I don't think Che has a cat in hell's, I doubt he is in top 4, voting-wise

Lauren is decent but not a winner

Louisa 'I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman' needs to be told her cat has just been ran over before she performs, she has no emotion and that is more than likely down to her youth, lack of living, she has such potential and the only one who should realistically be in the top 3 favourites.

Favourites according to which bookie? just saw this on the Anton thread:

Originally Posted by ArtyAttack
He was stitched up after topping he vote in the first week.
According to Daily Star the top 3 in voting for week one were
Anton - 23%
Louisa - 13%
Sean - 12%

Not that i trust the daily star

Oddschecker

I think Reggie and Bollie were outstanding last night. So was Sean. As far as I'm concerned it's about being entertained. I don't happen to find Lauren for instance entertaining or Che, both good voices. I also didn't care for Anton who has a good voice. Nothing to do with race, so find this argument silly.

The explanation is simple. Simon doesn't want a black act to win because he can make more money with a white act. So he sabotages the black acts and pushes mediocre white singers like Lauren. Lauren this week was bad. Out of tune in the beginning and nervous whenever she doesn't shout, yet nothing was said about how poor that part of her performance was. Clear proof in my eyes that it is a total set up.

leona lewis, alexandra burke, JLS and fleur would tend to disprove this theory

How did you come to that conclusion, exactly?

White soloists are the worst performing of an X Factor selection. No white girl soloist has ever made the final vote, so your claims about Lauren are - frankly - laughable. Sam Bailey is the only white female to make it to the final on her own, with Little Mix and Same Difference mixed groups that include white females..

White guys tend to have more support with the voters but always flop in the charts, with Ben looking to be the latest example. So again, Simon wouldn't go near them.

Why would you say no white girl soloist made the final vote and then contradict yourself with Sam Bailey? Clearly she has performed well and is white.

Outstanding?

Is this seriously what British talent shows have become?

She was an Over. Girl in this context refers to the category.

And she went to flop anyway.

BIB Don't forget Stacey

Your single example doesn't disprove the wider audience voting pattern that is pretty evident across many seasons of the show

"Gosh, I was just sitting here minding my own business, asking an innocent, non-inflammatory question that didn't imply the British public and members of this forum are racist when everyone suddenly jumped on me. Poor me! Why is evwybody so meeeean to me? It must be cos I is black!"

It doesn't? So, what happened? The black-hating viewers accidentally forgot to be racist one year? It's a hell of a lot more compelling proof that your vague-to-the-point-of-meaningless claims that 'people are obviously racist, it's so obvious!' and 'RnB is never appreciated [except when it's sung by white people]'.

Obviously not. Why try to over simplify the issue? Eoghan Quigg was dominating the vote for most of that year and Alex was very nearly eliminated on a number of occasions. It took major, major production pimpage and tactical bussing to slay Eoghan. The pattern was very strongly there that year even, just a couple of clever production interventions saved Alex.

Fleur isn't "black" though.

But in any case a strange thread.

Because the public are stupid, vote with their genitals, are suckers for predatory, smug 'cheeky chappy' types, no matter how s***e they are and don't really base it on genuine singing talent. But I don't for a minute believe more than the old lunatic or two votes based on race.

The public are tone deaf and stupid. Not racist.

What 'pattern'? And how did the black boyband who came in second place fit into it?

So, I guess the racists didn't forget to be racist as much as they were skilfully manipulated into not being racist. And Alexandra was very nearly eliminated on a number of occasions? You mean, she was repeatedly in the bottom two? What, no? So she was in the bottom three most weeks? No? Ah, right. Her worst result came after performing a little-known, not very fashionable song from the '70s? Bloody racists!

Don't you get cramp from tying yourself into such knots?

I know, I was just pointing to the fact that although a non-white, she was one of the favourites to win, in response to the statement that all 3 contestants favourite to win are white suggesting some racial bias in which there is no evidence to substantiate this.

People often misinterpret the voters dislike of female contestants as racism. White women have an appalling track record on X Factor, but that usually gets ignored.

I'm fairly certain that Anton will be topping the vote by huge margins for the rest of this series.

She was eliminated ahead of the final vote, same with Cher and Amelia (who also had to brought back)

There is definitely a 'gender issue' (which is really more down to it being typically female voters) but the stats don't support any idea of a race issue.

Where is GentleGuy? He could sort this out.

Alexandra was NEVER In the bottom two so how was she 'very nearly eliminated on a number of occasions'? And what about all black boyband JLS of that year?

In fact, in 2008, the first six acts to go were all white, it wasn't until Week 7 that any black act was eliminated.

That's because they always push the chosen white girl too hard from the start and so a section of the public turns against them

they also get an ego from being protected

see Cher, Diana Vickers, Katie Waisel, Janet Devlin

I would trust the Daily Star, they have been very accurate with voting leaks in the past.

I am not at all surprised to hear that Anton topped the vote, it's clear the producers are already trying to sabotage him.