The X-Factor: Discussion Thread

[Chris B]

LMAO!! That was HILARIOUS and Rachel was so over the top and dramatic. I thought that was worse than Astro. At least I saw his pain and where he was coming from. Rachel's breakdown was totallty put on and diva-ish, the way she talked to her mom was terrible. Thats why many would say kids shouldn't be on the show, but I live for that.

And can everybody explain to me what Nicole did wrong? Did any of you vote for Rachel? Nope, so yall need to blame yourselves and not her. That goes for all of America. If this was AI she'd be going home. That her fans fault for not voting. Nicole did the fair thing because she genuinely liked both contestants. She sent it to Deadlock so AMERICA to decide. That's the most fair solution in that case.

Don't get me wrong, I think Nicole is largely a bad judge and I hope she isn't back next year, but she did nothing wrong this week. Last week with Drew that was obviously tactical, but still consistant with the comments she gave Drew and Marcus week-to-week. I'll never understand these type of outrages on shows like this when the people complaining didn't even vote. There is no rule that says Nicole HAS to save Rachel.

[Jonathan]

This is what she did wrong. She didn't do her job which is to JUDGE. She admits so herself in this ew.com interview. I'm ok with Rachel going home. She was hot and cold for me. But Nicole needs to keep it together and not lose sight of what she is there to do. If she genuinely couldn't decide between Marcus and Rachel, fine, send it to a deadlock. By here, she admits that she acted cowardly.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/12/09/the-x-factor-exit-top-5-voted-off-act/

[Chris B]

I still say that she did the fair thing. She liked both and expected Canty to go, but didn't want to outright vote him out since she was a fan. She let America decide. That's not cowardly, thats fair IMO. If America wanted Rachel to say then America should've voted. End of story. And without a doubt if you look at song choice and vocals, Marcus did better than Rachel (having her sing Beautiful Girls? Really?) on Wednesday so I'm fine with it.

Deadlock is there for exactly the reason Nicole used it. She didn't want that decision put in her hands so she let America decide. it wasn't the outcome she wanted, but thats the risk you take with a fickle audience.

[Shawn]

If the Razzies had an award for worst reaction to elimination, Rachel would win hands down. It was painful to watch, and only because it seemed so staged and far from genuine. She would only start wailing and sobbing when the camera was directly on her. Her yelling at her mother "You promised me, you promised me" didn't exactly earn sympathy points from me either.

Though I feel bad that she was sent home over Marcus, she wasn't as amazing as people say she is, IMO. She had a bubbly personality, and I think that people were blind to her often flat vocals due to that. Marcus shouldn't be there at all. He's the luckiest guy in the world, being in the bottom 2 for 3 consecutive weeks, and being saved each time. The sand should already have run out in his hourglass.

I agree with Chris completely here, in the fact that Nicole wanted to make it fair by sending it to Deadlock decision. I can't stand her as a judge at all, but here, she isn't to blame. If people loved Rachel that much, they should have voted for her, plain and simple.

[Angela]

Nicole is paid to be a judge. She didn't want to take responsibility for being a judge last night. She's a wimp and a flake for that.

Rachel killed Marcus in the sing-off. There was no question about who should have gone home after those performances that's why L.A. had that look on his face during Rachel's song and afterwards. He knew she smoked his boy. Nicole should have done the right thing and sent Marcus home and not skated out of her responsibility and what she's paid so very well to do.

Despite Nicole's screw-up, I enjoyed the "episode" last night. That was the best dramatic episode of the season.

[Chris B]

It's your opinion that Rachel did better than Marcus. I personally thought Marcus was great Wednesday and both of his performances were better than Rachel's. With the Sing Off I thought they both did very well though. Nicole is a judge and she did exactly what she was paid to do. Deadlock is an option given to the judges that has been used on X Factor for years. As a paid judge, she has that option. I might be outraged if maybe Rachel knowed it out of the park, but her song choices were terrible, expecially her second song in the live show. Her performance in the sing off was good, but too little too late.

