adele and Ellie Goulding wannabe's Jade and Janet).



Early leaders in the 'people that seriously need punching in the face and will somehow make it through to the live shows' category are Frankie and Kitty, the latter being so far up her own backside that she seems like some sort of caricature (wouldn't be surprised if she's been told to act like this to create a hate figure for this year)

Ah X factor this year is turning into a right laugh, its going to get all those people who hate it but watch it proper wound up...just the type of thing I like.



The lad from the army is obviously not up to it but is important for the competition because it will get the tabloids onside with some Help for Heroes stuff....I hope he doesn't end up completely going to pieces, because he seems like a decent bloke, but he is being used to get the right headlines.



Plenty of other characters in there that have not got a chance of ever making it as a commercial success - that 'ooh matron' fella must be having a ball because he was on the dole and now he's on TV, and fair play to him he can be entertaining Saturday evening TV but nobody is going to buy an album of his. Same with the groups, they will get voted off straight away as there are too many of them on the market.



The kid called Frankie is getting a load of hate but I think he's alright, what he should do is find some mates who play instruments and go and be the lead singer in a modern indie band with skinny jeans, he's got the right image for that and his voice could pull that off. Also Kitty is getting hate but that's classic X factor taking advantage of someone with mental health issues, she strikes me as a girl with ADHD or something like that and there were stories in the papers from other contestants saying Kitty was being deliberately treated badly at bootcamp by the organisers to provoke her into a reaction - they've found a girl with some borderline mental health issues and are pressing her to make her react in unpredictable ways for good TV.



I can't remember the others they all seem much of a muchness, the best is the young blonde girl Amelia who is easily good enough to be a pop star. I'm not expecting her to produce the type of music I'd buy but she's got the charisma and confidence for it, she can handle herself in front of the cameras and handle the media and seeing as she's only 16 she is easily a natural to make it, she might not win she might be a 'shock eviction in week 5' or whatever but after it is over she will be the one that goes on to have a career.



Those three scousers have no chance, especially as they will split the 'scouse vote'.

Having worked with young people I think that this is pretty common across the board now.



What you see from these predominantly working class kids who have their hearts set on being a singer/superstar, is the same from middle class sixth formers who have their hearts set on investment banking. They are always bright kids who have got As all the way through school and had parents/teachers sucking up to them, telling them they are brilliant geniuses and the world is their oyster. Their first major rejection in life is when they apply to do PPE at Oxford and go down for interview and get the letter just after Christmas telling them that unfortunately Oxford is unable to offer them a place....when they come back in January they are in a state of trauma. I've seen it with some kids that they go totally off the rails then, they think their investment banking dream is in tatters and because they've spent the last year on investment banking forums where everyone mocks accountants/actuaries etc as failures who spend their lives on mediocre salaries of £50-80k a year, the kids don't want to reassess their ambitions down to that...they just think what the heck and start going off the rails. They end up with BBC, turning down their uni offers and loafing around on the dole.

Used to keep any eye on this show, but this year I haven't watched a single episode. I guess I got sick of the horrible constant repetition of cliches and catchphrases, and the ridiculous lauding of singers who wouldn't stand out in a downmarket karaoke bar as musical geniuses. The guy who won last year was just dire - dull as dishwater and couldn't sing in tune. Incidentally, what became of him?

Dunno about him but I think his sisters were singing in the next-door boozer on Saturday night

His new album Letters comes out next month and his debut single Run For Your Life is out 9th Oct, but I have heard it on the radio and seen the video on the music channels. He's been doing lots of promos for his album and single and performing in Scotland over the weekend. He's performing at KOKO in London on 3rd October.



He is brilliant live, I saw him last year, not like I'm a massive fan or owt

Which one of these superstars will be singing at the Grand Final next year?