Completely agree, the bar really has been raised. The Girls Aloud members would have been lucky to get through the second auditions if they walked into the 2009 X Factor auditions (bar Nadine beause she can sing quite well.)
I understand Cheryl Cole being a judge (admittedly she can't sing, however she was in these auditionees place once upon a time, so getting her in as a judge was a clever move on Simons part), Danni annoys me a bit but ok, she's been in the industry a while and had relative sucsess (even though in my eyes she rode off of her sisters success to get there), and Simon is of course the brains behind the whole operation.
But Louis?? He had hits ten years ago with Boyzone, then with the carbon-copy of Boyzone (aka Westlife). The guy has no idea what he's talking about most of the time (and this is evident in all the other artists he's attempted to manage), it's laughable!
The whole show is a bit of a gimmick and a joke anyway so I suppose it shouldn't be taken seriously anyway!