The X Factor.

For the past 4 years, I have been a loyal X Factor viewer. I would tune in every Saturday night to see the contestants sing, see the judges fight and see Dermot suck up to Simon and then I would turn on ITV2 and watch the Xtra Factor just for kicks. But since the new season started, I have to admit I’ve only seen one episode!

I was never really a fan of the audition stages anyway but I would always grudgingly sit through them, picking out my winners and possible finalists. But this year for some reason or another I didn’t catch one single audition. So two weeks ago I made myself sit down and watch an episode, which thank fully was Boot Camp, a round I usually enjoy, but not this time. I sat there all ready to get involved but after twenty minutes and still I hadn’t seen anyone sing. I felt like I was watching an episode of Big Brother not the X Factor. There was alcohol, there was a hot tub, there was a sex scandal and there were (predictably) a lot of tears. But no singing.

Eventually, somewhere around the 2nd advert break, someone belted out a tune or two and all I could think was ‘seen it’. I'd heard every comment from the judges before, I'd seen the quirky singers before and no matter how outrageous some of the contestants wanted to be, there was nothing I hadn't seen before. Another Leona, another Cher Lloyd, another Olly Murs. It was all so tedious. It made me ask the question, how does Louie Walsh do this year in year out.

The following week I never got around to watching the judges houses episode before finding out who had gone through so I decided to not bother watching. but when I read the names of the finalists I realised I didn’t know any of them!

Well that’s not strictly true, it’s been hard to avoid Kitty and Frankie due to the amount of column inches they’ve been getting and only a moron wouldn't have realised they weren't going through to the live shows.

Which has led me to make the decision that I won’t be watching another episode. I’m done with the X Factor. There’s no reason for it, i don’t dislike the panel, I don’t think the shows dipped in quality since the departure of Simon, Cheryl and Danni and I don’t think the standard of the contestants has gone down. I’m just not interested anymore and I just don’t have the TV time.

Who can honestly say that they have the time to clear their TV and film schedule up until Christmas in order watch the X factor every Saturday night, then do the exact same on Sunday. I certainly can’t. I have other things to watch and this year X Factor isn’t on my list. It isn’t even on my planner anymore.