Well, it was never going to go any other way, was it? Nicholas McDonald might have had the Scottish vote sewn up, but Sam Bailey won over the “gosh, she actually is rather good at this whole singing thing, isn’t she?” demographic weeks ago and that’s why she, deservedly, has just been crowned the winner of X Factor 2013.
Boy, did it take a long time to get there, though; 36 years, in Sam’s case, and what felt like far, far longer for viewers of tonight’s live results show. Sam and Nicholas themselves only performed twice each tonight, and the rest of it was strictly all filler, no killer (insert joke about Brandon Flowers being on last night here). There were the multiple VTs of the finalists’ friends and family banging on about how proud they were, and some passable star guests (Katy Perry in a birdcage that was bound to be a metaphor for her failed marriage to Russell Brand, One Direction singing about an upmarket minicab company and Sir Elton John being slowly driven mad by the rotating podium that was literally and figuratively beneath him as he teamed up with Gary Barlow), but all of it was punctuated with endless recapping of the finalists’ previous performances.
As is tradition for the final – and really, only polite, given how far they’ve come – none of the judges said anything negative about the acts. Nicole Scherzinger spent most of the evening crying (now that X Factor’s over, does she have to go and sign on?), Sharon Osbourne went through every emotion that her expensive forehead will allow, Gary Barlow pretended to look sad about it being his last series and Louis Walsh wore pyjamas. Dermot O’Leary was like a particularly well-tailored hairdresser, asking One Direction what they were doing for Christmas and repeatedly calling Sam Bailey “hun”, and Caroline Flack shrieked at innocent audience members for two hours straight.
Yes, it seems that everyone is a little tired out from this year’s X Factor. It hasn’t been a classic series by any means, and the viewing figures would back this up (the lowest since 2004, apparently). The fact that Sam and Nicholas were the country’s favoured finalists – both of them distinctly middle of the road – indicates that this is no longer a show beloved by the type of people who download singles and listen to Radio 1. If it was, then Rough Copy, Hannah Barrett and Tamera Foster all would’ve lasted a little longer. Sam’s done well, and it seems wrong to begrudge her her victory when she delivered flawless performances every week, but X Factor badly needs a makeover, as it’s all starting to feel very, very dated indeed.
The winner's video!!!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/...
