If you are more of a Strictly Come Dancing fan then you are probably jumping for joy at the news that Saturday night rival, The X Factor, has been axed after seventeen years. The singing contest aired its last episode on December 2nd, 2018 but left the impression that it would return after a short hiatus. Unfortunately, it has now been reportedly announced that Simon Cowell no longer has plans to continue the show. As a huge fan of the show myself, I was heartbroken at this news that the show that created some of my favourite stars was never coming back. However, I can’t help thinking that the show should have been axed long before now.

When I was eight years old, The X Factor was in its prime and continued to be for many years. Calling myself a huge fan is definitely an understatement. I went to every tour each year with my twelve-year-old self thinking it was cool to have The X Factor themed decor all over my bedroom. I even wrote all of the contestants’ names each year on my bedroom walls. I was certainly invested in the show. Without it, the likes of Little Mix and One Direction would never have been formed; love or hate the show, there is no denying that it changed the music industry in a way that no other talent show has ever done before (I mean… where are the winners of The Voice now? Definitely not as successful as Leona Lewis, that’s for sure.)

Where the show went wrong is pretty obvious – it tried to hold on to a good thing when it should have ended whilst its reputation was still intact. Every year saw constant changes to the judging panel and the format of the show. The intimacy of the room auditions was switched up to arena auditions and the six-chair challenge added extra pressure to the contestants. Everything that fans loved about the show was changing with it struggling to keep viewers engaged. I got to the point where I would much rather watch Strictly. We went from being able to laugh along to awful auditions with Sharon Osborne, Louis Walsh, Simon Cowell, and Nicole Scherzinger and instead were left with Robbie Williams, his wife Ayda, and Louis Tomlinson boring us all with their search to find a star. There was no personality anymore – I just wanted Louis Walsh to tell an artist that they were ‘through’ in his Irish accent. I wanted Nicole to say that everything was ‘schermazeballs.’ Even Simon went all soft on contestants and no longer was the judge everyone loved to hate.

Whilst Simon Cowell has done the right thing in ending the show to avoid it from looking like a novelty act, we must celebrate the show that brought us so many much-loved artists – both good and bad. From the utterly hilarious moments from the likes of Ablisa and Wagner, to the successes of bands such as JLS, The X Factor provided a platform that helped ordinary people make a name for themselves. This did not even have to be in the music industry either, with former contestants Stacey Solomon and Rylan Clarke-Neal going on to become daytime TV personalities.

With the ending of the show being celebrated by many, it is important to recognise how much of an impact the show has had on people’s lives. It allowed the average supermarket worker or self-employed painter to be given a life-changing opportunity, with the chance to showcase their talent that was perhaps previously limited to singing in the shower. As for our Saturday nights, there are plenty of other shows that have already started to fill The X Factor shaped void in our lives. The X Factor will never be replaceable but it is time to move on. As the show enters its TV grave, let’s finally allow it to rest in peace, however belated this may seem.

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