Anybody think the judges were being intentionally manipulative with their comments?
 

I thought this straight away, and someone's just mentioned it on digital spy.

The judges seem ridiculous but they can't be that stupid, and Simon must know that saying Paije has 0% of winning ensures Paije will get more votes. He then goes on to say that Aiden and Mary are safe (or something to that effect) meaning that people are less likely to vote to save them. People that are on the fence may vote Paije over Aiden/Mary, because they think he's in more danger.

It wouldn't surprise me if Simon wanted Aiden and Mary out over Paije, because he may think they have a better chance of winning, and obviously he wants 1D to win. Although this would be stupid because let's face it, there's practically no way Aiden or Mary will beat 1D anyway. Then again, he seems to like keeping more interesting acts in, and that's Aiden. Who knows?

Maybe I only noticed this because I'm paranoid about Aiden's somewhat precarious position on the show, but it seemed suspicious to me. They must know how voting works, and it seemed very manipulative to me.

I wouldn't be too sure of Aiden not beating One Direction, most of my student friends who are female, are far more for Aiden than One Direction.

We know no voting figures,until one goes in the bottom 2 there would seem no cracks in their armour as yet.

The Judges praise Cher every week and she is still voted for.

I guess so, I may just be being paranoid, I'm good at that :|

Yeah, I think more younger females (tweens/early teens) are into One Direction and more females in their late teens/early twenties are into Aiden. Aiden may have a wider fan base in terms of age, but I think it's then cut in half because people either love him or hate him. When you think about it rationally, it makes sense that Aiden could rival One Direction, but I just don't think he is.

I think with Cher though, she's one of the favourites so it's fine for them to praise her, everyone just goes along with it. It's with the ones which are in more precarious positions, and not portrayed as favourites, that I think the judges comments have more influence.

they manipulate the public every week,and he wouldnt want to take the chance with aiden and mary being in the show with one direction as they could one week get knocked in the bottom two (that was one direction i was talking about then) so dont be surprised if them two aint gone in the next two weeks.

I think this X Factor series is hard to call so maybe you are right to be paranoid a little but I do think Aiden has a fairly strong fan base now and single males on X Factor do seem to in the end get lots of votes that keep them safe.
I hope he is anyway, there are many more who warrant going out now before Aiden.
If he and Katie were in the bottom 2, I cannot see the judges sending him home over her.Let's hope not anyway but I can't see him being in the bottom 2 this week anyway.