You enjoy it more if you're not all involved in it.

It's all completely fixed it but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the performances, the sob stories, the orchestration and all the theatrics.

The less serious you take it, the more you enjoy it.

If they were really set on having Alexandra winning and intended this from the auditions, then Diana and Laura wouldn't have just "come along" and they certainly wouldn't be getting the push that they are.

Exactly. Maybe I am being uber cynical but the unscripted chat about simon "having used that [water remark] before" probably sealed their fate. That one comment showed up the show for what it was. See also louis "Diva" comment.

In simplicity, you cannot do something like this, like they do with performance, judges comments without it all pre-planned, comments and all.

Considering time contraints.

Sorry Beer not sure what you mean. I think, had the girl from BL not said that comment then Loius would have sent home girlband. It was pretty obvious that the stylists had spent more time with BL and tried to make them more marketable than girlband. Basically BL mocked the show and SC and his ego wouldnt allow that. Im glad she called him out on the stock, repetitive phrases though/

I'm not sure because I would say they are both indispensable on the show so they won't really get further than the first 4 or 5 weeks.

I mean that the whole show runs like a script, with time constraints for each dialogue - so yes it is set up.

I've just got to say that most posters are totally missing the point here.

''What point am I missing?'' I hear you ask.

Does anyone want to know then?

with regards to escala, i noticed that during the final of BGT when they were giving viewers a recap of everyones performance, the music playing in the background was the clasical piece that escala played in the audition, so IMO the show was aimed at escala winning but ultimately the viewers decided it

Totally agree. Simon wanted Rhydian to win last year & did everything he could to get the result he wanted. Lets be honest most on here were taken in & expected him to win. Media had been full of there being only one decent contestant for the final weeks. Just like he had done with Leona the year before.

Public are becoming wise to the manipulation on these shows. ALW/Cameron Mackintosh didn't get the winner they wanted either on latest Nancy show. They'd done it on previous 2 shows just like Simon had done on XF earlier series. SC didn't get his chosen winner on BGT either!!

Having said this SC will be even more determined to get rid of acts who are getting big votes early on if he doesn't want them as a signed artiste. You won't get another Leon situation where his fan base grew too much for SC to prevent a win.

The thing that makes me laugh is how some people actually believe the "feud" between Simon & Louis is real, lol!!

When you know it isn't, it's the most funniest thing on the show.

JESUS! You lot(and by that I mean the few "armchair critics" on here, rather than Joe Public) cant just watch a show and enjoy it, can you? It is bullshit to say it is fixed. Would they REALLY have fixed it for Steve Brookstein to win?
I'm loving it even though I would NEVER buy the winning song or even stick it on my ipod for nothing. I DO think, though, that there are some very good candidates this year. However, it would appear that, if we talk in footy terms, the lovely Cheryl has got Arsenal, Man U & Chelsea

Fixed - no I think that's going a step too far. Manipulated? - most definitely and once you notice how they are doing it it's like one of those hidden pictures - you can't stop seeing it. I've watched a lot of these shows now and gotten to the point where I can see a lot more going on that I used to. That's part of the enjoyment of the show for me now, as I'm getting a little bored with the format/sob stories etc.

Its completely manipulated, they're looking for a marketable artist. God forbid Michelle McManus happened again (sympathy vote, no career).

Certain shows, on certain years, have a clear winner. For X-Factor there's always the "favourite" but the public can and have changed that. I doubt Steve was the favourite for XF1, but Simon does like to win after all. XF2 Shayne was the clear favourite and rightly won (Brenda was the only other "good" contestant, god knows how or why she was voted out on her best performance). XF3 was Leona, again rightly so. XF4 was Hope (which didn't work for the public at all) or Rhydian but as people have already mentioned the public were wise to the obvious choice and went for a sympathy vote again with Leon.

Actually, I think being obviously pegged as the favourite can go against you. If the public think you're sure to win then they are less likely to vote. I don't, personally, believe the theory that Leon was gaining a fanbase. I think Rhydian was too much of a clear winner that he was losing votes because of the obvious outcome of the show. Leon snuck in there with a more rabid fanbase. Either way Simon has two artists he can sell. Bonus!

This year I think will be very interesting as it progresses. I can see about 5 acts, maybe one or two more, who could be classed, at this time, as a potential favourite. None of them are clear favourite yet though. I also think that Simon would be happy for any one of them to win but it will depend on how the voting goes over the initial weeks.

Alexandra and Austin have been invited back from previous years as "reliable" favourites. Laura, Rachel and Diana were happy accidents but certainly not "reliable" winners (all have distinctive voices that could work against them in this show).

I don't know about it being ALL fixed, but I think Leona Lewis for one was clearly set up as the winner long before she ever showed up at the "audition".

I think some manipulation was definately shown in the leona ray final when simon said after one of ray's performances "You might just win it after that song!". This making all leonoa fans pick up and spam dial. This year if anyone is being fixed for the win its definately Laura. But at the same time Leona got almost 0 publicity at the early stages of X factor. All the publicity was on ashley and ben.

Well Simon stuffed Ashley after his Big Band forgetting words week with the ABBA kiss of death song - Winner Takes it All.

Ben just blew it, he became difficult and hated the winning single and went AWOL for a day..but Simon was bricking it that Leona wouldn't get the votes. Then Ray comes to the rescue and is given the standard show stoppers - You'll never Walk Alone and gets to the Final......Leona was going to walk it.

He actually was rooting for Steve. I think at that time he thought or actually needed X-Factor to move away from PI brand. Remember he was being sued at the time. He believed that there was a market for someone like Steve - lets face it he sold millions with Robson & Jerome Steve was winning the votes every week so he thought this would translate into album sales. It didn't - lesson learnt.

X Factor is not fixed, it's just manufactured to get the general public to vote for who they want. Rhydian and Same Difference were two of the most unpopular finalists when the initial final 12 was named, but SC managed to turn it around and get both into the final show.

And why would Simon keep up the whole "Leon, you are a dark horse, no chance of winning", when looking at the voting (was it 8 out of 11 weeks he topped the votes?) he'd know he was more than a dark horse.

Yes, they have a few acts which they have set out as potential winners. And probably have songs written already for their albums. It's inevitable. Since they have Alexandra, Diana, Laura, JLS and Austin - they can just promote them and one of their desired actsa will win.

Whatever happens, all of the favourite acts get an album, so Simon Cowell still makes a mint. At the end of the day, Cowell can make the public like exactly who he wants.