It was a bloody cryathon

Always is. My other half had it on in the background on Saturday, diabolical show!

I want to slap that frankie cock oza

Oi! To the back, there's a queue you know

I think he would like that so he could get another two tattoos on his arris

Wasn't it Robbie Williams who thought those names on the 'haircut's' @rse were 'cool'?
Nuff said!

There is however I suppose more artistry connected with Frankie's @rse than his mouth.

Does anyone still believe that even the judges are taking it seriously?

Whether you make the live shows or not has naff all to do with how talented you are, and plenty to do with how much publicity (and phone votes) you'll generate.

How much say do the judges actually get when it comes to putting through contestants for the live shows? Not much I suspect as the producers will want the highest ratings they can possibly get so will want the ones who will keep the viewers attention.

To be fair the judges all work in the industry so they understand who is likely to be marketable or not, so they probably have a good idea of who will be the best for getting people to watch the show.

I don't get why people are surprised that it isn't a straightforward singing or talent contest, its an entertainment show that succeeds or fails based on maximising its audience figures so that it can make more money by selling advertising (think what Talk Talk etc are paying), there have been other reality shows that have marketed themselves more on being a straightforward search for talent but they don't get the same audiences. They try to cover as many demographics as possible eg there will always be an Irish contestant on it because that gets Irish viewers, they love the idea of an Irish underdog winning a British show...they will try and spread the others across the regions.

Also the music industry has types of singer/types of image that are 'in' like the fashion industry does, which Gary Barlow pretty much openly admitted, that was why he rejected that lad with fake tan and the veneers on his teeth, who was a decent singer but just looked a bit dated, whereas the skinny indie boy with skintight jeans and the tattoos on his ass and the scouser that always wears a hat were just average singers but have got more marketable images in the current climate. Had Adele not been around, then the fat Scottish girl would have been a good contestant as she has a good voice, but really that space in the market has been filled, there isn't enough space for two of them (and to be fair, she was a poor man's Adele, and Adele herself is a poor man's Alison Moyet).

Every year people say this stuff about "it's a joke, it should be able the best singers going through" but also every year there will be a 'shock eviction' in week 4 or 5 where one of the better singers goes out and some of the joke acts are still in - thats perfectly plausible, people don't vote for the best singers they vote for the entertaining ones that they want to watch on TV. And as for these theories that the public vote is 'fixed'....I very much doubt it. The producers will use the public vote as the guide for which characters people want to watch, and they will make sure they stay in, because the aim of the producers is to maximise their profits, and EVERYTHING will be about the audience rating figures each week, the whole leverage they have with advertisers, what big name stars they can get to perform on the show etc, it all comes down to how the audience rating figures compare to everything else on TV. Given that there is so much multimedia and different distractions these days, to get a show on mainstream TV that has huge ratings is very difficult, so much as people like to slag Simon Cowell off, he has achieved a pretty difficult feat to get the ratings that his shows get.

How awful was that tonight

The two minutes that I watched were very awful and complete with the most condescending judges comments.

Tulisa is terrible.

All she could come out with was wittering on about "energy" and describing acts as "amazing".

I had the programme on for about 40 seconds, then i heard Tulsa (or whatever she's called) come out with that classic "you made that song your own" bollcock.

Turned it over then

I cannot believe that Amelia Lilly has gone. Easily the best of the girls.

The programme loses more credibility everytime and even then it was starting from a pretty low level.