mah humble e-bode: i heart x-factor

when i arrived last year, i noticed that x-factor was a big deal here... since i grew up in an idol country, the hell i have no idea on what this show looks like... though i know that it has the same purpose as any idol competition, to look for the next big singing superstar...

so cutting the story short, this past few days, after reading that spam email i received... i've been watching x-factor UK non stop (my lousy excuse why i failed to update my blog, hehehe)... i cant believe that i am very much hooked up with the show and i must admit, the show format tramples idol competition format big time...

i just now understand why FOX is preventing this show to enter US because they know that idol competition will become a thing in the past once x-factor conquered US televisions... as far as i remember, x-factor killed pop idol in UK.... :-)

X-Factor UK Host, Dermont O'Leary

Same with idol competition, x-factor has the audition stage too, judges visiting different places to look for contestants to move into their second round... x-factor called their hollywood stage bootcamp, where they trim down all the contestants further... if idol competition selects their top 24 to move into the semi final competition and finally the audiences selecting the top 12 act... in x-factor, judges selects their top act to be sent individually to the judges house and each of the judges will personally pick their acts in the top 12 selections....

so what's the difference of the two shows? two things... first, x-factor does not have a maximum age requirement for the contestants and it also accepts group acts... second, the judges acts as mentor too, aside from the guest mentor per week, the show judges acts as the personal mentor of each of their selected act in the acts' chosen song for the week and the acts' show production.... and the judges accepts responsibility if their acts failed big time during the final show...

X-Factor UK current judges, (L-R) Louis Walsh, Danni Minougue, Cheryl Cole and Simon Cowell

so aside from that, during the early weeks of the final show, the judges can select whom acts to save during the showdown of the bottom two acts based on public vote, and in cases that the judges are deadlocked, that's the only time the choice will revert back to the earlier public vote and sends out the act with the lowest public votes for the week...

so now, i fully understand some of the changes in the idol competition this past few years to mirror some of the format of x-factor... but with the entry of the show in the US this coming year, i must say that idol will soon be put to rest after 10years...

and after watching the show for the past 3days, i have below my personal fave x-factor acts, and though some of them are not the winners, they individually have their own music career already...

Tabby Callaghan from Season 1 (finished 3rd)