The X Factor 4
When I started contriving this ranking in my head a few days ago I admit that I was still rather unsure over the final placings of many of those within the poll, however when it came to the contestant that would be last there was really only one choice, as Leon is arguably not only the worst winner in TXF history but also arguably one of the worst in the history of British Reality Shows, and based on his performances and persona it is easy to see why; dreadfully dull whilst at the same time lacking a real quality in his performances to make up for it. The fact that he is also arguably responsible for one of the biggest robbages in Reality TV history is another black mark to add alongside him.
For me any great Reality TV winner has to be one of two things, or preferably both. The first is to simply be an entertaining presence in the show, this is television after all and we certainly can't expect to be educated and informed on TV shows such as this, whilst the second is to simply be so impressive in your competition environment that it helps to compensate for any shortcomings you may have in the personality department (as another contestant in this list does). When it comes to Leon however neither of these characteristics can really be implied, first off the guy was incredibly dull in terms of personality and in his off stage persona, part of this I admit is down to the format of the show not allowing for it's performers to showcase personality traits in detail but that hasn't stopped others in the past from being able to do the same thing so I have to put Leon at fault for that. In terms of performance as well Leon is far below par, vocally he wasn't very strong and his song choices often consisted of Michael Buble style dreary ballads which came across as monotonous and dull, and when he did attempt to break away from this style his shortcomings as a singer were exposed, most noticable in a shambolic week one performance of 'Can't Buy Me Love' which arguably should have seen him shown the door at the first opportunity.
The other flaws with Leon weren't of his making, but they do affect his perception of him as a winner, after two years of slow build TXF finally broke out as a hit show with it's third series, and a big prominent and exciting winner was needed to capitalise on the hype that surrounded season 4, something which Leon's win certainly didn't do, whilst the other factor was simply who he beat in the final, Rhydian Roberts was for me a rare achievement in the world of competition reality shows, a novelty act that was able to back up his fun and showmanship with fantastic vocal skill and ability as well as having a massive stage persona which managed to endear him to the viewer, and for Leon to triumph over him in spite of very little skill and redeeming qualities on his own part left a lot of viewers with a sour taste in their mouths. I can defend Leon by saying that he was a nice kid who meant well but being nice is not enough to justify winning a reality show, especially a competition show such as this. Vocally weak and lacking much personality, Leon was a lock to be my least favourite X Factor winner.
8) Steve Brookstein
The X Factor 1
When it comes to assessing Steve as a winner of The X Factor I feel like I have to give him some kind of leeway when it comes to judging him, he was after all a contestant in the first series and as a result not only had the show's format been fully perfected but he was also in a field which was rather weak, but it does not for me hide the fact that Steve was still a very poor winner, even for the time of his victory in 2004, lacking in vocal strength, rather dull to watch and listen too and with the feeling overall of being more of a Butlins cabaret act then a credible musician, his status as the first winner and some of his personality traits do redeem him somewhat and save him from last place, but he was still very poor and another black mark in terms of X Factor winners.
There is certainly enough ammunition to justify this low placing for Steve. In terms of his vocal skills Steve was an incredibly weak performer to the extent that I would even consider him to be worst then Leon, with a singing voice more akin to a local pub singer then music's next supposed superstar, this was not helped either by his rather poor stage persona and song choices which consisted of dreary ballads which alternated between being either dull or incredibly cheesy to watch, and when compared to more contemporary and entertaining acts from that series such as Rowetta or Tabby Callaghan it made his entire persona feel incredibly dated. As well as this Steve is also falls victim to the same faults as Leon in being perceived as robbing a far superior act in the finale of the series, in this case in the form of G4, whilst it is quite popular these days to rather dismiss the genre of popera as a rather naff haven of hormonal housewives you have to remember that at the time the genre was very niche and not yet exposed to mainstream audiences, and as a result G4 came across as something unique and quirky as well as solid vocally, and their win would have in my opinion offered the franchise the unique, extra-special winner that the show was marketed to try and find, rather then the cheesy balladry of Steve which has in many ways become the template for any winner of the show.
Where Steve does redeem himself however comes in the form of his personality, as unlike Leon he actually had one which showed itself during the show. Whilst recent series of The X Factor have seen it's contestants become increasingly inoffensive, soulless and almost puppet-like in their behaviour within the show Steve was refreshingly blunt and vocal about any criticism given to him and not afraid to voice his own opinion at times, something which he continues to do about the show to this day, as well as this he also gave the impression of being someone who was disliked by the judges and producers and somebody who they actively attempted to root against, which in many ways made him the first X Factor protest vote as well as the only arguably X Factor protest vote to win the whole thing. As well as this I also have a soft spot for Steve's win due to the fact that a show such as The X Factor which was so heavily youth orientated could be won by somebody who was middle aged for once, but by this point I am really pushing it to find positives about a winner which simply didn't have the qualities to be a winner of a show like this, and his return to a pub and club singer should honestly come as no surprise.
The X Factor 1
When it comes to assessing Steve as a winner of The X Factor I feel like I have to give him some kind of leeway when it comes to judging him, he was after all a contestant in the first series and as a result not only had the show's format been fully perfected but he was also in a field which was rather weak, but it does not for me hide the fact that Steve was still a very poor winner, even for the time of his victory in 2004, lacking in vocal strength, rather dull to watch and listen too and with the feeling overall of being more of a Butlins cabaret act then a credible musician, his status as the first winner and some of his personality traits do redeem him somewhat and save him from last place, but he was still very poor and another black mark in terms of X Factor winners.
