I seem to have watched most of the The X-Factor series over the years. It is easy watching especially when there isn’t a lot else on but a couple of years ago, I got fed up with it. I got fed up with the fact that in spite of it being a ‘singing competition’ there always seemed to be finalists that quite clearly couldn’t sing. I got even more fed up with the ritual humiliation of the contestants who auditioned, who quite clearly were only there for the entertainment value. And to be quite honest, it had all become a bit monotonous. Every year we would hear the same ‘classic’ songs, hear the same comments from Louis, hear those words ‘thank you so much’ more than is ever needed in a lifetime.
This year, however, the boys have decided that they want to watch it. They are now at the age where they dominate early evening television and so we are once again a house of X Factor watchers.
So we have survived the auditions. Made our final twelve predictions which as per usual were completely wrong but then this week was the tear fest that is the judges houses. If you don’t watch it, this is the point where the judges whittle their final six down to three and it is quite funny to fast forward through as you can’t actually be sure which people are in or out as they are all sobbing and usually the judges too.
It is all a bit too much for me. Now I can be a tad cynical about things, but there is one thing that really winds me up and that is the number of times over the course of this program that you hear comments like “I have been waiting my whole life for this” or ” this is all I have ever dreamt of” or “this is my final chance’ and other such comments that infer that they can’t possibly do anything but be contestants on the X Factor. Which quite clearly is not true. Then there are the tears. Oh my goodness, there are enough tears to drown a small town. Tears of joy, tears of sadness, tears for no apparent reason other than it’s the X Factor.
Of course, being a finalist on such a high profile show is an amazing achievement and for many it is the start of a career in the music or television industry but if you fail it is not the end of the world. There are other options, other routes into the music industry, other jobs. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big believer in dreams and ambitions and I would never criticize people for following them, but I think that maybe I am getting to old and cynical to watch programs like this anymore.
Maybe I should retire to the library on a Saturday evening and listen to Radio 4 instead.
It all is a bit repetitive but I still watch it….lol
I can’t stand it! One of the main reasons I first let my daughter have her own telly was so I didn’t have to watch this sort of thing!
I may join you in there! We do watch it as my daughter loves it, but is so repetitive. I would happily give it up.