Rita's "Based on this sing-off, I have to send home... butohwaitIloveMasonI'llsendhomeSeann." says it all, really.

Simon and Cheryl can play the public better because they're used to it. Nick just didn't even seem to want to play the farce and did what he was told and sent it to deadlock.

The judges have no real say in who stays.

The judges know whose bottom though, I'm sure the person whose bottom always sings second. Also, the show blatantly tries to manipulate who we vote for although tonight it failed miserably.

Even if that's true, I'm sure they're told which way to vote, especially since The X Factor is so desperate to keep its viewers.

They always sing in the order they performed on the previous nights show

Anyone who believes the judges do anything other than turn up for filming, do as they're told then take the pay cheque is truly naïve.

They;re definitely told which way to vote

I feel like Rita is more genuine than the others. It came across like she really did want to save Seann, but her hands were tied.

Kind of reminds me of Louis and the Carolynne vs. Rylan situation. (Although that would be implying that Louis is genuine, which I don't believe at all.)

I mean, I'm sort of sad about Seann, but the bit in bold there was hilarious. I'm just imaging there was a producer just off stage slowly dragging his finger across his neck and looking maniacal that Rita caught out of the corner of her eye mid sentence.

Haha, yes! 😁

I think Rylan vs Carolynne proved the judges do as they are told. We even saw the producer slithering about on the floor whispering in Louis ear during the sing off and Dermot would not accept Louis sending home Rylan.

Yeah, but people are still so unwilling to think for themselves that they can't see it when it's right before their eyes. It's almost like a disability.

How does the X Factor keep it's viewers by saving someone the public doesn't like? By definition, the two in the sing off are not popular.

If they save someone who the public is unlikely to warm up to, they risk losing further viewers.

It's not rocket science.

Just occasionally a judge decides to go their own way - not often enough imho.

They are two of the three least popular in the show, The public are not going to change their minds that dramatically in a few weeks.
Are you saying that Mason, the least popular contestant left and the one who was booed in week one, is suddenly going to become popular?

Mason has the potential to draw in a key demographic. No such appeal to Seann.

Also, in previous series, the public have dramatically changed their minds. James Arthur was in the bottom 2 and went on to win The X Factor, for example. Olly was in the bottom 2 as well, and came second. Just two examples off the top of my head.

How do you know?

They don't know - that's the problem, it's just speculation.

It's obviously just an opinion and I can't say to you it's a fact as that would be lying but if you look at it objectively and look back at numerous times in which judges have made decisions I believe they are definitely told which way to vote or at the very least heavily pointed in a certain direction (note I completely respect anyones opinion who disagrees with me).

The manner in which they do it to me personally makes it obvious. An example from last years is the first sing off Stevie Richie was in vs Jay James , Simon saved Jay then Cheryl also saved Jay, then Mel B Who had absolutely slated Stevie in every single one of his performances up to this point suddenly converted to wanting to save Stevie for literally no apparent reason ( Resembles how Rita last night said Sean was better but for then no apparent reason U Turned straight after) , then Louis of course took it to deadlock. The way Sean was dismissed last night was almost an exact replica of the way Stevie was saved by judges that didn't even like him.

Next example, Carolynn pool is dismissed in favor of Rylan by Louis Walsh, can I just point out at this point it was extremely obvious louis new that a vote to save Rylan would send Carolynn home as if not he would of deadlocked it no problem , instead he agonised massively with Tulisa even insinuating to him the choice he was making (as if she knew carolynn would go out if deadlocked). Also, the producers talked to louis during the sing off or straight after it if I remember correctly.

The producers try everything possible to control the direction of the show, further examples outside of the judges voting people off are the way they sabotage acts they don't want to win. Example 1.) Louis in the final a couple of years back actively encouraged people to vote for Sam Bailey even though his other act Nicholas Mcdonald was the other finalist, they also started giving him shocking songs when they realised he had a chance of winning (they panicked at the prospect of a 2nd leon jackson in my eyes) , look at how many times Sam Bailey got put on to sing last compared to him, its literally beyond a joke, Note one of the only times he did get to be the last act on he topped the vote with Adele's "Someone like you". Example 2.) They clearly sabotaged Chris Maloney, look at what slots he got put in etc. , they were desperate to make sure he did not win. Example 3.) Paul Akister last year, was doing really well and coming 3rd for the first couple of weeks, they didn't like his style and sabotaged him in week 5. Example 4.) Janet Devlin, easily topping the vote for most the show, stopped wanting to sing the songs they hand picked for her so they sabotaged her and started making it extremely obvious they wanted Little Mix to win.

I'm not trying to bash X Factor here because I watch it year in year out and put up with these things without really judging it too much because I just take it for what it is and accept that these things go on, but I think if you look at it from a balanced point of view their are just soooo many "coincidences" that seem to occur to the point where I just can't accept the producers aren't attempting to sway public opinion. I can understand why they do it too because when people like Leon Jackson win the show it doesn't exactly reflect well on the success of the show but I still feel sorry for the people that are affected by it.