‘The X Factor’ postmortem: Why was Ryan Lawrie eliminated over Honey G?

If you had told us prior to the start of this past episode of “The X Factor” that Honey G would be in the bottom two, we would’ve told you with the utmost confidence that she, more than likely, would be leaving the competition. There was effectively zero reason for this to not be the case, if we’re judging this competition based solely on talent. This also can be corroborated further by our theory that the show likes to send home some of its more controversial acts at around the top six. Think back here to Stevi Ritchie, another performer in a similar vein.

So what in the world happened to cause Ryan Lawrie to be sent home instead? That’s what we are here to try to figure out in the latest chapter of our postmortem article series.

Milking the drama – When it comes to overall performances, we do think Ryan unquestionably is better; yet, at the same time this is a TV show, and production and/or the judges often make decisions with that in mind. Therefore, you have to be aware of the fact that Honey G generates a lot of free press for the series, even if it’s not always positive. Production, despite the stories out there about her getting a tone of call-in votes, is likely confident she is not going to win. Therefore, they see very little downside in her being around for one more week.

Ryan’s own sensibility – We’ve said this before, but Ryan is probably a better singer than he’s been given credit for this season. The problem is that this isn’t the right venue for his particular style. He’s more of an Ed Sheeran type who shines best performing intimate performances with his guitar and without all of the excess and the big lights and suffocating backing tracks. His best-case scenario is to use this platform and his fans now to showcase via social media or some other means original music. He’s a songwriter, so his goal now should be leaning more into that.

Recent history – The final reason Ryan was likely gone was that the judges were pretty confident that he wouldn’t be winning the show, and justifiably so. This is a man who was in the bottom two one week before, and needed the Lifeline Vote on multiple occasions. If Honey G was up against someone who’d been in little danger most of the season, we could see things going in a slightly different direction.

Why do you think Ryan was eliminated at this point? Let us know in the attached comments!

For some other news and updates pertaining to “The X Factor,” be sure to head over to the link here right now! (Photo: ITV.)