14 DAY TRIAL // Fans of X Factor are again up in arms after last night’s show: by refusing to vote and pick a singer to save, Cheryl Cole has literally made it possible for Katie Waissel to go through to the next show.
Since Katie actually forgot the words to her “survival” song and she sat down on the stage saying “Oh, sod it!,” singing the same line over and over again, it’s no wonder voices online are now calling the show a fix.
As the Daily Mail points out, if anyone should have been sent home between Katie and Treyc Cohen, it’s probably Katie: not because she has a weaker voice or is a worse performer, but because she proved she couldn't do well under pressure, by forgetting the words.
However, members of the audience probably didn’t notice all that much that Katie was at a loss for words – literally – since they continued to cheer her on even after she was done singing.
So the latest controversy has nothing to do with that but rather with the fact that Cheryl Cole refused to vote: since both girls were from her camp, she declined to pick one to send home.
This way, she had the other judges make the choice for her and Treyc was sent home with two votes against her (Simon and Louis).
This is officially the first time in the history of the show that a judge refuses to choose a candidate to save / send home, which has sparked talk about how Cheryl gets to make her own rules.
“You are both talented women. I am refusing to send anyone home,” Cheryl said when the time came for her to cast her vote.
“The 27-year-old added she was prepared to take the vote to deadlock by making a choice once the other judges had voted, but Mr. O’Leary said it was against the rules of the show,” the Mail writes.
“Dannii Minogue then opted to save Treyc, while Louis Walsh selected Kaite. If Miss Cole had chosen Treyc, the girls’ fate would have been decided by the number of telephone votes each had received,” the publication further notes.
As viewers at home interpreted Cheryl’s gesture, she was simply doing what producers told her to do: namely, keep Katie on because, as Simon also noted, she’s more interesting to watch.
From this to conclude that the show is a fix since it’s not a real singing competition but a constant race for ratings was but a step: and many a viewer took it.
“Dermot was very clear. He asked Cheryl if she was refusing to vote. He told her if she refused it would simply be based on the majority. Those are the rules,” a spokesperson for X factor said shortly after the show, defending Cheryl’s right to abstain from voting.
Viewers are not that easily convinced, though: on Twitter, hundreds of voices are calling for watchdog Ofcom to investigate the show because it claims to be a competition when it’s not.
Below is Katie and Treyc in last show’s sing-off. Watch and judge for yourself whether critics are right in saying Cheryl should have voted.