‘The X Factor’ UK debate: Should Gifty Louise elimination prompt rule change?
For the second straight week, Sunday’s “X Factor” episode played host to one of the most shocking events of the entire season. Gifty Louise, a contestant who was at one point favored to win the whole show, was eliminated over the likes of Ryan Lawrie and Four of Diamonds. Meanwhile, the ever-controversial Honey G was not even up to be sent home at any point near the end of the show.
Is there a change that the show needs to make following both Gifty and Relley C going home? Maybe so from the vantage point of eliminating the Lifeline Vote. We feel like this twist to the series has spared Ryan Lawrie from exiting the show for two straight weeks. We believe the judges would have sent him home on either occasion if he was in the bottom two, but that hasn’t been entirely the case. We know the point of this twist is to convince people to watch live, but we’d almost prefer them to do a Twitter save over people using the app, especially since that slants the vote more towards Millennial viewers. Twitter tends to appeal to wider demographics.
One other clear issue seems to be something that’s been a part of the show from the very beginning, and that is having the judges decide the fate of the bottom two. More often than not, this opens the door for favoritism, whether intentional or not. We just don’t think that Gifty deserved to be eliminated by all of the judges besides Simon Cowell over Four of Diamonds, who were good but didn’t have the vocal fire-power that she did. Maybe Gifty is particularly upset over performing a lesser-known Fifth Harmony song chosen by Simon, which may have hurt her with the vote.
We’re not going to critique the show over Honey G being there, since there are always a few of these acts in the live shows and it was the British public’s responsibility to send her home alongside Bratavio in the early portion of the competition. Our criticism for the show comes more to elements the viewers should have more control in. Canceling the lifeline vote and having social media determine the result of the bottom two seems to be a little bit more fair of a result.
What sort of change do you think “The X Factor” should make? Share in the comments below. (Photo: ITV.)