They can still do it, then. This weekend saw Bella expertly filleted, then the judges neatly orchestrated to minimise the embarrassment of dragging Acacia and Aaliyah through yet another singoff – Louis got to look willing to take tough decisions, and Ayda turned on the acting skills to work herself into a state of deadlock-justifying indecision that did for Shan. As longtime commenter Alan noted, “we’ve got our X Factor back”.
Like Gio last week, both Shan and Bella fell victim to the imperative of making sure Robbie has a reason to come back from South America. Having Bella’s similar performance immediately follow Acacia and Aaliyah, with the twosome fulsomely praised and Bella hung out to dry, suggested that producers had seen from the app an overlap in their demographics and were trying to shift all that support Acacia and Aaliyah’s way this week.
Brendan had looked like he was also in the firing line in Saturday’s show, with a VT that showed the Irishman being taken to watch, er, an England football match – he told Louis he’d never been to a match in Ireland, suggesting that the experience was doubly wasted on him. The impression, accentuated by Wayne Rooney’s later appearance in Anthony’s VT, was that Brendan had been dragged along to something Louis and Anthony wanted to do because he’s the lowest-status member of that group.
Not that producers will have been surprised to lose Shan, judging by the fact that they chose to show a wide-angle shot of all the empty pews on her return to church. It’s not always easy for producers to whip up a crowd at short notice for these VTs, as I saw first-hand when I went along to the filming of an Emily Middlemas VT at my local pub a couple of years ago – but on that occasion producers took care to choose camera angles that disguised the thin attendance as best they could.
So if producers can still orchestrate an assassination when they want to, why has there been such a sense of drift this series? We can only assume that “save Robbie’s blushes” is the first clear instruction they’ve been given to execute. In contrast to last year, when the singer-songwriter mission statement was established in the first audition, there doesn’t seem to have been any big-picture goal this year. Simon has often given the impression of not being fully engaged, and on Saturday looked like a startled deer when Dermot threw to him to introduce Scarlett and then again with Shan.
In this unusual situation of a relatively open playing field, it’s Dalton who has taken the series by the scruff of the neck and he tightened his grip on Saturday with a version of ‘Listen’ that got a huge reaction in the studio and has garnered three times the YouTube views of anyone else. It would be a surprise if Dalton isn’t also bossing the vote, and we see no sign so far that producers are anything other than relaxed about the prospect of him winning.
There’s now only one more weekend before the final. Might they at this point be tempted to shoot for one-act-per-mentor? Danny’s pimp slot on Saturday certainly suggested they were keen to keep Ayda in the game at least for another week, and Anthony got some bad press in the Sunday papers – it wasn’t in The Sun, which Cowell’s damage limitation interview last week suggested is still the mouthpiece of choice, but it’s still the kind of story we assume the show’s press office could lean on the paper not to run if they wanted to.
Alternatively, producers might take the view that it’s job done now, and it doesn’t much matter if Robbie and/or Ayda are neutral judges just for the final weekend. As ever, let us know your continued thoughts below.
Someone pointed out that Dalton’s Jamaican fans are skewing the YouTube views. That is true, though the way Google Trends shows it makes it look worse than it is. According to my maths (based on number of Internet users in UK & Jamaica), his Jamaican fans could account for as much as 40% of his YouTube views.
But when he’s doing three times as many views as anyone else, he’s still comfortably ahead. He’s also at #16 on iTunes – yes that’s probably only about a thousand sales or something now, but he’s the only contestant to be charting in the top 100 every week.
Sorry, but I don’t think you can claim this as a win for TPTB. You’re choosing to completely ignore the positives of Shan’s performance – the unique camera shots, the reactions and the comparisons to previous winners in the comments. A split second shot of a half-empty church does not constitute a de-ramp.
I also don’t think for a second the deadlock was “orchestrated” or that there was any sign the judges knew that A&A were safe. It’s easy to cry conspiracy about having an act for Robbie to come back to, but the judges comments to me appeared genuine. Ayda is just apparently incapable of making a decision, not a clued up insider.
Sorry, but I think some are reading signs that patently are not there.
I don’t see why they would’ve wanted Shan out this week as well as Bella. Though it is odd that they allowed the obvious second target Brendan to sing a song that was suitable for him.
But I do think them sending it to deadlock was the usual thing of saving the clearly less talented act in a “fairer” way. They’ve done this at least once every season since day dot.
