To wonder why Katie on X Factor is experiencing such bullying?

[NonnoMum]

Now, I enjoy a bit of trash TV (X Factor etc) but not so much as to ever bother being ripped off phoning in to vote for one contestant over another.

Those of us who don't get our knickers in a twist about Talent Shows/Reality TV/programmes with merchandise tie-ins, wonder why a young woman may be receiving death threats over the fact that she received more votes than a young man...

Is this just extreme bullying? After all, talent can't be quantified.

(Please note, I'm not starting a debate about how lovely/talented one candidate is over another, but about how extreme the reaction is to said candidate's survival...

I don't think people who watch it are thick tbh, I watched the one with Will Young, have lost interest in most reality shows since. My family watch them a lot, strictly/x factor etc.

I couldn't be arsed really, you can see how easily they are manipulated/biased. I don't think people who watch them are thick, but they are complicit in the blatant propoganda/favouritism.

But then again I have no interest in celeb stuff so I'm probably missing something.

In fact, to answer the OP, I think the reason that Katie is getting so much flak is precisely because of the level of cynicism- of Cowell who bought her out of a recording contract and knew she had already had a personal audience with the head of Sony in New York, thus breaking the rules of non-professionals only being eligible. And of Katie herself, who has been smarming all over any lowly celebrity in an attempt to advance herself. She is doing her best to manipulate the press too to gain sympathy: the banana skin thrown at her (apparently) was "terrifying" because "it could have been a fire extinguisher". Er yes, and the leaf that blew in my eye today might have been an office chair...she is a drama queen, and not that likeable as a result.

And as for the 'dumbing down of light entertainment', well in my youth Saturday nights were filled with shows like The Black And White Minstrel Show and The Price Is Right. Which golden era are we meant to be harking back to exactly?

. obviously.

Well, to be fair I don't know anyone that holds the X factor up as the pinnacle of British entertainment. As much as it tries to look like a well polished, drama filled "search for talent", the visible cracks in this façade is what makes it so watchable.

I mean this year we've already had Gamu making Cheryl look like a heartless bitch for sending her back to Zim, Katie's amazing knack for making almost everyone dislike her, and er, Wagner.

Added to the heartfelt snippet each singer does at the start of their performance "This week someone dropped a crisp packet into my Nan's front garden. This one is for you, Nan.". And the piece where we get to see how becoming FAMOUS is changing their lives. Because they've always wanted to be FAMOUS. Being FAMOUS will change their lives.

The key to the X Factor is seeing it as a bit of escapism on a Saturday night. And to be honest I'd rather watch Simon Cowell playing the Panto villain than have to watch a 2010 re-interpretation of the Generation Game.

You need to read Chart Throb.

'Our Graham' or Mr Blobby anyone?

Saturday night telly has always been braindead fluff, that's why it's called light entertainment.

Anyone wanting to rail against dumbing down needs to look at the slop that passes as documentaries/investigative journalism now.

Hard to believe that ITV prime time used feature programmes of the calibre of World in Action.

it is bullying and it stinks.

probably because she's a bit of a posh knob.

who gives a shit though? so she's a posh knob... they're ten a fucking penny. doesn't mean she should be boo-ed and vilified.

her voice is ok. not great but not bad. quite a nice huskiness about it. the worst thing she has done is pander to the baying mobs who don't like her. she'd do better to amp up the posh knobbishness, get those plastic hats back on and fuck the lot of them.

She's a nice Jewish girl from Pinner. Leave her alone!

Er - is Katie posh? - must've passed me by - just find her a bit of a jumped-up dimwit myself and not particularly talented! As for the X-Factor - agreed it's not meant to be anything more than Saturday night family fun. We have great fun watching it with our teenage children (although I don't think I'd bother by myself). I can't understand the people who take it all so seriously. Yes it's dumb - but there's room for BBC4 history and the X-Factor in my life!!

don't think she's posh

but she is a drama queen

I like her though

I think she's totally unlikeable.

Inflated idea of her talent. Fake, insincere, horribly pushy and gives off a very bad vibe.

I don't generally like reality TV but I do watch the X factor - the singing bits anyway, I fast forward through all the video diaries and judges comments and endless audience screaming. I like hearing people sing and I like passing judgment on the performances.

I think death threats are way over the top, but I can see why Katie isn't much liked. She comes across as a spoiled princess type who messes up her audition(s), but then just cries a little bit and bats her eyelashes and so makes it through at the expense of better candidates.

What I don't get is that she is being persecuted for the actions of the XFactor production team - from the supposed buying her out of her contract in the US to Cheryl refusing to vote to Aiden being lowest in the public vote. She is just doing what any fame hungry person (and, really, what's so wrong with that?) would in her position and riding it for as long as she can.

As far as I'm concerned, I like her voice and is a far better singer than some still in the competition. She wont win, so I really don't know why you are all getting your knickers in a twist about it!

Thank you Lorelille (and others)... That's kind of what I thought...

So, we'll let them all be, get the take aways in, and look forward to next Saturday...

(I won't be buying any tabloids though - can't they just report on the news, rather than a TV programme??)