I'm taking the comments in the first post as an indicator. If you read my posts you will see that I'm no fan of Steve Jones, BUT I've been watching US XF and he's not as hateful or awful as some US viewers believe. In the clip posted he was behaving no differently than Kate Thornton, Dermot or even Ant and Dec would, explaing the rules and pushing for a vote. So why all the hate for him? Some of those comments WERE xenophobic, talking about "the dumb island" and "pushing an American". You roll your eyes at that instead of me.

We're rolling our eyes at you not because we have a minority in this country that are xenophobic idiots. We're rolling our eyes at you because you believe that such comments are justification for stereotypes across an entire country.

I see that Frankie is a low-rent, coke snorting, talentless man-whore, so all British people must be like that. See how it works? And if you don't, there's no point in trying to explain it to you.

As an addendum, I'll include this quote from Steve Jones:

Host Steve Jones, who's caught flack in the press for being so strict with the judges, was beside himself over how it played out on television. "I feel terrible I was complicit in that meltdown," Jones told MTV News. "I was upset. I don't want to see Paula like that. I know she's a professional but I am too and my job is to get an answer from her. And if I can't get an answer, then she abstains, and I move on. That's the way that the show works.

"But I got like five producers screaming in my ear, 'Steve, we need an answer. OK, she's not gonna answer, move on. No, wait, she is gonna answer. Move back!' And chuck Simon Cowell into the mix going, 'Back off! Leave her alone.' Whoa, everybody's giving me major major abuse here from both inside my head and outside my head," Jones recalled through the haze of a head cold.

Based on this, I'll cut him a little slack, but the fact remains that he handled it very poorly and without sensitivity.

^^^^
He handled it poorly without sensitivity? oh dear

lol. I hope it's not a widespread view in the US

don't patronise me or tell me how i should channel my energy. if i want to defend steve i will. i never suggested he was doing a good job, i just suggested he should come home.

He has absolutely no charisma, he is so vapid and dull, they really should have gone with dermot or anyone else

He looks nice. that's about it really.

If I'm being truthful, look at what the typical British representation is on American movies or TV shows. It's always the proper british boy/girl, never the chav or hoodlum (although the punk rockers did seem to be well received...)

Hello all

I've never written in this section on DS, but wanted to write down my view, cause I'm a fan of the show.

My personal opinion is that there shouldn't be no blamegame going on. I'm not particularry fond of Steve Jones. He is a bit dull, but I don't think last night was his fault. I also don't think it was Paula's fault. I just don't think it was anyone's fault and I don't understand why there has to be the need to find a scapegoat in all of this.

The situation in last nights show was hysterical. I genuinly believe that Paula was extremely sadden and distraught. She has had to do this now three weeks in a row. First the Brewer Boys, then InTENsity and now The Stereo Hogzz. And with last two weeks she has know for a fact that one of her acts will be gone, there hasn't even been a choice that the one eliminated could have been some other judge's act.

I've watched Paula years in American Idol and I believe she is genuine. Seen her cry many times and not once have I thought that she is faking it to just add a little drama to the show. I believe she genuinely cares for the acts and wants them to be good for the future. And especially now in X Factor, cause she has worked with them so closely. I don't think her primary goal is to just win the show, but that her acts will be acts that could do well in the future, not just do well in the show so that she can claim victory. That's just the kind of person I believe she is. She feels strongly. For the last two weeks the other judges have had it easy, they haven't had to watch any of their acts try to save themselves, let alone have TWO of their acts fight for their place.

So, I do believe Paula did not fake last night. I genuinly believe she was devastated and did not want to let either of her acts go. She only has one left now, as the other judges are still with three and have not had to go through that. Paula is just Paula, she's just like that. She can't just be cool and calm like I believe Simon and L.A. would be.

As for Steve, as much as I don't like him, he was just doing his job as best as he could. He is not a professional host and he has had to deal with comparison to the great reality tv-hosts such as Ryan Seacrest, Jeff Probst, Tom Bergeron and all the others... He really never has had a chance. And yesterday was just chaos, it was live TV, he saw Paula struggling, the audience were shouting and being extremely loud, he has two nervous acts besides him and producers of the show shouting in his ear of what to do, time is runnning out and with his inexperience with live TV shows it all just went bananas (to quote Nicole).