The singoffs are always manipulated and this year has been no different. The better singer has been dispatched pretty much every week.
I don’t think the article is suggesting that Shan was a target. Its just pointing out that they didn’t go to any real trouble to ensure that she was safe.
Looking at Anthonys odds doubling on Betfair the last 24 hours you would have to imagine hes been given Dancing queen and Candy to sing on Saturday night.
Have they left the take down too late though?
I wasn’t too far off. 2 equally unhelpful songs. They arent taking any chances. I highly doubt they get him out this weekend though.
Disappointed but not surprised to see Shan drop out. This is pending Brexit Britain and unfortunately in that climate a black girl winning enough support and crossover vote to win the X Factor, I just didn’t see it happening. A dark-skinned black girl hasn’t really done well since Alex Burke ten years ago, with the exception of Misha B who was pushed to the hilt and saved multiple times. Esp with the audience smaller and trending older these days.
Dalton has ethnicity to work against but maleness as a boost. Still not sure on him though. We may be looking at another Marcus Collins…or so I would say in a series where producers cared. I don’t feel they do though.
I feel like the M.O this year may just be to boost the profile of the three new judges, so an Anthony win would tick that box. Scarlett would be my dark horse pick as someone who they could control. Dalton winning would be a waste but they may just let the train run.
Other 3 clearly disposables.
Nothing to do with her being black. She failed to connect with the audience. Left me cold, and I started out a big fan.
Do you really think they want to “tick that box” of Anthony winning?
Dalton winning would also tick a box.
Looking at the song choices this week it is hard to call, I would rule a and a out for the win. However, does robbie need an act in the final?
You would think that tptb would use this week as a launchpad to the win in the final.
Could we see a visit to the jamaican embassy for dalton this week, those song choices are not encouraging. If voting is tight and a deramp is done to good effect, then this could get him into the bottom 3?
I think tptb are still pushing brendan for a final place. Although, it could be that scarlet, danny and anthony are running away with the vote.
Its going to be interesting to see how the weekend plays out. Tptb have done well this series, and in a less obvious fashion, have got their target(s) every time.
I think getting Brendan on the tour was all they were looking to achieve. We’ll be saying goodbye to him this weekend.
He seems to have tonnes of support on Twitter. I know that isn’t a good measuring tool but I wouldn’t rule him out for that 4th/3rd final spot just yet…
Also, there’s a rumor that there’s going to be somebody leaving tomorrow night then 2 on Sunday without a singoff.
So the semi finals are here. And to my knowledge the only thing thats harming Anthonys chances of making the final is a story published in a few red tops about him sending dirty photos to some girl who couldnt even string readable sentences together.
Nowhere near enough, he is gonna need a complete 180 on his treatment so far in the lives to even have a whiff of a chance of going out this weekend. Apart from that story is there any evidence they actually want him out?
I feel his song choices are weak this week, but 10/1 for Anthony and 1/5 for Dalton is absolute bonkers madness.
I think you’re overlooking the fact Anthony is a bang average singer. The only things he seems to have in his favour are being a scouser and having a manufactured back-story. Doesn’t scream winner to me.
I agree hes not the best singer, but he has a likability factor that along with his scouse backing makes him a threat. I draw your attention to the fact Jack Carrol came within a whisker of beating a much much better act in BGT. Ultimately in the majority of these shows the British people tend to back their own. Plus everyone loves an underdog.
Jack Carroll was infinitely more likable than Anthony.
Strange that he shortens again despite supposedly ill.
https://tellymix.co.uk/reality-tv/the-x-factor/384318-x-factors-anthony-russell-battling-illness-ahead-of-semi-final.html
I’m still on Team Anthony.
Dalton a clearly far superior singer but to me this has felt like an odd series As many have said it seems careless. You can make an arguement for Dalton winning obviously being the best but Anthony would be a feelgood winner. This is his 3rd attempt at the show, has overcome his demons (to what extent we don’t know) and to me is loving every second on stage. He is like a competition winner who can’t believe he is there. But he is not a novelty act, he can sing so has credibility.
I feel it will be a Dalton v Anthony final two. A Gareth Gates v Will Young moment and we all know what happened there.
Yes, the more talented one won.
But you haven’t got any money on Dalton right?
I don’t have any money on anybody.
