Jahmene, Rylan and Christopher
The X Factor comes to a close this week, yet looks to go down as the weakest set of live shows that the competition has had in years.
Viewers have been routinely switching off, with this year seeing not I’m A Celebrity beating the talent show when it came to people tuning in, but Downton Abbey was also routinely pinching its crown.
Tulisa may be blaming ‘ravers’ on the show’s flagging ratings, but it’s a combination of factors that have seen the ITV reality shows viewing figures take a nose dive.
Firstly, it’s that the show is almost verging on a parody of itself with the involvement of Rylan. The hyper-camp club singer just filled the venom banks for those out to get the show, and his extraordinarily long life on the show lead to longer time viewers switching off.
After the premature outing of Ella Henderson from the proceedings and Lucy Spraggan having to pull out through ill health has also taken its toll of the show, as viewers once again called it a farce and left it behind.
Another factor to the reduced ratings was a genuine lack of ingenuity from the show. This is a formula that’s been repeated with very little variation over the years and, frankly, audiences have gotten bored with it once again.
The current crop of judges aren’t setting pulses alight either, with all four of hypocritically spouting platitudes and excuses for bad performances and meeting mediocrity with hyperbole. If Louis Walsh shouts “The next big boy band!” one more time, we won’t be responsible or our actions.
Now the show comes to its climax, not with a growing crescendo, but with somewhat of a whimper. The only dramas left to see are how far the legion of pensioners can push the utterly average Christopher Maloney and if James Arthur can deliver the victory that has seemed all but in the bag since Ella was made to leave.
With uncertainty over the judging panel for next year, this series could be the beginning of the end for ITV’s juggernaut. Once the crown jewel, now the show is having to justify itself with excuses.
While we’re bound to see another series of the show next year, unless something major is done to the formula, don’t expect any new spike in ratings.
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith