Madeline wrote:
I have just posted the voting stats Christine and you can see Christopher was in the lead for weeks and weeks - must be why Cowell started the nasty spin against him. Gary's smirking at Cowell's job well done tactic is despicable.
Actually it doesn't look to me as though Gary is smirking. I think he really did care for Christopher. Yes, I had read that Christopher was topping the votes each week, but to be honest, I think that Cowell spinning against him only made people vote for him all the more. The only reason that Chris stopped topping the votes, was not because Cowell was spinning against him, but because James Arthur and Ella (two good ones) ended up in the bottom two. After that, James topped the votes every week. I think that is because people (like me) really liked James but didn't bother to vote. However, when he ended up in the bottom two, we realised that we should vote. That was when I started voting for him and I imagine lots of other people did the same. I also think that gave James a jolt and he seemed to be even better than before after that. So in my opinion, the reason Chris stopped topping the votes was not due to the spin against him (which I actually think spurred people on more to vote for him, as happened with Rylan) but because loads of people who hadn't been voting, started to vote for James to avoid him being in the bottom 2 again.
I had liked James from the start and was gutted when he was in the bottom 2 with Ella of all people. It was very touch and go and although I liked Ella (she should have been in the top 3), I was really glad that James stayed as I liked him slightly better. At least Ella can say that she was knocked out by the eventual winner, but she should really have been second in my opinion, with Jahmene 3rd.
Whatever way you look at it Christine Cowell did a job on Christopher - he wanted the two finalists he got so he had to get shut down the support Christopher was getting - viewer's of reality shows want to take the manipulation of the shows away from the powers that be and the sooner they achieve their goal the better quality reality TV we will get.
I think it was mostly older people who were voting for him, just because of his good voice and because he was singing songs from their era, so they liked them, without looking at the bigger picture. I have always been a fan of those who are slightly different e.g. Diana Vickers, Cher Lloyd etc. James is also very talented in that he can sing, play the guitar and write songs. I fail to see what Simon could have done with Chris if he had won. After James had been in the bottom 2, I heard LOADS of people saying they wanted him to win, so that is why the votes changed - people started to vote for him. All the celebrities who came on the show (even at the beginning when there were lots of contestants to choose from) when asked who they wanted to win, said James, so I don't think it was fixed at all.