Why is everybody acting like America's vote doesn't exist? It's there for a reason. First Drew's departure was Nicole's fault, now Rachel's. How is it going to be her fault next week when only America's vote decides who goes into the final?

[Jonathan]

No one is acting like America's vote doesn't exist. The point is that Nicole did not want blood on her hands. If she truly thought both were equally good in the save me song, then deadlock was the way to go. However, JUDGE Scherzinger herself wanted to vote Marcus off, but did not have the spine to do so. EW.com states, "Scherzinger later told reporters that she only tied the vote as a means to gracefully eliminate Canty, never suspecting that Crow would have garnered less support." But that blew up in her face.

On a related note, this annoys me just as much:

“I feel better now, because Rachel consoled me,” she said. “She freaking came into my room and we talked."

http://insidetv.ew.c...row-eliminated/

Really Nicole? Who's the adult here?

[Mr. Vixen]

I can't believe anyone is defending Nicole. She's a coward and didn't do what she's paid to do. She even said in that interview that she wanted to send home Marcus but was too much of a [!@#$%^&*] coward to just do it.

[Chris B]

It's easy to defend Nicole when she followed the rules 100%. Obviously she liked Marcus, but expected him to go. She didn't want to outright vote him out because she did enjoy and praise his performances. How much sense would it make to vote him out after raving about him? Yet vote to keep Rachel who got mediocre comments after her awful performances on the live show? She did the most fair thing and let America decide. Deadlock is there for a reason.

[Angela]

Thanks to Nicole's own comments, as has been repeated more than once in here, it's pretty much a fact that Nicole didn't do what she was paid to do. She wimped out, she didn't make the choice she thought was accurate. She gave a contestant a vote to make him feel less bad before she thought he would be kicked out due to home votes.

She also did it after he was pretty much smoked in the final sing-off. I don't think anybody here has been a huge Rachel or Marcus fangurl for that matter, so the opinions are not of the biased nature.

[Mr. Vixen]

That would maybe be true if she didn't readily admit she only did it because she expected Marcus to go home and she "didn't want to play the bad guy". Hey lady, you're paid MILLIONS of dollars to be the bad guy. Do your job, or quit. She's not even a good mentor, either. She was an all around BAD CHOICE as a judge and I can tell Simon regrets hiring her. I doubt she'll be back next year.

[Chris B]

I do agree she's a bad judge, but I still don't believe she was wrong in this case. Using deadlock is not wimping out. Judges use it for all sort of reasons, fairness, sometimes they're being strategic and other times they simply can't make a decision. Marcus was very good on the live show, so I do think it was a fair fight. I can see being upset with Nicole because a more "popular" contestant went home, but I haven't seen one comment about Simon's song choices, the lack of attention he was giving Rachel towards the end or how bad her performances were that put her in the bottom two. Or the fact that nobody voted for her. She was in the bottom two for a reason. It's not just Nicole's fault.

It's good for her though because now everyone has forgotten how bad her performances were and she's become a sympathetic figure. If Astro reacted the way she did people would want him shot dead. She was more offensive in her scripted, overdramatic reaction than anything I've seen on X Factor. Amazes me so many people bought that.

[Toups]

That deserves a, "Come on, man!" She's a 13 year old girl whose dreams was crushed on national live television. You think she faked that? Wow.

If Nicole wanted to keep Marcus, she should've just said she thought Marcus was better, but she didn't. It was obvious she thought Rachel was better but since she's so tight with Marcus, she wussed out.

[Soapsuds]

Rachel losing it on TV and crying endlessly was such a sad moment. I felt so bad for her. Nicole should not have relied on deadlock for Rachel to pull through.

[Chris B]

Toups, please lol. You need to re-watch it. That was entirely diva-ish and put upon by Rachel. There were no tears. That was a Tiara and Toddlers meltdown if I've ever seen one. And like I said, if it was Astro nobody would be shedding a tear, young or not. So many double standards. And go back and listen to how she talked to her mom after her "breakdown." The entire thing was childish and silly, not sad IMO.