I cant see TPTB letting Anthony win. Average singing aside, he’s not good looking, not witty or charming and not charismatic. Its like hes walked in off the street and whilst that might be appealing in the short term the show still has ambitions of finding a star. He has no star quality whatsoever. I can see TPTB throwing their weight behind anyone else to stop him from winning.
They have been nothing but positive towards him on the show so far. So they clearly arent throwing their weight behind anyone other than him. What happens tonight remains to be seen.
I said a while ago that if TPTB didn’t want Dalton to win they’d release a story to the press that he was a secret sexter or similar, as their attempts to de-ramp him by other means had failed. People on here disagreed with me that they’d attempted to de-ramp him, although I thought the song choices all had a history of de-ramping others, but that Dalton was a better performer than they expected. So far, the only leaked bad story is about Anthony. Where does that leave us?
Well this is the very opposite
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/x-factor-star-dalton-harris-13634674
@Ben Cook
Very sympathetic to Dalton. Hopefully TPTB have accepted the inevitable and the series will have a credible winner.
I would imagine that the vote is going pretty much how they want it to. And that it doesn’t involve Anthony running away with it. Based on judges comments they want Dalton to win. Not Anthony.
Alan Having just watched Dalton’s performance can’t disagree with that. I wonder what they are going to do with Danny?
Guessing the little scouse fella has served his purpose.
Yep crap song choice as we knew. Proper stitch up. But with viewing figures at a pittance who knows what the scouse vote is doing for him.
Honestly what are they doing with this show. No wonder no one cares about it any more. Dalton pimped to high heaven again. Everyone thinking its a 1 horse race going into the final once again.
Take a leaf out of strictlys production to watch how to run a program and keep the public in suspense.
They can’t help it if Dalton is that much better than everyone else.
Kitchen sink at Scarlett, but it fell flat I thought. They even held off the judges from speaking to make out the applause was louder than it actually was!
Do we think we’re going into tomorrow night with each judge having 1 act? Can’t see beyond Anthony and Brendan going personally.
Anthony will not in a million years poll below 3rd. Thats whats needed to get him into a sing off.
Think he’d make the sing-off over Scarlett and Dalton but saving A&A 4 weeks running is preposterous… Has that ever happened before?
Pretty clear they didn’t want him in the final though.
Alright, the wind up is over….
….anthony or scarlet for the win!
The question for me is who picks up the floating votes tonight. I guess from Brendans vote Anthony gains a considerable amount more than Scarlett but Danny Tetleys im not so sure.
Danny’s will go to Scarlett imo, I can’t really see them going to the other two contestants (still in it) I think Anthony will survive a sing-off tomorrow and if Dalton doesn’t win, I think it will be Scarlett, not Anthony. How A&A keep coming third from bottom is beyond me.
Ive had a sneaky suspicion all along Anthony is topping the vote. We dont know that it is him in danger. Last weekend Scarlett was the one being left as last safe call.
They went in for the kill on Anthony tonight. In my opinion they never had a chance of getting him out. They are clipping his wings for sure.
Scarlett had Louisa style pimping today, I think they’re making a push for her to win it.
He’ll make the final but no way is he topping the vote. I’d be amazed if Dalton hadn’t won it almost every week, if not every week.
Hang on. A SING OFF TOMORROW?! They did this the last time they wanted to control who the finalists would be. That supermarket lady Mary got stopped by a sudden sing off in the semis to allow Cher Lloyd to progress. They must have been able to push Anthony to 3rd with A and A 4th and thus giving the Scouser the elbow tomorrow…
I don’t think they’ll save them a fourth time.
There would be no point having a sing off if they wasn’t planning a stitch up.
True, but they couldn’t really have a 1 hour Sunday show without a singoff and only 1 elimination at the end.
Well, that is what they usually do.
They might have been worried about Louis having all 3 acts in the final. Perhaps with A&A surprisingly escaping bottom 2 they will let them make the final but it ought to be Dalton, Scarlett and Anthony really.
Wasn’t there a semi sing-off from 2014-16?
Scarlett and dalton easy top 2. Shame brendan didnt make it. They have to settle for a A and A or anthony as third think theyll save the girls. Bttr to have conterversrty then anthony possibly bouncing well
If they wanted to Anthony in the final there would be no sing off tomorrow
If Anthony had been topping the vote the takedown would have started weeks ago. Theres no way they want him to win and judging by tonights show they dont want him in the final.
