Simon Cowell put everything on the line when he decided to walk away from American Idol and put all of his eggs into X Factor. For the most part this season has to be considered a success. If nothing else the ratings have been a dream come true and therefore our favorite British judge is rolling in even more money. However this season of X Factor has turned off many fans due to a questionable judging system and bratty acts like Astro.
Every week host Steve Jones reminds viewers that they need to vote for their favorite acts because who goes home in in their hands. That statement would be true on American Idol. However on X Factor the fans at home only get to decide who stays the judges are the ones that actually get to decide which act goes home.
Every week the two acts with the least amount of votes have to perform for redemption and then the famed X Factor judging panel decides which one has to go home. If you go by what they have said throughout the season the judges are supposed to make their decision based on the performance that night. Clearly that hasn’t been the case this season as several acts have gone home despite putting up obviously better performances than their counterparts. The judges go by several criteria which likely include (1) their complete body of work on the show (2) demographic of their fan base (3) chances of actually winning the show (4) ability to make them money in the long run.
Many of the fans that tuned in on November 17th to the X Factor results show received a further indication of how things are ran on the program. The bottom two acts ended up being Astro and Stacy Francis. Personally I was shocked that Astro was in the bottom two as I figured he had a large enough following to make it at least a little further in the show.
Astro has survived this season as being a young and cocky rapper with a natural talent for creating his own lyrics. Although over the last couple weeks people have started to grumble about him being a one-trick pony doing the same routine every performance. It has even been hinted throughout the season by Simon that maybe he doesn’t have the maturity to win the top spot.
Then you have Stacy Francis who has had a considerable amount of musical experience from performing Footloose and Dreamgirls on Broadway to singing with several famous musical acts over the years. All of this was plastered all over her personal pages on the internet until she made the cast of X Factor and then all of that stuff disappeared for obvious reasons. They want everybody on the show to have an underdog story.
This week on the X Factor results show once it was announced that Astro and Stacy Francis were in the bottom two you seen an extremely childish reaction from the young rapper. Not only did he put off a huge image of glowing negativity he also showed a great deal of disrespect for the fans. He stood up there with his arms crossed sulking like a toddler who just had their favorite toy taken away for being a brat. When it came time for him to perform he got on the mic and said that he felt it was pointless and asked if he even needed to sing before starting his act. That was bad but when called out on it by Simon Cowell he said that he didn’t want to perform for people who voted him into the bottom two anyways.
After such a display I figured that he was as good as gone. Especially considering that his performance lacked any kind of effort whatsoever. Astro had pretty much just shown the X Factor judges and the rest of America that he flat out didn’t care. Yet in the end they decided to keep him over Stacy Francis. That is a complete joke that they would keep him after that selfish and rude behavior over somebody that actually wants to be on the show.
If you go take a look on the message boards around the internet one would find that the fans are ticked off at the X Factor judges. There are a good amount of comments out there saying that they are done with the show and not just because of Astro but because of the X Factor judging format as well. Many people don’t like that the judges actually get to decide who goes home.
The format is a problem and the fact that the judges are mentors to individual groups makes it even more of a problem in my opinion. It creates biased decisions as the judges are pretty much forced to vote for their own acts or look dumb on national television. It also creates the chance that any of the X Factor judges can vote out somebody else from another mentor out of spite or just to further help their own act.
In the end I can’t help but laugh at many of the comments online as people are saying that fans are gonna vote Astro out next week. What are they gonna do force Simon, Paula, Nicole and LA to send him home?