If any of you watched the Xtra Factor last night, you’d have seen Simon trying to weasel his way out of responsibility for voting Lucie off. His excuse? The British Public failed to vote for her.

Well, yes, that’s true. But the British Public also failed to vote for his act, Danyl Johnson in an earlier week.

Although Cowell has grumped about John and Edward since the start of the live shows, he failed to kick them out of the competition last night. Not only did he fail to eliminate the duo, he technically voted to save them.

“How?” I hear you ask. Well, in order to go to the public vote, the judges decision must be split. Since Cheryl and Dannii voted to save Lucie, Louis voted to save his own act. The only way the decision could have been referred to the public vote was if Simon voted for John and Edward. And while he didn’t give them a ringing endorsement, he still allowed the public vote to take precedence. He had the power to save Lucie, but chose to wash his hands of a decision.

Why?

It’s not because John and Edward are earning a fortune in phone votes. Clearly they were in the bottom two last week, so the phone revenue isn’t the answer. Maybe it’s because Jedward have generated more column inches for X Factor this year than any other act (except perhaps Danyl)?

In the last two weeks, Lucie Jones improved dramatically. In our chart for Week 5, we rated Lucie among the best of the night, leapfrogging the other remaining female, Stacey Solomon. She was showing far more confidence than the first three weeks, singing songs suited to her age and being styled beautifully. In short, Lucie was emerging as a serious contender in this competition. Why would Simon Cowell save her when she might be a threat to his acts in the finals? John and Edward aren’t a serious threat, but handy to have around to destabilise the votes.

Also, for some reason that I can’t quite put my finger on, I reckon Simon didn’t want to take away Louis Walsh’s only remaining act.

Cowell Credibility Fail

The end result is a credibility fail for Simon Cowell. And I don’t say that lightly, he’s always been something of a hero to me. That sounds sycophantic, but the next paragraph won’t. (And isn’t it interesting that Simon’s company is called Syco, the first four letters of sycophant?)

We’ve seen it coming for a while now – Simon’s refusal to say anything negative about his own acts, even in the face of terrible performances. Once upon a time, Cowell used to be the voice of reason, delivering the harsh truth about a performer at every stage of the competition. These days, it’s clear that vested interests are guiding his comments, and now it looks very much like tactical voting is becoming part of his game plan as well.

Aside from the considerably lower standard of talent this year, the bickering, stupidity and sensationalism are reducing X Factor to the word I’ve heard uttered most by former fans in the last 24 hours – a farce.