So passes another Sunday night, another controversial X Factor results show limped off our screens, to lick its wounds, inflicted by yet more vote fixing claims. Wagner (who if he, like this weeks latest reject Treyc, spelt his name like it was said then perhaps Louis would be able to pronounce it) lived to fight another week. Without being in the bottom two. Which means there are people out there voting for him. Is it because people don’t bother voting for the good ones because they assume everyone else will and they’ll be saved? No, the survival of the weakest in modern day talent shows can be blamed on one man, and one man alone. John Sergeant. The 66 year old appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in and found himself Cha Cha Cha-ing through week after week, much to the displeasure of a lot of people who were horrified to see John still competing when there were more accomplished dancers being booted out in favour of him.
When Sergeant had finally tired of the furore his continued appearance on the show caused he left, and this sent ripples through the TV talent show industry. Had the viewing public finally gotten bored with predictable winners, were they starting to vote for who they wanted to win, rather than who was expected to win, were they starting to bite back? It seems that the continued voting for talent show ‘characters’ like John Sergeant, Anne Widdecombe and Wagner is a sign that the public are starting to take these shows for what they really are, entertainment? Secretly, everyone who watches these shows watches them for these people. We love seeing the cringe worthy performances, the painful judges comments and the ‘gracious loser’ expression, plastered on the faces of those who end up singing/dancing for survival. More so with Strictly Come Dancing than The X Factor, lives are changed on the back of an X Factor win, whereas if a celebrity wins Strictly, they stay just that, a celebrity.
For Wagner, his tenure on The X factor is the final fling, his last chance saloon, a last chance opportunity to make something of him self. I, for one, am glad he has stayed in this long. The Brazilian is clearly entertaining the nation and having a right jolly good time in the process. We, as the eventual consumer, don’t want another Leona/Alexandra Burke clone (why Treyc no longer factors, in The X Factor), or someone who starts off with so much promise but who will eventually fade into the background (I’m talking to you Shayne Ward). By not voting for whom ‘The Man’ expects them to vote for, aren’t the public contributing to these shows by making them more entertaining?
Of course the modern day talent show had humble beginnings, when little Will Young beat Gareth Gates to the Pop Idol crown all those years ago, who knew it would grow into the global phenomenon it is now. It gave us a thirst for filling the charts with pick ‘n’ mix pop stars. We wanted a new girl band? We gave ourselves Girls Aloud; we wanted a new middle-age club singer? We gave ourselves, er, Steve Brookstein.
But why, I hear you cry (Come on I’m sure I heard someone pipe up there at the back) does Britain’s Got Talent escape our brutal backlash? Answer? It’s all about variety. The variety show is a British institution. Everyone knows Bruce ‘nice to see you’ Forsyth wasn’t born to natural parents; he was raised on the variety circuit. We love them. The people who subject themselves to, sorry, take part in, this circus will ultimately end up on the Royal Variety performance. They have to be entertaining-whether they be dance acts like Diversity or George Sampson or singers like Paul Potts and Susan Boyle. Because lets face it, poor old SuBo wouldn’t have gotten past judges houses on The X Factor, especially if she was in Cheryl Coles group. She clearly only wants to raise Cheryl clones to complete her global takeover, canny lass.
Whoever goes from The X Factor this week, Wagner has still stayed in this long. Thanks to you. The public are clearly biting back against predictable Christmas number ones. Come on Britain, who doesn’t want to see Wagner top the charts this Christmas, hey, if Mr Blobby can do it… After all, its all about fun, isn’t that right Louis?