I’d say the pimping of Scarlett was just to get her into the final although Simon’s clapping almost acted like our old friend the distracting argument which we’ve not seen nearly enough of this series. I don’t think it was intentional though.
I think Anthony gave the show a massive hand last night if they’re trying to ditch him – springing across the stage like Tigger after a sugar rush and almost rubbing Brendan’s face in it by jumping into his arms came across as ungentlemanly and inconsiderate. They only need to keep Dalton and Scarlett above him to let him go and they might manage that; if they can do it via deadlock then all the better.
Tptb have to watch out for the bounce from the sing off. Fair point above the votes from danny are surely going to go to scarlet, I would probably say a majority of brendans would as well.
Scarlet for the win?
Most of the votes for Brendan seemed to be votes for Louis. I’d say they would go to Dalton, not Scarlett.
What can we do to demotivate Anthonys scouse vote? Give him a song by Liverpool’s most hated Mancunian band.
The song will suit him well though. He wouldn’t be giving that song if he was a threat to Dalton and Scarlett. He’s definitely out tonight, there’s no way they will leave Robbie without an act in the final if they can help it.
Stoney
Not so sure about that. Anthony and Liam Gallagher have a lot in common in the knobhead department. Most Scousers I know are big fans of Oasis. TPTB gave Dalton a song that wasn’t that appealing – Robbie said it was boring. Dalton sang it beautifully though. Giving Anthony a song that is very popular and easy to sing proves my earlier points I think. I’m re-thinking my betting positions as I type this….
Same rule applies tonight, the only way they can save a&a is through deadlock. No way can they beat Anthony in the vote.
If Anthony somehow escapes the bottom 2 I think he’ll win it.
If he is in the bottom 2, I don’t think that it’s a foregone conclusion like many think it is, for the reason Stoney listed above.
Scratch that, Anthony is gone. A&A get an ad break too.
They must be hopeful of getting the girls above Anthony in the vote and saving them by deadlock again.
Robbie going off script or are they trying to get Scarlett above Dalton?
Anthony’s journey has been completed, no need to vote for him.
Also distracting with the 4 person final argument.
Implied that a rule change would be needed for Anthony to make the final.
I wonder if A&A will sing Shut Down in the sing off?
Im still saying that A&A do not beat Anthony in the vote. So the judges will have to pull a ridiculous 3-1 to save them for the 4th time.
Has an act ever been saved 4 consecutive weeks in show’s history?
A&A would fit the surprise finalist role that Fleur, RnB, Saara and Kevin Davy White have filled before.
I know the producers decide who goes through but isn’t the whole point of the sing off is to save the act the judges think is best, not sending home the act that has been in the bottom two the most. So really there’s no reason why they can’t save a+a over Anthony who isn’t exactly got the voice of an angel either.
Shan. Gio. Molly.
WTF. If that can’t get Anthony out with that he wins.
…or he just came 2nd?
If he’s been polling 2nd consistently then surely that hatchet job would’ve got him out.
I don’t see why. I thought it was a good song for him tonight, and I think he’s probably been comfortably 2nd in recent weeks. Scarlett’s probably been up and down and we know A&A were.
1/3 to go tonight. Everyone had him a cert to go. If he came through all that it would be even less of a,surprise if hes topping the vote. He definately Hoover’s up a lot of floating votes if he makes the final 2 next week
BOOM
Anthony’s vote must be pretty solid, but clearly not so good that TPTB didn’t feel they could nobble him.
A&A to be sent through so Scarlett doesn’t split the ‘ballad’ vote with Dalton?
This mess proves what happens when the show takes a laissez-faire attitude with the acts.
I did say that Anthony and Liam Gallagher had a lot in common, and that none of the Scousers I know dislike Oasis.The scouser – manc thing is a bit of banter, speaking as a manc with scouse relatives. If I’d had to choose a song that would give Anthony a lift, I’d have chosen that song. Easy to sing, everybody knows it. Good on Dalton for once again triumphing despite being given a crap song.
Never really thought about it before, but as the Gallaghers are City fans I’d imagine they aren’t all that offensive to the people of Liverpool.
Yeah and it’s probably one of the most popular rock songs of the last 25 years. It is tempting to think it’s someone up to mischief – and the edit on the song seemed more brutal than some of the other songs tonight.. but as a song I think it seemed a sensible choice.
