[zakman440]

Has to be said that despite some shocking decisions at Judges' Houses and throughout the live shows (and the final result), overall I've really enjoyed this series. The panel has been the best in years, the audition stages were brilliant and, as I said, despite some shocking decisions at Judges' Houses, the live shows have still had quite a few stand out moments. Plus, Xtra Factor going live from the start has worked very well in its favour, and Rylan & Matt make a great pairing.

I'm really hoping that Simon looks at what has worked well this year and builds upon it. The show really needs some consistency after the multiple revamps - keep the auditions stages the same (i.e stay with the rooms/bootcamp etc), return Xtra Factor in its current format with its current hosts and, most importantly, keep the panel the same. That being said, there's still room for improvement - the lifeline vote needs to stay dead and if they're wanting to keep the jukebox for the live shows they need to change how they execute it each week.

But overall I'd say that this has been X Factor's best series in a while. Simon rightfully listened to the criticism that last year's series received and made (mostly) the right changes.