X-Factor Shambles

I imagine that Simco Ltd have got some answering to do.

Was it a producer, or was it presenter Kate Thornton, who made the decision, not just to badger one of the judges (Sharon Osbourne) for a knock-out vote after she had honestly admitted the choice was beyond her, but to then go on and on about a five second limit, that never happened?

How many times does a host have to say "I'm going to give you five seconds" before she flipping well means it?

Who can't or won't count? Who calls that professionalism?

I feel sorry for Sharon, she had Irishman Louis Walsh nagging at her, unbridled by protocol or rules (if there are any,) to rescue his act. He even made the point that he had chosen to save Sharon's act over Simon Cowell's the week before and had already declared how Sharon had excluded his act, young Chenai, last year. That's out and out emotional blackmail.

To my mind thats pretty rich coming from him, because from what I can see Louis is a sexist in any case - or at least he upholds sexist values (someone explain the difference to me please?) He stated clearly for the record, even whilst narrowing down his final team, that he wanted to end up with three boys and one girl - talent was secondary to gender. By that one statement he is in this to win for his own sake, and supporting new talent is secondary, it would seem, to pandering to the voting public.

Sadly its a fact that younger women vote for fanciable boys and younger men vote for 'their own', so making a decision ahead of time to exclude any but a token female from his team, irrespective of talent, is tactical sexism, isn't it? If he really feels that way, it would seem logical to assume he expects a male to win, in other words that he is prepared to lose his female singer somewhere along the way, whatever happens.

If this programme is supposed to be about which is the best judge and mentor, then somebody let me know. I thought it was about the X factor.

Why can't or won't Simco control their judges? Or their hosts? Why do they allow this? What are Simco, Thames Television, Syco TV or Fremantle Media going to do about it?

Poor little Chenai - Simon Cowell ripped her to shreds. He had a point, but there are ways and ways to say the same thing. She looked panicked, her eyes were fixed, and although she hit every note perfectly, if I hadn't already known the song I wouldn't have had a clue what the words were. She was nasal and missed just about every end letter.

Sharon Osbourne was bullied and badgered into a decision against her wishes and I believe in the end she voted emotionally, not according to talent, although she had already stipulated very clearly that she was unable to choose.

Louis Walsh seemingly didn't give a hoot for anything except that his stable should win through.

All three judges were disappointing, although to give him credit, Simon Cowell managed a dignified self control during the eternal five seconds. The host, Kate, came across as a ditherer or a bully, when in fact it boils down to how the whole sorry mess was managed. No clear rules, no clear consequences, from this viewpoint - not for anyone but the acts.

The biggest losers? 4Tune. They were really shaping up and I hope there is a queue of producers waiting to give them a recording contract.

They were the ones who paid the price because in this programme, five seconds doesn't really mean five seconds at all, the judges are allowed to bully or cajole each other and the host is allowed/instructed to make statements that are misleading at best.

If I was in 4Tune, I think I'd sue.

One thing I know, after that performance, I don't care who wins. I'm not watching any more. I was looking for a talent contest not a schoolyard scrap.