Perhaps they’d have got him out if they could, but on the other hand whilst I think he’ll be a solid second, I believe we’ll probably see when the full results come out that he wasn’t ever really a serious threat to win.
I wish they’d all stay on the bloody stage.
Should have noticed the complete u turn they pulled when giving Anthonys comments tonight. They knew he was going nowhere. The polar opposite of what they threw at him last night.
Scarlett cannot go after that. Despite all the pimping Scarlett falls into the bottom two.
Dermot with the legendary tap on Anthonys bus haha
It’s VOTE SCARLETT this year.
Desperate attempt to stop Anthony from getting to the top 2? If he gets there he’ll win.
I did wonder that but then he got some one-to-one time with Dermot which probably did him more good than the buses.
Anthony ftw 🙂
Homecoming to Jamaica for Dalton? Noticed more Jamaican flags than usual tonight.
Im guessing they wont let Anthony sing eye of the tiger in the final.
I don’t know. I remember saying that it would light up Wembley, I stand by that. It’s perhaps a good way to open the show. If Anthony is going to win it the producers will know by now and perhaps this week was a last ditch attempt to get him off of the top, if not they’ll know he’s not a threat and will let him do what he wants.
A bad look for the show, 2 out of the 3 finalists were contestants last year.
Say Anthony really has been topping the vote every week why has it took the producers this long to start de ramping him.
As I keep saying, but nobody listens (story of my life), they’ve consistently given Dalton songs that traditionally de-ramp average or even good singers. Because he’s so good, he’s overcome that. Anthony has been mostly given songs everybody knows and that don’t show up his weak vocals so much. More pimping than de-ramping. They wanted him in the final, that much is obvious. It will be a travesty if he wins, but that has never stopped TPTB before. Just my two cents’ worth.
Giving a good singer difficult songs is not a de-ramp. It’s an opportunity to shine.
Ben
I said they attempted a de-ramp, not that they succeeded. However if you give one performer one of the best known anthemic rock songs ever, and the other one is given a difficult and much less well known Emeli Sande song, I still think it’s an attempted de-ramp. Especially when one of the judges calls it “boring”.
Also, and this is more contentious, the stories in The Sun about Dalton’s gay/not gay relationship with Brendan, written in classic Sun journalese, may have an impact on his vote, not with the majority in this country, but with his Jamaican voters. If Dalton has a substantial Jamaican following, then it’s worth remembering that Jamaica has laws against homosexuality, and is really homophobic. Homosexual acts are a crime in Jamaica and can be punished with life imprisonment. Just put “LGBT rights in the Caribbean” into your search engine of choice. Remember also that the Sun gets its stories directly from TPTB, according to many insiders. This may sound like a conspiracy theory, but I wouldn’t put it past them.
I would agree that Clown probably wasn’t the best choice of song for him this week, though it is one of the standout songs of one of the best-selling albums of the decade so I wouldn’t necessarily buy that it was an attempted de-ramp.
You’ve been saying it all series anyway and not really explained your reasoning why they would want to attempt to de-ramp him, when all the signs are that they’ve been pimping him to high heaven every week with standing ovations. If they were attempting to de-ramp him they wouldn’t be giving him those sort of comments, regardless of whether he overcame the difficulty of the song.
I haven’t seen the Sun article you’re talking about.
I did see quite a lot of hate directed towards him on Twitter for this reason.
Only helps the case for Anthony beating Dalton in the final two.
Clearly y tonight’s results Anthony is killing the vote I seriously believe he is now going to win.
Glad to see the man himself Anthony has joined us tonight.
Lol thats a bit harsh. It’s not only Anthony that thinks he’s gonna win this.
Never gave a reason though.
This for me feels very similar to the Nick Mcdonald year, where they had the sing off in the semi final in the hope of getting Nick down there and getting rid of before the final.
Dalton may be ahead in the voting, although I wouldnt be certain of that. What I am certain of is, that Dalton has his fans and they have probably remained steady for the whole time. But I doubt he has been picking up the floating voters week on week. They have thrown all the standing ovations at him, along with the over the top praise. They can do no more for him now if he hasnt pulled away.
He is singing the same ballad type songs every week, and hasnt shown another side to his performances at any point. I said the other day the odds were way out. And for me they still are. Dalton is not a 1/4 shot in any world.
