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Has anyone noticed that The X Factor‘s doing exactly what Big Brother ended up doing before it was axed? Let me explain.
Big Brother’s first few seasons were really interesting – a bunch of everyday people living together and having to play psychological games with one another and the national audience. Great.
But Big Brother changed over time – what started as an entertaining psychological experiment turned into a freak show. ‘Sorry, you have a nice personality, a happy home life and hold down a regular job? You don’t qualify.’ The love from the first couple of seasons diminished after people realised that actually, this isn’t entertaining any more, it’s just horrible.
Similarly, a few years ago X Factor gave us an entertaining singing competition with a couple of big personalities but ultimately a talented output – you can’t deny that Leona Lewis is a phenomenal singer. It was a genuine opportunity for a ‘normal’ person to get that ‘dream’ job and become a celebrity overnight.
But the same thing’s happened to X Factor, and it’s resulted in them starting to lose the ratings. I’m not being funny, I’d never win X Factor, but I can sing better than Wagner can, it’s just that some white British guy whose parents are still together, didn’t do drugs and got married early just doesn’t cut it any more. And what was going on with the painfully camp duo last year? Any viewer can tell that they didn’t get in because of their singing ability, it’s because they’re seen as ‘different’ enough to get through. Kitty’s a pretty good singer and performer but at the end of the day she got into the finals based on the concerning ways she deals with her low self-esteem.
And, of course, over the last couple of days we’ve now got Cocaine Cocozza all over the front pages – I was going to predict that after his first audition but thought I was being too cynical! I’m not blaming him for one second; throughout his X Factor experience he’s been repeatedly told that the only reason he’s got through isn’t because he’s a good singer, it’s because he’s rebellious. What a wonderful example to set the next generation: you can be successful without any talent or effort, just so long as you break as many rules along the way as possible. Well, it works for Harry Potter, doesn’t it?
Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, and if I am I don’t care, but does anyone else think X Factor would be more entertaining if it were made up of genuinely nice people?
I think I’m just homesick for heaven.
