Judges on The X Factor need to remember their job

I admit it. I love watching talent shows like American Idol and The X Factor. But tonight, I am really upset with two of The X Factor judges who chose not to do their job.

When you are a judge of anything, whether it is show dogs, purebred cattle, figure skating, singing, or even in a court of law, there is one thing you have in common with every other judge in any other situation. You are supposed to give your unbiased opinion when deciding who wins and who loses. And you can't opt out and say, "Gee, I can't make up my mind, so I will let someone else do it for me."

Tonight (December 8, 2011) on The X Factor, two judges failed to the job they were hired to do, and as a result the person who had the best performance on this night ended up being eliminated.

The bottom two after the previous night's audience vote were L.A. Reid's protegé, Marcus Canty, and Simon Cowell's protegé, Rachel Crow. Twice previously, Marcus was in the bottom two, but was rescued by the judges after his "save-me" performance. Rachel had never been in the bottom two since the start of the competition.

Marcus sang first. As usual, he put a lot of emotion into it, but he tried too hard and went flat several times. It was a good performance, but not his best. And he was waving his right arm throughout like a one-armed paper hanger.

Rachel, who was already crying before she sang, went out there and poured all her emotion into her performance, controlling it instead of letting it control her. It was the superior performance of the two and she seemed certain to go through to the semi-final — until the judging went crazy.

L.A. Reid (mentor of the male under-30 singers) forgot that he was supposed to judge the performance, not the person. He said Crow had had an amazing performance and that it had surprised him, but he had to go with "my man Marcus". In saying that, he all but admitted that he picked Marcus over Rachel only because Marcus was his protegé, not because Marcus sang best on this night.

Simon Cowell, who had mentored the girls under 30, has been a big supporter of 13-year-old Rachel, and he voted to send Marcus home. This was no surprise. On American Idol, he has never hesitated to be critical when one of his favourites sang badly. I am sure that, if Rachel had messed up, Simon would have reluctantly voted to keep Marcus.

Paula Abdul, who had no horse in this race (she had mentored the groups, which are now all gone from the show), admitted loving both performances, but decided to send Marcus home based on what she had heard on the night. Then it was Nicole Scherzinger's turn.

Nicole, who mentored the over-30s, started crying and said she didn't want to pick. If she had abstained from voting, that would have sent Marcus home. After dithering, she opted instead to choose Rachel to leave, doing so specifically to send the vote to "deadlock". This meant that, instead of the judges choosing who would leave based on Thursday night's singing, the person with the lowest number of audience votes from the Wednesday performances would be eliminated. This way, Nicole would not have to make a decision.

The result shocked everyone. Rachel Crow, one of the most gifted singers on the show from day one, was eliminated. The young teen collapsed to the stage in tears, the entire audience erupted and Rachel's mom rushed onto the stage to comfort her daughter. The judges, all looking very shocked, went up on stage as well. When asked to comment, Nicole was sobbing and couldn't speak, and as she turned away, she was booed by the crowd.

Clearly, The X Factor has to change this system, or read the riot act to its judges. L.A. Reid should have voted based on what he heard that night, not on favouritism. Nicole Scherzinger should have made a decision instead of dithering and then deliberately forcing a deadlock.

Can you imagine what would happen if judges judged like this in real life? What if the Westminster Kennel Club Best in Show judge says, "Gee, these seven dogs are all so good, I can't decide. I want the audience to choose Best in Show because I can't do it." Or at the Olympics figure skating event: "I can't choose, so I will leave it up to the other judges." Or a law court judge: "I can't make up my mind as to whether he's guilty or innocent, so I am going to let the courtroom audience decide instead."

Not going to happen!

As for Rachel Crow, I am absolutely certain that she will go on and have a very long, very successful career. And I hope she gets a million-dollar signing bonus to make up for the wrong done to her tonight. It's one thing to not sing well enough to win. It's a whole different situation when a flaw in the system prevents you from doing so.