X Factorhas always been somewhat of a pantomime, to call it a serious talent contestant would be doing a disservice to the likes of Jedward, Wagner, Chico, Johnny Robinson, Same Difference and Goldie Cheung who all earned their screen time by being loud, outrageous, 'joke' contestants.
Therefore, many were shocked when Gary Barlow OBE, the frontman of Take That who has built a respected reputation in the music industry for his song-writing, joined the much-criticised reality show.
The six-time recipient of the Ivor Novello Award has sold over 45 million records worldwide with Take That and certainly didn't need to revive a flagging a career or earn more cash, like some stars who get involved with such shows.
Barlow reportedly signed up to be a judge on Simon Cowell's often cruel TV show in the hope of "nurturing genuine talent."
So it came as somewhat of a slap in the face when one of his acts, Carolynne Poole, was sent home from the competition instead of Rylan Clark (this year's 'entertainment').
On Sunday, viewers saw Barlow walk off the show in outrage (although even this admittedly seemed staged) and now the judge has reportedly thretened to quit if a similar shambles to Sunday’s deadlock drama ever happens again.
The head judge is said to want to “put a stop to tricks” and end “pantomime” on the show.
An X Factor source told the newspaper: “Gary is fiercely proud of his reputation and signed up for the show because he wanted to nurture genuine talent. The reason he wanted to be on it was to put a stop to these tricks and to stop insulting the artists and viewers."
Show producer Richard Holloway has denied that Sunday's deadlock was a fix after viewers saw him whispering in Louis' ear during Carolynne's performance, he said: "We don't tell the judges how to vote and as you saw on the show Louis hadn't - and couldn't - make up his mind so he decided that sending it to the public vote was the fairest thing to do."
And an X Factor spokeswoman also said: "Carolynne had the least amount of public votes so the public's choice to stay in the show was Rylan.
"Producers always chat to judges during the show."
Read a sample of the outraged reactions about Louis' decision below...
X Factor Twitter Reactions
Who’s your bet to win this series? Finalists below…