Stoney
Others may disagree, but I think that over the top standing ovations don’t necessarily work, except with died in the wool fans. I have often seen this sort of praise backfire. Indeed it can be another way of de-ramping a performer. Did Robbie Williams go off script when he called Dalton’s performance “boring”? I doubt it. You’re dead right that 1/4 is barmy. He’s the best singer in the contest, but we know X Factor isn’t all about singing, far from it.
Hi Chris, I think generally speaking, the 4 SO and positive comments do tend to work. Especially with the loud crowd reaction Dalton has been getting. The thing is he is Foreign, and this is the big red flag, and thats before we even consider race. Anthony is one of the people, he is the man down the pub, the bloke you stand next to at a football match. He doesnt have the best vocal, but people relate to him.
Non Anthony backers allude to the fact that he got excited when he went through on Saturday night and didnt spare Brendans thoughts, but choose to ignore that he also got excited when Dalton went through lastnight while he was still awaiting his own fate. I think hes a down to earth nice guy who has a lot of support.
They’ve both come across very well to be fair. I’ve never doubted Anthony’s likability, and he’s a worthy finalist. His personality and his enthusiastic performances are what have got him to the final. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll win against the better singer.
Odds-wise, perhaps they should be a little closer. Even when the winner seems obvious the final vote is usually closer than you think it’ll be. Predictions of Dalton getting 80% of the vote are probably way off the mark.
But on the other hand, if it turns out Dalton really did top the vote every week (which I believe is quite probable), then realistically no one was ever going to turn that round and it may be that those odds were justifiable.
1 thing we do know is the market is clean. Anthony was trading at around 70/1 on the exchange just before the results yesterday, and a 1/3 shot to go.
This is another reason to see why Daltons odds are terribly wide of the mark.
Ben
I thought I did give a reason why TPTB would want to de-ramp him – they have traditionally not wanted a foreign winner. Trips down to the embassy, poor quality skype interviews with relatives in [insert country of performer] etc. It’s become a standard meme on this site. I think they just under-estimated his talent. BTW how do you see Robbie Williams calling his performance “flat” and “boring” as anything but a de-ramp?
The Sun article is here, as always with the Sun, it is phrased as a “denial”:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/7823622/x-factor-dalton-harris-brendan-murray-deny-gay-relationship/
Was it that they didn’t want a foreign winner, or was it just that when an act they didn’t want to win happened to be foreign they’d use that against them? They don’t seem to have done that with Dalton.
Robbie’s comment was virtually the first bit of negativity he has had all series, and it felt unscripted. Simon disagreed with him and the sort of things he’s been saying to Dalton all series has been so overwhelmingly positive – and it’s his label that signs the winner after all – I don’t see how you could believe that Syco would have any issue with Dalton winning at all, especially given the weak competition.
If they’d really wanted to de-ramp him, there’s plenty of stuff they could’ve thrown at him like “one trick pony” or “oversinging”, or constantly given him reggae or dancehall songs (which he’d be able to do but wouldn’t have exactly “delighted the demo”). You don’t deramp someone by giving them X Factor Songbook classics like “Listen”, “I Have Nothing” and “Feeling Good” – and if the aim was to find a song that was just “too big” for him, they’d surely have realised pretty quickly that they weren’t going to find one, and they’d just give him something stupid (like when they gave MMMBop to poor Janet). Even in so-called “Guilty Pleasures” week they gave him a Whitney Houston song when they could’ve made him look completely ridiculous if they had wanted to.
But now you’re going to say they were just “cack-handed”, so I think we’ll just have to agree to disagree Chris! 🙂
Hi Ben
I don’t really disagree with most of what you say. What we are arguing about is whether TPTB intended to de-ramp him. That’s always going to be a matter of conjecture for us on this site. Who really knows? It is relevant though when it comes to predicting next week’s result. I think Stoney is right that Anthony is in with a much better chance than the odds would suggest. My guess is that TPTB were less interested in manipulation this season, probably because they thought until recently it was their last season on a prime channel. So not “cack-handed” as much as “couldn’t give a toss”. It’s only the last couple of weeks they’ve been back on full manipulation mode. I’m watching the odds carefully. But it’s been entertaining debating about it, and hopefully we’ll see what was really what after the voting figures are published.
I doubt Anthony’s likability to the point where I don’t think he can beat one of the best singers there has ever been on the Xfactor. I think the public will do the right thing and vote for the more talented singer.
