I gave this show a slight cynical chance this year....but the farce with Louis' six chair challenge spelt out the whole scripted reality bullocks loud and clear.
If Simon and his minions think it's acceptable to put through *joke acts* at the expense of others.....just to garner publicity..surely the best tactic is to vote for Honey G and the other two in droves? Ensure they reach the final so one of them wins.
It will drive home the point if how much a mockery this is. Yes, it'll be at the expense of better singer, so a bit of an ironic revenge.
Doubt it'll happen though. I expect the teenage girls will happily oblige Simon by voting for one of the boy bands.

They won't care who you vote for as long as you vote.

Best tactic is to switch off.

Best tactic is to vote with your remote and switch this farce off.

Even the manipulation is predictable and boring now and the show is dead for me. I can't even laugh about it anymore, it's gone beyond that stage

I agree. If Simon and co. convince the public that Honey G or the tinfoil twits have a chance of winning (by falsely telling us how popular they are on Twitter, for example) then it will convince easily duped viewers to vote in droves for the other legitimate singers. More votes = more money, very simple.

Yup don't watch it.
I will simply watch my 2-3 favourite acts on youtube the next day

It is Strictly for me from now on. Wouldn't vote if Simon Cowell paid me!

This is the single only worthwhile thread on this forum - X Factor is a joke now because they have planted joke acts in the categories - Honey G and the two gay boys - who are clearly from central casting. The two guys who look like xmas trees were even on a series of Coach trip so they are obviously from a casting agency...I'm waiting for them to turn up on Come Dine with Me soon.

All the other threads demonstrate how Cowell still manages to hoodwink the truly gullible. Why would you even bother discussing the outcome of this debacle?

Best tactic is to boycott the show and Syco music.
Buy the music of contestants who never signed to Syco and don't receive any media.

I switched off when James and Peyton were sent home.
I didn't even watch Nicole's segment with the boys.
I couldn't give a flying shiny shite who, or for that matter, what wins.

Maybe not all Syco music, I quite like Little Mix.

The best thing would be to stop watching XF, watch Sky Arts or BBC4 they often have documentaries on pop music on, or Jools Holland on iplayer, listen to the Radio (perhaps Radio 2 or 6?), go and listen to a local band or artist and in time perhaps The Voice will replace XF.

Hang on a minute, SYCO have some great acts on their roster and they have some good songs!! It's not all shite occasionally they have talent and a potential worldwide artist.

If anyone wants to hear some really good music rather than watching XF tune into Solar Radio where there is some great artist aired.

Threads on here whinging about the standard are nothing new! Judges houses this year was a complete farce but who really cares?! It's just entertaining TV, even Nick Grimshaw said yesterday that it's not about singing, it's a TV show so no need to get worked up about it. Either embrace it and enjoy it and play along with all the outrage/wildcards/surprises/shocks etc or just don't watch it, but don't come on here saying 'i'll never watch this again' when we all know you will!!!

The viewing figures say otherwise though as they are getting lower and lower as more and more people get fed up with what they are seeing.

Actually I won't.. I have lost all interest.
Despite all the fakery, you can tell that the devastation of those who are sent home is genuine. And they are passed over for WHAT? While they probably won't make it to stardom, the exposure could help them make passable careers.
I can't work out whether Honey G is real and believes her own hype or is a send up or is a 'brought in' send up. But according to this link, she is actually a 'posh girl' so it is probably one of the last two.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...-wardrobe.html
She is so repulsive and the act itself is a such a terrible cliche, how can it not be anything but a spoof?

Who cares though mrsgrumpy? Kids who can sing are 10 a penny so there's no real 'devastation' to them being sent home. It's not a singing competition, it's a TV show. Most of them won't make it anyway so why not have some fun on a saturday night tv show. Honey G is terrible I agree, but that's all the more reason to watch the show.

Not for me it isn't. The last thing I want to see on tv in a Saturday night is crap like the chukky chicken guys and pathetic Honey G. That not even entertainment let alone the fact that they are talentless.

Really? I can't think of one. SYCO have been around for a long, long time now and they don't have a single act on their label who has been with them long term. I just had a brief look at their current roster and I could be wrong, but as far as I can see Susan Boyle has released six albums with them (many of which are just covers) but apart from that they've just got people like Little Mix who have only released three albums, and Olly Murs. Hardly long term acts/artists who they've helped nurture and develop. The label don't have a clue. If you're someone who wants a quick flash in the pan hit then they might be able to help you out, or a hit debut album off the back of the X Factor, but apart from that they're useless. At one point they had both Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke on their books, but instead of putting any effort into them they just let them drift and eventually they both left the label. Other people on their books include X Factor USA ex-contestants such as Diamond White, who they've had on their books for years now and who has been trying to get out of her contract with them as they won't let her release music...they just sign up people like her so that other labels can't snap them up and make them successful, but don't want to invest in making them successful themselves. Syco's biggest success story is One Direction...but how that all came about is really down to the fans. Syco just jumped on the hysteria.

Cowell is paid by ITV to stage this crap
Cowell signs all the acts to his music label
Cowell receives 35% of all the revenue generated by calls and txts
Cowell is laughing all the way to the bank

Just switch off and watch something else - simple - that's the only tactic that will actually work

Bang on.

This media mogul old boys network would give FIFA a run for their money on the bribery, corruption and back scratching front. The SFO would do well to take a look at these murky waters.

At the start of this series I was genuinely taken in by one of the auditions, when they did that age old thing of building a contestant up to be a really good singer, eg, 'I've been singing all my life, it's my dream and all I ever want to do etc, etc', only to be laughably awful when they sung, and I was genuinely fooled, and it made me laugh, ALOT, and I thought, oh, maybe this could actually turn out to be like the first few series where they had some genuine singing talent. Jesus, how wrong was I. It's an utter shambles, and Cowell deserves to be strung up.

The ones who can sing really well but don't have the right 'look' or appearance are just used to fill up the early episodes to give the impression that there is real talent this year but they are then cast aside at the last minute before the lives. It's disgusting actually when you consider how emotionally draining it must be. Yes nobody is forcing them to go to auditions but hopefully the talented ones will see sense and keep away in future.

Joke acts serve their purpose. They think it gets people watching (there's no real way to know if they do). They get people talking, and they encourage naive or invested (the two aren't exclusive) viewers to vote. They either vote for the joke act for the LOLz innit, or vote to try ensure their favourite doesn't lose out to the joke act in question.

The best tactic against it is to certainly not vote, and probably not watch. I would usually be more inclined to not watch the earlier stages, and properly watch from the live shows, but this series has gone the opposite way, such is the level of sheer desperation from the producers.

Last Saturday was the first time I've watched any of this series and nothing's changed, same generic crap as always, screechy girls, feminine male singers and appalling groups all done in karaoke fashion but with all it's faults you've got to admit that Cowell is a superb businessman, the two gay guys were a talking point this week on how atrocious they are but isn't it this that Cowell wants? Credibility went out of the window years ago and now it's just a circus full of clowns and so pathetic that I might even tune in tomorrow to watch the two village idiots that are through, Cowell is a very clever man.