THE X FACTOR
OH, thank the Lord. Saturday night TV these past few weeks seems to have hit an all-time low, so it’s out of sheer relief as much as actual joy that we welcome back Simon, Cheryl, Dannii, Louis and Dermot for The X Factor’s sixth series.
And this time around there’s a bit of a tweak to the audition rounds. Instead of performing purely to the judges, the wannabe stars must now do their thing in front of a live audience, Britain’s Got Talent-style, in one of several large arenas across the country.
Which, to put it bluntly, means the traditional freak-show element which dominates these early rounds takes on a whole new dimension, allowing thousands to laugh directly into the faces of those unfortunate souls. Morally dubious? Yeah, probably.