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A reply from channel television re judges vote
bookclub10
Posts: 4,030 Forum Member
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Was just on the Facebook X Factor group and a guy who had emailed channel television ( the producers of x factor), has posted the reply he got
'My e-mail asked for clarity on the judge situation, I did ask for the judge's rules (if they exist), this was the copy of what was sent back:
Thank you for your e-mail about The X Factor, which has been passed to us for a response as we at Channel look after this series for ITV. It is made by an independent production company, Talkback Thames Television.
I am sorry that you were disappointed by the Judges’ Choice section of the Results show. As you know, Cheryl abstained from voting.
The judges are required to vote when asked to do so, or to forfeit their right to a vote on the outcome of the Judges’ Choice. Dermot did make it clear that the decision would therefore be based on the majority vote of the other three judges. As Cheryl had refused to vote, there was no possibility of going to ‘Deadlock’ which is the mechanic used to decide who stays in the competition when the Judges’ votes are tied.
Deadlock requires an active vote, and Cheryl had deemed her vote invalid by refusing to make a choice when asked to do so. Unfortunately the show is fully live and the pressures of time meant that there was not enough time remaining to explain this fully to our viewers.
Judges have refused to choose between their acts in the past, most noticeably Sharon Osbourne did so on several occasions, hence the introduction of the rule regarding their vote being forfeit. It is not possible for a judge to ask for their vote to be deferred until after the other judges have made their choice.
At this stage of the competition it is acknowledged that the Judges make the decision as to who goes and who stays. Later in the series, viewers’ votes alone will decide who leaves the competition each week. TreyC and Katie received the lowest number of votes from our viewers and thus were in the bottom two and subject to the Judges’ Choice vote.
I hope this addresses your concerns but if you would like to take the matter further you may wish to contact our regulators, Ofcom, either via their website www.ofcom.org.uk or by telephone to 020 7981 3000.
With best wishes,
Channel Television
12 hours ago · Report'
'My e-mail asked for clarity on the judge situation, I did ask for the judge's rules (if they exist), this was the copy of what was sent back:
Thank you for your e-mail about The X Factor, which has been passed to us for a response as we at Channel look after this series for ITV. It is made by an independent production company, Talkback Thames Television.
I am sorry that you were disappointed by the Judges’ Choice section of the Results show. As you know, Cheryl abstained from voting.
The judges are required to vote when asked to do so, or to forfeit their right to a vote on the outcome of the Judges’ Choice. Dermot did make it clear that the decision would therefore be based on the majority vote of the other three judges. As Cheryl had refused to vote, there was no possibility of going to ‘Deadlock’ which is the mechanic used to decide who stays in the competition when the Judges’ votes are tied.
Deadlock requires an active vote, and Cheryl had deemed her vote invalid by refusing to make a choice when asked to do so. Unfortunately the show is fully live and the pressures of time meant that there was not enough time remaining to explain this fully to our viewers.
Judges have refused to choose between their acts in the past, most noticeably Sharon Osbourne did so on several occasions, hence the introduction of the rule regarding their vote being forfeit. It is not possible for a judge to ask for their vote to be deferred until after the other judges have made their choice.
At this stage of the competition it is acknowledged that the Judges make the decision as to who goes and who stays. Later in the series, viewers’ votes alone will decide who leaves the competition each week. TreyC and Katie received the lowest number of votes from our viewers and thus were in the bottom two and subject to the Judges’ Choice vote.
I hope this addresses your concerns but if you would like to take the matter further you may wish to contact our regulators, Ofcom, either via their website www.ofcom.org.uk or by telephone to 020 7981 3000.
With best wishes,
Channel Television
12 hours ago · Report'
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Comments
About time Cowell answered some difficult questions
This happened.
We did this.
Then we did that.
It's always been in the rules - honest guv!
That's what they did on Saturday, for very obvious reasons.
I believe that is written in ITV's T&C's.
That way she could have asked Dannii and Louis to let it go to deadlock, and give her vote to send home Katie.
Instead Cheryl didn't abstain entirely from voting, she said she'd vote to send it to deadlock and was told after making what she thought was her final decision, that that wasn't allowed.
They can claim it's always been a rule all they want, but as they say it was Sharon who did it, someone Cheryl has never judged alongside, and the rule clearly hasn't been used for almost 3 years now.
Why not just admit, they wanted to save the controversial one.
lol..:D
In which case, both Cheryl and Dermot would have been aware of this and Dermot still tried to talk her into making a decision before moving quickly on as soon as she mentioned deadlock.
It wasn't made clear. He told Cheryl it was her "role", she responded that she wanted the others to vote first and that she'd then take it to deadlock. (This alone suggests Cheryl wasn't aware it's in the rules that she can forfeit her vote)
When Cheryl said deadlock, Dermot interrupted and told her that her vote wasn't going to be valid and the outcome would depend on a majority decision.
Cheryl did not refuse to vote. She said she couldn't, she used the words "point blank" and Dermot continued to try and talk her into making a vote. She listened to him, paused and made her intention clear about how she wanted to cast her vote.
A vote is a vote, it can be used anyway you like, for or against any outcome the voter requires. She wanted Dermot to come back to her last (which everyone would have expected anyway). This was refused and Cheryl was told that she had no vote.
On listening to Dermot, she simply asked to have her vote deferred until the end. Her request was ignored, she was told it was going to a majorty decision.
It often runs over. How long does it take to say, "If Cheryl, you are refusing to vote, the rule is that the vote will go to a majority decision between the remaining three judges" ?
ETA: There is also the question of how Cheryl KNEW that she would be able to take it to deadlock. How did she know how the others would vote?
That's a great idea.:)
Of course then you would have 2 judges voting some weeks and 3 on the other occasions. Not that much different to the audition stages when some contestants got through on 2 yes votes and others needed 3.
Sharon has refused twice in the past.
Louis also said he was unable to choose between 2 of his acts in series 5 but because he was last, he was able to put it to deadlock.
My guess - Simon Cowell announces that there were irregularities in the phone voting that allowed the two best contestants to end up in the bottom two and announces all acts go through to next week.
Channel TV your show is a fix and as a result of the farce last sunday I shan't be voting for anyone for the remainder of this series. I encourage others to do the same so that when a popular act leaves in the next few weeks because of this maybe the TV bosses will wake up and smell the coffee.
I thought it was Sharon who set that p-r-e-c-e-d-e-n-t
That's not the same.
About Sharon yeah, but there is a difference here which is that it was implied that Cheryl thought she would be able to send it to deadlock but then "shock" wasn't.
Yes you are correct.
Thankyou for your comment.
Then it would go to the public vote. Seems pretty obvious. If no judge votes that means the judges are unable to reach a decision and so we have deadlock.
A better question might be what would happen if 3 judges refused and only one judge was willing to vote. (The answer is "whatever the producers decide" - it is not the role of OFCOM to determine the design of reality TV series).
That would not happen as that would, as far as I'm aware, breach the broadcasting code.
i think, as the email points out, Sharon set that precedent years ago
Because that was the precedent for the show. The mentor with 2 acts in the sing-off votes last. It's not written down anywhere but it's certainly what I was expecting her to do.
And who is the exec producer?
People keep talking about what the producers are doing and what the judges are doing, forgetting that the exec producer sits as head judge.