But even more than that I don’t think TPTB will allow someone who is so unremarkable in every way to beat one of the best singers there has ever been on the show. Anthony will be the weakest winner they’ve ever had by a country mile with absolutely no hope of selling any records. Allowing him to win damages the brand and if they can prevent it I’m certain they will. That they haven’t really felt the need to weaken Anthony until the penultimate week suggests to me that he’s comfortably behind Dalton in the vote. Running order would also suggest that Dalton’s comfortably ahead in the vote.
I do agree that the odds are wrong though. You could still get 10-1 on Anthony after it was announced safe last night. A losing bet is a losing bet though whatever the price.
I agree I think Anthony and Scarlett are close in the vote and the producers just wanted Anthony in the bottom 2 instead of Scarlett because Anthony is only one they could of gotten away with saving A&A over if they wanted to.
Or maybe they didn’t want to alienate even more viewers and slump to even more embarrassing levels.
Ultimately the amount of people watching is way more important than who goes through each week or who wins.
There was also an almighty u turn on the Sunday night so whatever they were trying to achieve came nowhere near happening as by the time he sang they had to give him positive comments.
There are loads of theories as to why they left it so late to try and bring him down.
They didn’t want Ben Haenow to win in his year yet they didn’t try to bring him down once.
I am really shocked at this comment,
For me Anthony has been a breath of fresh air to the X factor and has took it back to what it was originally meant to be a competition for the British public who wanted to try there luck to get a recording contract. Unfortunately The X factor has be come a platform for record execs to try out there talent before handing the contract.
If Anthony wins and I really hope he does it will do so much good for the program, as once again the public will think that they have a chance and actually start to audition for the show again.
Anthony represents your normal joe bloggs who has been singing in pubs for years which to me is what TXF was all about.
I for one can’t wait to buy his album for me he has 2 avenues it could be a swing album or a rick/indie album.
Anthony has real northern gritty talent and I am quite excited at the prospect of some music from him.
There are characteristics that help differentiate a conspiracy theory from prudent paranoia […]. Conspiracy theories tend to depend on conspirators who are unduly evil […]. Conspiracy theories also tend to assign an usually high level of competency to the conspirators, Brotherton adds, pointing out that when the government really does “shady stuff” it often isn’t able to keep it secret.
Something to bear in mind.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/07/conspiracy-theory-paranoia-aliens-illuminati-beyonce-vaccines-cliven-bundy-jfk
I love these academic articles like the one you link to in the Guardian, laughing at people who believe in conspiracies. It’s as though they don’t live in a world where two Russian Secret Service colonels, claiming to be cathedral lovers, don’t visit a cathedral city and smear weapons grade nerve agent over door handles, then disappear back to Russia, leaving death and disease behind. Worth remembering that the same paper reviewed “McMafia” (the TV series about the Russian mafia in the UK) as “entertaining hokum”, before the incidents in Salisbury. These aren’t theories, they are facts. I’m not saying that X Factor bosses are quite as evil though….
Did you read the article?
They reference the case where the US govt refused african-americans access to medicine they needed as part of an experiment.
They are quite clear that sometimes people do horrible things. There is a difference between prudent paranoia and conspiracy theory.
Does anyone think members of the Russian Secret Service spend their holidays brass rubbing in churches? Does anyone think that the UK only denies someone is a spy when they are not a spy?
There is a difference between prudent paranoia and conspiracy theory. (It bears repeating)
I’m not saying that X Factor bosses are quite as evil though….
They only kill nascent careers, not living people.
“They only kill nascent careers, not living people.”
Very true, and even worse, lift people up who had a reasonable job as a pub singer, then dump them after a few months. “Look what you could have won” in the immortal words of Jim Bowen.
Hi Jessica
I did read the article and I found it very interesting, although the headline does rather misrepresent the gist of the article. To explain a bit, in my work I had occasion to know that at least two well publicized events were nothing like as portrayed in the media, and the real explanations were, in a sense, conspiracies, in that the Cabinet Office issued gagging orders preventing anyone telling the truth about these particular events. So the article triggered my almost reflex reaction when someone describes anything as a conspiracy theory.It can be summed up by “just because they are saying it’s a conspiracy theory doesn’t mean it isn’t a conspiracy”. Sorry about that and thanks for directing me to an illuminating article which I’ve saved for future reference. BTW I don’t think Simon Cowell has gone as far as issuing super-injunctions, but we wouldn’t necessarily know if he had.