Zoe: Her comments can be quite astute and when she is on form, she gives constructive criticisms on the boys singing talent. Her problem is a) her comments are skewed by favouritism and b) that she loves being in the limelight and thus often seems to do things just for the sake of drama.

Denise: As someone who has played in the west end, Denise can sometimes make very good comments. However, most of the time Denise seems pointless. I think Denise would have been better suited to Maria last year, because here she just spends the whole time fawning over the boys and her comments seems to be more about who she fancies than anything else. Also she seems to just recycle Zoe's comments (although expressed more tactifully)

Bill: His problem is that he is indiscriminate. All the boys are good. All of them are Joseph. Good as boost for their esteem, absolutely useless in terms of judging the boys.

John B: His comments are usually quite good. However, he is a keen lover the hyperbole and he can go OTT. He also has obvious favourites.

ALW: Even if I don't always agree with him, I have huge respect for him. He manages to criticise the boys constructively, while highlighting the positives too. And I tend to agree with comments (although not always his decisions), although I do think he can be overly positive about some people. I think he is less obvious about having favourites than some of the other judges.

I know this is a rather useless comment but all 5 of them are miles better than the sh*te on the other programme... I trust their opinions, whereas I mock and scoff ITV. Anyhoo... my genuine opinion is that as someone who has had singing training myself, I think when Zoe stays focussed on vocals rather than her blatant bias, she makes constructive, useful and fair comments. However, she is self obsessed - in fact it seems to be a requirement to one extent or another for a singing teacher to be a bit self centred and want to teach you how by singing it to you themselves.... I believe her techniques are good and would love to have her expertise teaching me. I think she should stick to what she is good at.
Denise is creepy in some ways and scares me with her hungry eyes on the boys constantly. However, she is a good performer and has fought to be where she is. Again, when she keeps personal feelings out of it, she is fairly constructive. Although she does turn to Zoe more - suck up. Maybe Zoe taught her??
Bill - I don;t get him. I know he is meant to be top of his field but he is almost like the Louis Walsh of BBC - too nice, too vague and doddery. A shame because he probably knows a lot and is a nice bloke and they are lucky to have him as a mentor - I just can't warm to him or his opinion.
John B is flamboyant, insane and camp but I enjoy his critique the most. Sifting out his metaphors and waffle, he actually gives them a lot of advice/ useful criticism. And I thought he really came into his own when he was told to do the acting class with them (the 'getting in each other's face' bit was intense!).
ALW - hate most of his musicals but there is no denying he has earned his fortune and deserves respect. He is a great musician and if you are going to be in one of his shows, who better to have approval from? I was amazed in Maria how spot on he was and how much I warmed to him. I do not always agree with him but thought Ben was cheeky to say what he did. Any expert especially someone who has saved you twice and believed in you when the public didn't deserves nothing but humbleness and thanks. Afterall, without ALW this would not be happening at all.
On a different note, without ALW we would not have been subjected to some of his dire musicals (I love Phantom and a few songs here and there but they are so samey and boring on the whole). (I am being lighthearted. I love singing shows because it means I can judge from my armchair, pretend I am just too 'cold' 'tired' 'busy' to audition when I know the real reason is fear and knowing that it looks a lot easier on the screen...

Yeah, but come on that's only because Lewis out Graham Nortoned Graham Norton! Don't you remember his low C4 show?

I don't respect Zoe much at all. She seems to come with her soundbites already chosen and can be rather juvenile.

Bill may be a bit boring for us, bless him, but I expect the Josephs like the fact that someone is on their side.

Denise.............. we don't care who you fancy. Get past that please!

Loads of respect for John (calm down though!) and ALW. I especially like the way ALW speaks his mind. Both of them really mean what they say.

I agree with you froglet, zoe can be juvenile, she also used any excuse to sing!!!
I think the contestants prob are grateful for Bills constant support. Denise is a waste of space, ALW and John are fair.

Zoe - she may know her stuff - and that may just be her style - but I find her a bit unprofessional at times - that said the boys may have a different view as they are the ones who work closely with her - but she is my least favourite. John being best.

I think that's a good point. As he isn't involved in making the final decision every week, I think its quite nice to have him there trying to be encouraging and positive to all the contestants. I'd much rather have someone being, perhaps, slightly dull than trying to be bitchy / controversial for the sake of it i.e. any musical reality show on ITV.

Bill to me is just the male version of Paula Abdul in American Idol. Though I think he must be a great coach cos last week has got to have been Craigs best performance and he was with him all week apparently.

Zoe seems to say things that are going to get a reaction from the audience

Denise - seems to defer to Zoe a lot.

John - Does seem to listen and give them stuff to work on