Well, that's how I feel anyway.

And Paula tweeted this after the show

PaulaAbdul
@SteveJones You know I adore you, you're doing such an awesome job. Tonight was difficult- I know I threw you a curve ball.... You handled it like a champ.
Thank you @SteveJones for always being the consummate gentleman, even under pressure. xoP

I agree with you. There are alot of things I dislike about Steve's performance as the host, but last night's episode with Paula was not one of them.

steve as never been a good host couldnt stick him even when he was on T4 he only gets jobs coz hes a good looking bloke but absolutely crap at his job!

I agree with those who say last night wasn't Steve's fault, though he is a poor presenter in general. I have the feeling that Simon felt taking Dermot from the UK version along with Cheryl and himself would be too much.

Just as a comparison, this is how Dermot dealt with judges refusing to vote; one from 2007 and the other from 2010:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUQjH5DODBo&=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiC_GS9u9f8&=

Obviously he knew in advance Sharon wasn't going to vote. Cheryl was calmer, but Dermot was more clinical than Steve. I have the feeling the producers had at least planned for Cheryl abstaining even if they hadn't scripted it.

EDIT: How quiet were the crowd in 2007 compared to three years later???

What an arsehole.

HAST is 5 hours behind EST. Hawaii is the cut-off point for AI voting, so presumably it's the same for USXF. Voting could remain open until 3.30pm the following day, without timezones causing any issues.

Bad news for all Steve Haters. From his reading his twitter
it looks like he will be back next year. If Fox and Simon disliked him. They wouldn't ask for him back.

i don't hate him, i actually used to think he was good on t4 etc. but he is an awful presenter for x factor, he's so dull and boring, simon also didn't thank him when they got picked up for a 2nd season, he thanked all the other judges though, i'd be surprise if he's back next year

Haven't seen much of the US X Factor but from what I did see Steve Jones comes across much better than Dermot O' Dreary

Some of the raciest comments that have been dished out on various forums and YouTube comments are quite simply disgusting. To be fair to Steve, he has been thrown into the deep end with this presenting role, and you have got to start from somewhere. This is his time to make it big. He deserves it.

Yes, he is different over in The states. Why is that? Someone hasn't let him be himself; it's not the poor guys fault at all. What makes Steve so good at what he does is because he writes his own material, he's humorous and incredibly witty. It would appear that the producers have stripped him from all of these characteristics, and what we are left with is not a fair representation of his presenting capabilities. X Factor USA have bagged themselves a first class presenter here, and it is about time that they start using him to his full advantage.

Keep going Steve, there are some people that are backing your career Stateside!

Feel sorry for Steve. He seems completely overwhelmed and out of his depth on US X Factor. He was much more personable and charming on UK tv.

Couldn't agree more with that. I do generally feel sorry for him, and when I see people on this forum wanting him to fail, I think it is a reminder how harsh some people can be.

He's doing a good job considering all of the amount of criticism he has been having. Imagine going into work with that on your mind everyday- he must dread it! He's got some balls to carry on, and I applaud him for doing so. Well done Steve!

I'm not a Steve Jones fan but I think he's ok and I can't imagine anyone, even Ant and Dec handling the situation any better.

Interesting how they had a commercial break in the US between the performances and the vote which was not clear on YouTube. That wouldhave given them time to explain the rules/ramifications to all four judges.

Conspiracy theory: LA, Nicole and Cowell all took exactly 35 seconds exactly to make their decisions.

I can't stand to read comments like that from Americans. The xenophobic ones.

Steve in general isn't a terrible host. The problem I mainly have is the way he talks, like he is trying to sound like soundover man and the accompanying movements. It looks stiff and robotic. I've seen him present before and he has shown more life.. It seems whenever personality is threatening to come through, it's quickly back to the rigid stiff Steve.

Steve has such a nice accent, it's a shame it is hidden by the idiotic voice he puts on.

There are xenophobic against Kelly every weekend here in DS.

Steve Jones is a joke, but you know who's even a bigger joke? The people who keep raving about X-Factor USA being so amazing, and then if some judge did the same thing on the UK show they'd say omg it was all for the drama.