The fact is this show has lost its spark and that's the reason people are turning off... We all know the format of the show and it's so predictable

tulisa is also a problem, her popularity has gone downhill just look at her sales, she has 8 million viewers thats huge exposure every week yet she only sold 7k of her album. she also lost her acts quickly the viewers didn't support her this year could be cause of the sex tape. any acts she gets in the future may be damaged by being associated with her.

So, ITV are loving Tulisa this year. Simon is not blaming her for the ratings drop.. I do think she's returning next year.

If so, wrong choice. If an artist with that much exposure can't get over 7,000 album sales, they're not talented enough to criticise other people.

Louis isn't talented, yet he's brought back every year..

Simon Cowell a douche and Gary is a far better judge than him least Gary knows how to do his job Simon is just up himself i was so happy when he left and i deffo feel Gary is much better than him and why is Simon getting at Gary he had a hard category and he got one of them to the final Tulisas and Loius to blame.

Touché! Louis must know all of Cowell's secrets if he's on the panel every year... will he ever leave?!

Totally agree. Watched US x factor today & cowell came across as a pompous idiot...thought I was watching piers morgan. At least in the early days he appeared to have a human streak. Gary on the other hand has remained down to earth, is talented & knows what he's talking about. Cowell just knows how to spot something to exploit to make a fast buck & the xfactor has run it's course so he needs a scapegoat.

I think Gary attracts a portion of the audience, but I'd bet he alienates more than he brings in. I don't know how true it is, but the article is right in the sense that Gary takes himself too seriously to the point where he comes of as really pompous and self important. I'm not saying X Factor should be strictly about the jokey, panto side of things, but you need to establish and a balance and Gary just doesn't have that.

It's what makes Nicole so good I think. She's supportive of her acts and makes the right choices, but she gets the humour of it all as well. I don't think Gary Barlow (or Tulisa for that matter) has the right personality for TV.

It was never a secret that Cowell wanted to fire Barlow after last series. ITV, keen to assert their authority now that Cowell isn't physically here anymore, were the ones that pushed for him to stay. Nothing that has happened this series would make me think that Cowell would have changed his mind about Barlow.

They seem to have given up on this series a while ago. Last year they did the big wildcard thing which did give them a boost for a couple of weeks but this year they've just plodded along. They're even repeating the mentor duets from last year. I think the higher ups have probably acknowledged this series is a lost cause and will be getting stuck into a plan for next year that will likely involve some significant changes, not just getting rid of Gary.

Simon of all people should know that one person on a show doesn't bring or reduce ratings. He should know, that himself looking for cheap publicity tricks is what people might not want on the shows. Also, the lack of "X factor" is one reason people are not watching.

I don't agree with that. Dannii had her lowest charting single to date during her time on the show (iirc) and yet she was part of a panel that saw the show get bigger and bigger until it peaked when they all took off. I think Tulisa is struggling this year, but I don't think you can use low album sales to justify. Either you're good for this kind of TV or you're not.

I agree the American one is awful this year, I,ve not been keen on Gary this year but its not his fault ratings are down .. he prob kept them up a bit with his spats with Rylan

Simon Cowell in openly slagging off his own show to get some cheap publicity shocker (again).

The format works (or worked) - however blatant and consistent manipulation of your customers will ultimately catch-up with you eventually.

You reap what you sow, Simon.

She did, Nicole & Louis definitely aren't the issue as they were both part of the biggest series.

The link between Gary & Tulisa is quite strained too- they were both part of the most watched ever auditions. Something went wrong towards the end of last year when the figures fell and they just didn't recover at the start of this year. This year hasn't exactly been the best either, so what viewers it does have aren't watching all of each episode like they used to, and aren't treating it as must see.

Its a combination of a few things, you could say the stars aligned for the show to become as big as it did and everything was just right at the right time, but has fell apart since.

Simon Cowell needs to wake up and take his head out of his backside, its the format that is old and dated, along with the ridiculous press stories. Changing the judges will achieve zero without changing the format


He is just in denial that his format no longer works(edited to add this)

he's partly to blame for being boring and sucking the fun out of the show but not entirely

Agree with everything you said.

what i wanna know is howcome BGT did so well last year and will do again?

I would go with simon on this.

As if, Gary actually takes his role seriously. If he goes then their will be know no seriousness left.

It was the same with Leona Lewis

I wouldn't trust Cowell to tell me what day it was

What a crock of sh*t ..... What is his excuse for the failure of American xfactor

Simon should blame poor ratings on a formulaic and predictable format.