I suppose this is always the debate for every series of The X Factor, but is this series genuinely weak? Or is the show making these acts look bad so that the chosen one has an easy ride just like Louisa did last year?

For me personally I can't help but feel that at least some of them are being damaged in this lineup, these are just a few examples.

1. In week 1 when Freddy was attacked by Simon for playing the Piano, and told him that he was better a week later when Freddy looked incredibly uncomfortable onstage without his Piano which is apart of Freddy's style that he was going for.

2. Emily not being allowed to play the Guitar at the lives, sing in a different tempo, or sing her Folk style of Music, or even Country as both are better sounds for her than Pop, Indie, or Rock when they gave her Creep.

3. Samantha not being allowed to sing Rock at all at the lives, and the vocal coaches seemingly being absent as her vocal has clearly not been trained to be at a live show standard, Samantha has great potential imo to deliver, but there actually has to be some support for her from the show.

4. Relley being turned into Shirley Bassey when she was more of an Alicia Keys type of singer imo.

5. Gifty liking her Dance Music but instead was given Pop songs to sing.

6. Saara is a very theatrical type of singer, yet she has only been given one theatrical song so far (I know that Idina Menzel is theatrical but the song isn't) so again she's being hindered by the show.

7. Ryan clearly likes singing songs with a more Busker type of vibe to them, yet he hasn't been allowed to really do that so far, the closest he came to doing that sound has been with Rolling In The Deep which is a very hard song to sing, imo give him a James Bay song or something.

I know that not all of these necessarily mean that all of these acts would turn into fantastic acts to watch, but I would've liked to have had a year where I felt like the acts were given a chance to showcase themselves, even if it blew up in their face.

So yeah for me I'm leaning towards sabotage.

I agree with everything you've said and I don't know if it is sabotage but it is certainly very odd. I'm sort of starting to wonder if the whole thing is engineered towards Honey G winning. She is the only one (including Matt imho) who is actually being allowed to do the same act she was doing at the auditions.

I can't see why they would want Honey G to win. It won't benefit the show (long-term) or Syco.

I was just thinking the OP hasn't mentioned Honey G

She has certainly been getting the best productions, most standing ovations, and hardly any criticism despite being worst by a country mile

The others must be wondering what they have to do to get the standing ovations as well

Production have been pushing the joke acts hard this year, so its possible she could win even if it's a small chance....Third favourite to win last time I looked

Even if she does or doesn't, she is probably already being lined up for stints on Celebrity Juice, Celebrity Big Brother and possibly IAC in 2017

Nothing about this year adds up. The strongest acts who got the most coverage were let go at judges houses and, of those they did put through, they seem to be working on making them all as dull, mediocre and MOR as humanly possible.

It seems only Matt, Honey G and possibly 5AM are getting any sort of support and being allowed to be who they want to be.

This could have been a brilliant year when look at some of the acts who made it to JH but its ended up the weakest line up yet

In this series, it seems a bit more like sabotage. Explains why they built up the 'journeys' of the likes of Caitlyn Vanbeck, Christian Burrows and James Wilson, only to lose those acts at JH - the ones the public may have invested more into than the likes of Matt/Emily. And sprinkled the likes of Relley C on top who, despite being fantastic, barely received any airtime before 6-chair of even JH.
Although I do wonder if Ryan was put through because of the Emily romance - that could be just as big a factor, or bigger, than his mediocrity (though I quite like him).

I just don't see what making it a one-horse race adds to either Syco, Thames or ITV. Syco may be hit with a background backlash over the favouritism (which I think is possibly hurting Louisa) - and lose the opportunity to see which acts really sit best with the public market. Thames and ITV are left with a completely predictable show which in turn may hurt ratings, causing ad revenues to fall etc.

But it needn't be this way. The 2014 live shows were genuinely exciting as, despite there being the usual manipulation, it wasn't all going to one act and there were several winner contenders - Fleur, Ben, Stereo Kicks and Andrea being main examples. Even OTY and Lauren seemed to stand decent chances of making the final at one point or another.
2015 was an odd one. They put through plenty of genuinely talented performers into the lives- Mason, Monica, 4I, Seann etc.- but as a result, resorted to ridiculous levels of manipulation as they were harder to keep mediocre. They kinda embarrassed themselves with that Anton week 2 thing!

Its a puppet show. The only difference is you can't see the strings, but the strings are there.

I never thought X Factor would ever have a series as crap as 2007 or 2012 but this year, they really trying to set a new low with this series.

It could've been an excellent show if they had put the talent through to the live shows instead of the gimmicks. Perhaps this is where BGT now comes in useful. Any serious singers go on BGT, whilst X Factor becomes just an entertainment/puppet show.

Trying to be as "nice" as I can, the show has become more and more predictable and boring as each year has passed by , they have bots controlling the show, Cowell included.

Too fixed and staged now ,it's not a show but a soap written by Simon ,I think proper acts should be on here and the joke acts on BGT ,needs a massive overhaul

I would say it's a bit of both - the line up is horrific probably the worst one yet - we had Gifty Relley and Freddie and they completely screwed them over when they are probably the most talented....

There were better people in judges houses like Olivia, Caitlin, skarl3t, Janet, Peyton, Nate, but no they picked the less talented people!

No fattys allowed on tour. It's all about finding decent looking skinny kids where voices don't matter too much as they can ramp up the backing vocals or get them to mime.

I'm not completely sure either, but it does look like that to me, or if not win come top 3. My guess would be that the controversy increases viewers and phone votes (or at least that is what they are hoping).

Each year since 2010 the X Factor , has become the EX Factor, and is a joke, millions of viewers have switched off.

Each year some diehard fans says last year was terrible, this year better, but in fact it's " the emperors new clothes", they say it's new they say it's fresh but it has no talent, it's papering over the cracks and gets worse and worse.

More and more " see it" now, XF is out if it's bubble, people see the scripted pantomime, and the manipulation. In five years ten million have switched off!

Strings are def there, and very obvious.

The show needed a press worthy story arc. Hence. Honey G.
May talented singers that could win but Don't fit the SC mould are let go through boot camp, 4 chair and judges houses stages.

There are only 4 real contenders that fit the SC mould and I imagine SC will only decide mid way who will be his winner. Clearly the chosen 4 are Emily, Matt, 5AM. Sam L

So i do believe those 4 and Honey G will make it to semi finals.
Personally see Emily - Matt as top 2. SC seems to be now liking Emily. I think she will def be top 2.

This series certainly seems to have been a little strange on all sorts of levels . If someone had told me when I first saw Honey G's audition that not only would she get to the lives but that she would get a standing ovation virtually every week from the Judges including Simon I'd have thought they had taken leave of their senses!!

I thought Matt was TCO but i really am starting to consider the possibility that they have either switched to Honey G or it was her all along!!