Like it or not, the X Factor is one of the most popular TV shows on British television right now. Now that series 7 has begun, it seems that there is more controversy surrounding the show than ever before - and so far, we are only two episodes in. It is unclear quite how much of the controversy is contrived for the publicity, and how much of it is genuine, but there are few days when the head-lining entertainment news in the UK doesn't involve the X Factor at the moment. Love him or loathe him, Simon Cowell's franchise appears to be going from strength to strength.
The first controversy to come to light was the announcement in the media that the auditionees in the first episode had received the vocal equivalent of air-brushing - or auto-tuning as the experts call it. The public was outraged to discover that some of the better contestants were auto-tuned so that they would sound even better than they already did. Simon Cowell initially professed ignorance at the claim, although he didn't deny that it was true, merely stressing that it would not be happening again and insisting that it was only used when the crowd noise drowned out the singers' performances.
Then there was the extremely wacky Shirlena, who gave a very original rendition of Duffy's Mercy in the first episode. She went through to the next round, simply because she was compelling viewing and very refreshing compared to most of the other contestants. However, it was then revealed in the media that she was thrown out of this year's Miss Great Britain beauty contest because she was older than the required age - organisers only realised this when they watched her performance on the X Factor. Further revelations followed, with claims that Shirlena's mental health was poor and, wanting to avoid another SuBo situation, the decision was made to axe her from the show. She had, however, already reached the boot camp stage and critics suggested that her medical reports should have been available long before they did.
In the second episode, there was a pair of friends who didn't audition well - Simon, in his usual forthright way, described it as 'the worst audition in history'. As a result, one of the friends lost her temper and punched her 'friend' in the head. The two girls then had to be parted by staff. One of the girls later announced that she had anger management issues, although her friend is seemingly reluctant to forgive her. The viewers only saw a clip of the fight, and the judges' resulting shock, but it has been widely publicised in the press, with many viewers criticising Simon's comments and the fact that the girls had been allowed to perform in the first place.
The next issue to cause upset was the inclusion of a young girl known to be a prostitute. Her performance has not yet been televised, but many members of the public have criticised her inclusion, believing that it is exploiting the vulnerable. Simon Cowell's response to this has been as forthright as his comments on the show: "We haven't banned prostitutes. We can't just take people off the show because they might do something that upsets some people. If a person applies to be on the X Factor it's obvious to me that they want to do something better with their life." He's quite right too, but many people clearly feel differently and it's provided a lot of fodder for X Factor critics. l
The final piece of X Factor news that has been splashed across the tabloids is that the boot camp attendees who went to Simon Cowell's rented villa in Marbella apparently caused a great deal of damage while there. They drank vast quantities of expensive champagne and imported beer, and damaged furniture and an expensive Persian rug. Cowell was present in the house at the time and was woken by the noise: "Any damage will have to be paid out of their first royalty cheque if they make it - to teach them a lesson."
It would appear that the strongest critics of the X Factor are the ones that are ensuring that news items like those above are in the news day after day at the moment. However, all this is doing is ensuring that Simon Cowell's name, and that of the X Factor, is at the tip of everyone's tongues. There is not much chance of the X Factor fading into oblivion any time soon - Cowell will make sure of that, even if the haters eventually get bored.