[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by lime

Mary has just been interviewed on radio here in Ireland (Derek Mooney show)
she says they were told on Sunday morning about the sing off and the reason they were given was that there was 5 in the semi-final when there is usually 4?????
How would that make the need for a sing off ,the outcome would still be one contestant leaving??

yeah that reason makes no sense, it would if it was a double not for a single though

[Jack_]

I fully understand the unfairness of having a sing-off in the Semi-Final, of course, and, generally speaking, I'd have rather they not had one. However there's no way it wasn't 'clear' what was happening, as some people seem to be suggesting. Okay, so there wasn't enough clarity as to whether there would be a sing-off or not, but as Dermot never said there wouldn't be one, you cannot assume that there won't be one. Not until he has said it. And vice versa, too. You just cannot make assumptions until something has been clearly stated. That's how they've covered their tracks here, at least from what I can see. It's all been very cleverly worded so that they can cover their backs - so fair play to them.

I'm glad they had a sing-off in the end, as like others I do believe Cher received the least votes. That may sound biased or unfair, but hey, I'm not exactly going to complain when someone I feel deserves a place in the Final more than another contestant gets a place in the Final.

[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by JackFrost

I fully understand the unfairness of having a sing-off in the Semi-Final, of course, and, generally speaking, I'd have rather they not had one. However there's no way it wasn't 'clear' what was happening, as some people seem to be suggesting. Okay, so there wasn't enough clarity as to whether there would be a sing-off or not, but as Dermot never said there wouldn't be one, you cannot assume that there won't be one. Not until he has said it. And vice versa, too. You just cannot make assumptions until something has been clearly stated. That's how they've covered their tracks here, at least from what I can see. It's all been very cleverly worded so that they can cover their backs - so fair play to them.

I'm glad they had a sing-off in the end, as like others I do believe Cher received the least votes. That may sound biased or unfair, but hey, I'm not exactly going to complain when someone I feel deserves a place in the Final more than another contestant gets a place in the Final.

fair enough on you liking cher but when have we had a bottom two in week 9?

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by JackFrost

I fully understand the unfairness of having a sing-off in the Semi-Final, of course, and, generally speaking, I'd have rather they not had one. However there's no way it wasn't 'clear' what was happening, as some people seem to be suggesting. Okay, so there wasn't enough clarity as to whether there would be a sing-off or not, but as Dermot never said there wouldn't be one, you cannot assume that there won't be one. Not until he has said it. And vice versa, too. You just cannot make assumptions until something has been clearly stated. That's how they've covered their tracks here, at least from what I can see. It's all been very cleverly worded so that they can cover their backs - so fair play to them.

I'm glad they had a sing-off in the end, as like others I do believe Cher received the least votes. That may sound biased or unfair, but hey, I'm not exactly going to complain when someone I feel deserves a place in the Final more than another contestant gets a place in the Final.

Well, Louis did say on a radio show in Ireland that the viewers would be deciding this week and they no longer had a say.

But anyway, I think for alot of people it's not just this one thing though, it's yet another rule twist and manipulation to get what they want. In my eyes this show is supposed to be about what the public want but it seems the judges are happy to take the publics money but then basically say ****** you we'll do what we want anyway.

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by NingleBells

Well, Louis did say on a radio show in Ireland that the viewers would be deciding this week and they no longer had a say.

But anyway, I think for alot of people it's not just this one thing though, it's yet another rule twist and manipulation to get what they want. In my eyes this show is supposed to be about what the public want but it seems the judges are happy to take the publics money but then basically say ****** you we'll do what we want anyway.

Yup, this is my problem.

I really dont give a stuff who wins tbh...I havent been into it as such ever since Aiden went...no outright faves for me. But it has just been a total pisstake this year. As I said yesterday, there has always been an element of manipulation to the show, but this year it is much worse, and it also seems like they arent even trying to hide it anymore...and why should they? They can get away with it while more gullible fools spend their money thinking that it will actually make a difference to the chosen outcome. I have given up voting totally now, there is no point.

[Jack_]

Originally Posted by NingleBells

Well, Louis did say on a radio show in Ireland that the viewers would be deciding this week and they no longer had a say.

Louis is Louis, let's not take anything he says as gospel now...

Originally Posted by NingleBells

But anyway, I think for alot of people it's not just this one thing though, it's yet another rule twist and manipulation to get what they want. In my eyes this show is supposed to be about what the public want but it seems the judges are happy to take the publics money but then basically say ****** you we'll do what we want anyway.

Well, technically the public will get what they want in the end - they're going to pick the eventual winner. So it's not all doom and gloom.

