At times I wonder why I get sucked into the bandwagon that is The X Factor. If you strip the television show down (sometimes we need to remind ourselves it is just a television programme), it is purely glorified karaoke on a Saturday evening. Instead of an audience of a few hundred in the pub or working men’s club, the audience is expanded to several million (albeit a few less than Simon had been expecting for his revamped show). To be honest, I am finding Strictly more of a draw (for several reasons but usually boiling down to quality entertaining talent) this year than the flag ship ITV reality television show (I have real difficulty with the banner of reality television, it is anything but!). Sometimes the magic just begins to fade or the that special something, yes that ‘X’ is missing which makes viewing painful and pointless.

There is a saying that you should never meet your heroes as they are guaranteed to let you down. The reality will never match up the high expectations you set up in your head. I believe that you should also never expose yourself to covers of your favourites songs. Apart from very few exceptions, they will also let you down. The case in point is the rather bland Sophie Habibis with her cover of Teenage Dream by Katy Perry. I commented to Michelle (during the first live show earlier in the month) that even though Kelly Rowland’s response was “Katy who?” I believe the SyCo team behind the scenes made a very conscious decision to make our wannabe reality star resemble the person she was imitating. However, I summed up my true frustrations in a tweet. I could forgive perhaps if the delivery had matched the build up. Reworking songs is very difficult and something better left to Fox on Glee than The X Factor. It does not help matters if your mentor slash judge begins by introducing the original artist as the biggest band in the UK at the moment. Fail. Epic Fail. I know what the American songstress and former Destiny Child’s was trying to say, the biggest ‘act’ in the UK right now but it came out wrong and looked extremely bad, surely she has time to rehearse the most important part of her appearance (albeit her opinion). Unprofessional to say the least.

How can you save a show that over the years has become such a unmovable juggernaut? I thought keeping Irishman Louis Walsh on the judging panel was a mistake. Then reading an article on The Guardian website eventually made me change my mind! Yes Louis may have lost his mojo in terms of popular mainstream music acts deciding (for some unknown reason) to focus all his energy on short term novelty acts such as Jedward. Maybe these acts, such as Wagner more recently are clinically aware that their fifteen minutes of fame will be short, best to make the most of their time in the spotlight. The reality is, the fame will be longer lasting that any pay cheque.

I was therefore glad to see Sophie rejected tonight even though the circumstances were beyond a joke. How can your mentor, currently off sick in LA (recuperating no doubt) drop you over the phone from thousands of miles away? Once it was Misha B and Sophie in the final two, there was no doubt that Misha was going to be given a clear route into the next round. Sophie just did not have the same commanding performances or personality. Boring and truly forgettable. I am not sure why #PoorSophie was trending on Twitter. Perhaps due to the circumstances of her departure rather than the depature itself. I am sure she will disappear into the black abyss that is former X Factor contestants. You never know, she may appear in pantomime as early as next Christmas (after another ill fated X Factor tour). After eight years, I believe Simon needs to take a reality check. Perhaps the talent truly has dried up (particularly if you run two big so called talent television shows in a calendar year). I look forward to the day when our Christmas charts are free from a X Factor winner entry. Has it really been as long as ten years, if you consider Popstars: The Rivals?