I find it a bit odd really, the judges have to give supposedly honest opinions on competition's acts. I mean can you really trust anything they say? Or maybe that's half the fun, trying to work out how much lying is going on. I guess the invitable rowing is designed to be an intregral part of the entertainment. And I wonder how many opinons will do as sudden about turn in the final weeks, as perhaps in the earlier weeks the judges will try to "big up" their rivals weaker acts in an attempt to remove the stronger ones.

I think I prefer the Pop Idol style of judging, at least you had at least a small amount of faith that the opinions were honest ones. Or maybe a better idea would have been to have had a set of independent judges giving their opinions.

I agree. I am disgusted with this format, especially since it's only about money and pulling in votes. The bottom person should go....no debate. End of story. It's awful.

I think when someones act has just finshed and they join them on stage,they should wait while the other judges have their critique,before jumping down their throats,Sharon again was the worse exaple of this,the show is about opinons and u have to allow the judges to give them! I was initialy unsure about the judges having the final say in who goes,but i think they have done this to avoid another michelle mcmannus!

It's awful, and why do I get the feeling that one from each category will be left for the final?

The don't like the format, I think the judges don't give far opinions especially with the Sharon and Loius versus Simon thing going on. Sharon and Loius will heap praises on eachother's atriste then take out their personal vendata against simon on Simon's artistes. I think the judges having a final say on who leaves is going to get interesting when a judge has two artistes in the bottom two.

Last nights first live show made me realise that the Pop Idol format is so much better, simply because the judges give an honest opinion and there is no where near as much bias. Some people may argue, but IMO it makes much better viewing when there is a bit of light humoured arguements between the judges e.g Simon and Pete, but they still show respect towards each other.

Sharron and Louis acted like little brats and were really un-professional. Simon was the only one being honest and becasue he was being honest he got slated by the other two judges cos they made out that it was a personal attack on themselves. In Pop Idol, the judges comments are one of my favourite parts, however yesterday was just unpleasant to watch.

The show is excellently diverse; with a barbershop quartet, an ex-Happy Mondays backing singer, a soul group and a 'rock singer.' It is ther perfect mixture to create throw-away Saturday Night television but with the inclusion of the judges battles the show becomes worse by the moment.

When I heard about it, I thought 'Whoah! This will be interesting' and seeing the judges arguments in the audition stages, it was good to watch. Then the judges hiring a team to look after their groups and now are mentoring them in the final. That's interesting - but with the judges walking up on the stage afterwards and hugging their group, the show becomes worse by the second. Kewpee is right; a band, an over-25 and a 16-24 will be left on the final show. They just do not want a judge to say 'I have no reason to come to the show anymore.'

With the 'twist' of judges kicking people off - it could have played off well. I instantly thought it would save people like Roxanne from early exits - but Roberta's demise showed me that it's just to ensure that one from each group is left. No matter what happens, Sharon's two will not be in the bottom two next week. If one is, Tabby will be that and all the judges will keep him in. They should have had the judges and their teams mentoring the individuals to have that attachment, but have the audience vote on who they prefer more. If they can get 600-700 people in the studio as they said on The Xtra Factor, then not all of those will be family members of the two acts.

X-Factor will slowly lose viewers over the weeks, and grind to a halt - the only way the second series being better will involve:-

* The judges mentoring the acts from 15 down to 9.
* A wildcard round.
* The audience vote mixed with the public vote.
* A better presenter than Kate Thornton.

EDIT: I wish Wesu from Pop Idol 2 entered this, as PI wasn't his music. He would have walked the X-Factor in my heart.

Yeah, you have to strongly suspect that the primary purpose of the "judges decide" element is a device to stop any of the judges looking silly in the last week with no acts left. Which, would of course, require a hidden agreement between the judges not to vote off another judge's last act.

And if such a situation did occur, it would make a total charade of "playoff" between the two weakest acts, as the decision would have aready been made...

How badly could that backfire if the public saw through it?

Get rid if the judges votes & let the audience decide, they all had voting pads to vote for Sharon last night so use the same technology for a different vote, what if one judge ends up with no-one left at the end of the show, so what, it would add to the unpredictable nature of the voting, as things stands each judge will end up with one artist/band at the end which is too contrived.

Vote for ya fave act in Poll: Your Top 8!

My gawd...I've been away for ages, I come back and you're still at it! Arggghhhhhhhh. Enough already

They already have DH.!!
Childlike rantings by certain Judges looked and sounded so unseemly....cheap and utterly pathetic.
Wouldn't it make more sense to have a TOTALLY impartial "experts jury" made up from the current crop of "music producers and promoters" and it would avoid the "Oh **** I've got to cull one of my own acts scenario!! "
This twist thing is a crock of whatsit(IMO of course. )
If I have to listen to Shaz goin' on about panty liners again,I don't think I can remain "A great big sane old Hector anymore"
More information than I need to know Sharon,how does Ozzie put up with you??Oh yeah he doesn't..."(shouts)
"S-H-A-R-O-N!!!!!!!!!The remote doesn't work!!"