[Z]

How would it be run? What kinds of contestants would there be? Would you change the judging panel? Categories? Themes? Voting system?

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My ideal X Factor would be as follows:

Simon Cowell - Boys
Dannii Minogue - Girls
Cheryl Cole - Groups
Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber - Over 25s


Four judges who have relevant experience to the areas they are managing (not so much Simon - but he runs the whole show, so he kind of gets lumped with the boys haha) Cheryl getting groups obviously, Dannii getting girls, and Andrew getting Overs because a fair few of the over 25s in recent years have been told they are suited to the stage. Bingo!


There would be no sob stories. There would be no lame ducks who are blatantly going to fail in the competition. Visits to families would remain private and not be exploited to garner attention/sympathy. The contestants won't attend movie premieres. I would not ask celebrities who their favourite contestant is, it produces massive egos.

I would scrap "Artist A" Themes. A genre theme is OK, but not a specific artist, it means everyone has to conform to a single style, which is guaranteed to flatter certain contestants and destroy others - I want a high standard of performances based on the contestants singing in a genre, and not in the style of a "special guest."

I would not allow quirky acts through to the main shows. I'm speaking about the likes of Rhydian or Chico, why were they on a show like the X Factor? Singing contest, that's what my X Factor is, not a marketing session.

At the end of the series, I would release the full voting data to the public - how many votes each act received each week. I would scrap the judges vote in the bottom two, because it's really political and is unfair. I would remove the bottom two as a distinct entity and just incorporate it into the show (Act A, B, C and F are through, leaving D and E, I then announce D is safe so E is going home. No bottom two performances. We have no idea if D was the second least popular, or if it was just a random placing)

All comments about an act's appearance are irrelevant, unless it's "you look nice" which is a pleasantry. "Your image isn't right" is a really negative, undermining type of comment, and is totally unnecessary. If people are voting for someone on my X Factor, I want it to be for their voice, not for their appearance, which leads me to my next point...

No "cute" boys. I don't mean I want a group of fuglies for Simon Cowell, but seriously, someone with an average voice is not getting through because they have deep brown eyes and a cheeky glint in their eyes. It led to Leon Jackson winning, and at time of writing I have no idea how Eoghan Quigg gets on, but I'll bet he finishes high up. It's the most infuriating thing to see someone get through because they're "hot" at the expense of someone who has a fantastic voice.

I would also change the voting system of the X Factor, completely. It would be a strict public vote. The judges would probably want something to do in the mean time, so they, after all the performances are done, can list the performances in their rank order of preference, maybe like the Strictly Come Dancing system or something like that. It would have no relevance to the voting procedure - but they shouldn't be relevant anyway.

Finally, I would ensure the judges adhere to the following rule:

I must not use the phrase "All of ____ will be behind you" in reference to votes. This is a sweeping statement which is really not true at all, and is very patronising to all males and to every female over the age of 15. Not everyone is ruled by their genitalia.