All TV shows similar to this are all manipulated to some extent anyway, in order to engineer results and certain scenarios which will benefit the show in various ways - be it profit, media attention or viewer satisfaction, etc etc. Some of it is subtle, other bits are quite obvious. But it's generally always there, whether it's editing contestants in a good or bad light, structuring a certain performance order, even more subliminal things such as referring to certain contestants more, praising them more or even the other way round. It happens on most TV shows - Big Brother, X Factor, IAC. A large majority of it will all be done for viewer satisfaction, some of it will be done to ensure more profit, whilst other bits will be to attract media attention. If people fall for all of this, it's their problem...but then again, that is sort of the point. At the end of the day - if people don't like this sort of manipulation which occurs on most TV shows, be it minor or major - then they shouldn't watch, or shouldn't vote.

I have to say though, thinking about it, I don't think this could've been a last minute decision, as there are only a couple of people who know the voting percentages each week. And none of these people are part of the production team, and none of these people are any of the Judges or presenters [yes, that inclues Simon]. They're independent adjudicators. So it's not at all possible, really, that anyone would've known that Cher would be bottom. So I imagine the only realistic scenario would've been that the sing-off was acting as a safety net, incase the outcome occured, which it did.

[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by JackFrost

Louis is Louis, let's not take anything he says as gospel now...



Well, technically the public will get what they want in the end - they're going to pick the eventual winner. So it's not all doom and gloom.

All TV shows similar to this are all manipulated to some extent anyway, in order to engineer results and certain scenarios which will benefit the show in various ways - be it profit, media attention or viewer satisfaction, etc etc. Some of it is subtle, other bits are quite obvious. But it's generally always there, whether it's editing contestants in a good or bad light, structuring a certain performance order, even more subliminal things such as referring to certain contestants more, praising them more or even the other way round. It happens on most TV shows - Big Brother, X Factor, IAC. A large majority of it will all be done for viewer satisfaction, some of it will be done to ensure more profit, whilst other bits will be to attract media attention. If people fall for all of this, it's their problem...but then again, that is sort of the point. At the end of the day - if people don't like this sort of manipulation which occurs on most TV shows, be it minor or major - then they shouldn't watch, or shouldn't vote.

I have to say though, thinking about it, I don't think this could've been a last minute decision, as there are only a couple of people who know the voting percentages each week. And none of these people are part of the production team, and none of these people are any of the Judges or presenters [yes, that inclues Simon]. They're independent adjudicators. So it's not at all possible, really, that anyone would've known that Cher would be bottom. So I imagine the only realistic scenario would've been that the sing-off was acting as a safety net, incase the outcome occured, which it did.

you have got to be joking if you think simon and louis dont know how the votes are going.

[Jack_]

Originally Posted by jesus christ

you have got to be joking if you think simon and louis dont know how the votes are going.

...nope, neither does the executive producer. Well...actually, he does, but he only finds out the names of the acts in the Bottom Two when lines close. No one else knows. And if they did and if anyone ever found out [quite possible] there'd be uproar. There's a reason why only a few people know, in order to protect the results as much as possible.

[Angus]

Thankfully Cher will NOT win, so in some ways it's more satisfying to snatch the prize from her greedy, undeserving hands at the very last minute I bet Simon's already got his minions ready to dial non stop for his crappy boy band, the rest of the contestants are just window dressing as far as he's concerned.

[Z]

I don't even think I'm annoyed about the outcome of the sing off, just the fact it was there in the first place. The final should be consisting of the top three (or four in the case of this year) contestants by virtue of how many votes they received. Adding a sing off in the semi final means that the least popular contestant can still go through, even if it turns out that Cher was more popular than Mary this weekend, it's still unfair to give Mary false hope like that/put Cher through that worry and vice versa. Not very happy with the X Factor but I'm still going to watch the final and I'm still not going to have a favourite, I just think this series has been a bit of a farce all round - bad presenting (mostly from Konnie Huq but Dermot's been pretty bad too), bad judging (Dannii Minogue's the only one whose opinions I'd say are valid criticisms more than half the time - the other three either snipe at each other or don't actually give any kind of criticism of the performance) and awful last minute changes. It's been controversial for the wrong reasons this year, I hope next year's show is a bit better.

[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by Baby Zeesus

I don't even think I'm annoyed about the outcome of the sing off, just the fact it was there in the first place. The final should be consisting of the top three (or four in the case of this year) contestants by virtue of how many votes they received. Adding a sing off in the semi final means that the least popular contestant can still go through, even if it turns out that Cher was more popular than Mary this weekend, it's still unfair to give Mary false hope like that/put Cher through that worry and vice versa. Not very happy with the X Factor but I'm still going to watch the final and I'm still not going to have a favourite, I just think this series has been a bit of a farce all round - bad presenting (mostly from Konnie Huq but Dermot's been pretty bad too), bad judging (Dannii Minogue's the only one whose opinions I'd say are valid criticisms more than half the time - the other three either snipe at each other or don't actually give any kind of criticism of the performance) and awful last minute changes. It's been controversial for the wrong reasons this year, I hope next year's show is a bit better.

next year will be worse because simon will save cheryls unpopular act 8 times in the bottom two.