There is certainly enough ammunition to justify this low placing for Steve. In terms of his vocal skills Steve was an incredibly weak performer to the extent that I would even consider him to be worst then Leon, with a singing voice more akin to a local pub singer then music's next supposed superstar, this was not helped either by his rather poor stage persona and song choices which consisted of dreary ballads which alternated between being either dull or incredibly cheesy to watch, and when compared to more contemporary and entertaining acts from that series such as Rowetta or Tabby Callaghan it made his entire persona feel incredibly dated. As well as this Steve is also falls victim to the same faults as Leon in being perceived as robbing a far superior act in the finale of the series, in this case in the form of G4, whilst it is quite popular these days to rather dismiss the genre of popera as a rather naff haven of hormonal housewives you have to remember that at the time the genre was very niche and not yet exposed to mainstream audiences, and as a result G4 came across as something unique and quirky as well as solid vocally, and their win would have in my opinion offered the franchise the unique, extra-special winner that the show was marketed to try and find, rather then the cheesy balladry of Steve which has in many ways become the template for any winner of the show.
Where Steve does redeem himself however comes in the form of his personality, as unlike Leon he actually had one which showed itself during the show. Whilst recent series of The X Factor have seen it's contestants become increasingly inoffensive, soulless and almost puppet-like in their behaviour within the show Steve was refreshingly blunt and vocal about any criticism given to him and not afraid to voice his own opinion at times, something which he continues to do about the show to this day, as well as this he also gave the impression of being someone who was disliked by the judges and producers and somebody who they actively attempted to root against, which in many ways made him the first X Factor protest vote as well as the only arguably X Factor protest vote to win the whole thing. As well as this I also have a soft spot for Steve's win due to the fact that a show such as The X Factor which was so heavily youth orientated could be won by somebody who was middle aged for once, but by this point I am really pushing it to find positives about a winner which simply didn't have the qualities to be a winner of a show like this, and his return to a pub and club singer should honestly come as no surprise.
7) James Arthur
The X Factor 9
Now I fully expect to get some grief for my decision to eliminate James this early in my ranking, but I've always had issues with James as a contestant in the show and as an eventual winner, albeit for different reasons then the grievances I have with the X Factor's other successes, namely in his persona as a character within the show and some of the production influences that helped to bring about his eventual victory. I will confess that it was close between him and two others for this position, but it was that lack of likability that pushed James below the other two.
Most of the time when I'm judging contestants on a talent based show such as this my mine focus on judgment is around technical ability and skill in the show's genre (in this case singing), yet in the case of James I feel like a lot of this gets overshadowed simply by how unlikable I found the guy, James certainly wasn't offensively awful in the way that someone like a Conor McIntyre or a Russell Hantz was but I felt with him there was this underlying negative side to him which made him come across as rather big headed and self confident in a way which wasn't endearing as a viewer, not helping the matter either was the fact that the guy was also away from the stage dreary and a bit of a misery guts, which once again helped to hinder any attempt for me to root for him as well as many others during the majority of the season. It was a shame that these personal traits were such a dampener of James because as a performer I have to say he was quite good and certainly a darn sight better then compared to the likes of Steve and Leon, and some of his performances I can hold as particular standouts such as his version of Let's Get It On which arguably acted as his breakout moment, yes he still lacked the quality to be worthy of the 'music's next superstar' tag that the show warrants it's winners but he was good and by the time of the final 4 probably the strongest singer remaining in the competition. Another factor however that I feel harms James as a winner however was somewhat of an artificialness that came with his victory and the production influence that came with that. James' fan base during the early weeks had been solid but not enough to make him a front runner in the votes, yet during the controversial final 5 week which saw Ella eliminated production resorted to basically berating and slagging off the public for allowing James' near elimination to happen and as a result saw an upsurge in James' votes which would never have happened if not for the producers' influence, yes it denied us the horror of an inevitable Christopher Maloney win but it does taint James' win somewhat. James was solid enough as a performer, probably leaning on the above average, but the negative traits of his are just too much for me to ever warm to him and the reason why he's this low down in my ranking.
The X Factor 9
Now I fully expect to get some grief for my decision to eliminate James this early in my ranking, but I've always had issues with James as a contestant in the show and as an eventual winner, albeit for different reasons then the grievances I have with the X Factor's other successes, namely in his persona as a character within the show and some of the production influences that helped to bring about his eventual victory. I will confess that it was close between him and two others for this position, but it was that lack of likability that pushed James below the other two.
Most of the time when I'm judging contestants on a talent based show such as this my mine focus on judgment is around technical ability and skill in the show's genre (in this case singing), yet in the case of James I feel like a lot of this gets overshadowed simply by how unlikable I found the guy, James certainly wasn't offensively awful in the way that someone like a Conor McIntyre or a Russell Hantz was but I felt with him there was this underlying negative side to him which made him come across as rather big headed and self confident in a way which wasn't endearing as a viewer, not helping the matter either was the fact that the guy was also away from the stage dreary and a bit of a misery guts, which once again helped to hinder any attempt for me to root for him as well as many others during the majority of the season. It was a shame that these personal traits were such a dampener of James because as a performer I have to say he was quite good and certainly a darn sight better then compared to the likes of Steve and Leon, and some of his performances I can hold as particular standouts such as his version of Let's Get It On which arguably acted as his breakout moment, yes he still lacked the quality to be worthy of the 'music's next superstar' tag that the show warrants it's winners but he was good and by the time of the final 4 probably the strongest singer remaining in the competition. Another factor however that I feel harms James as a winner however was somewhat of an artificialness that came with his victory and the production influence that came with that. James' fan base during the early weeks had been solid but not enough to make him a front runner in the votes, yet during the controversial final 5 week which saw Ella eliminated production resorted to basically berating and slagging off the public for allowing James' near elimination to happen and as a result saw an upsurge in James' votes which would never have happened if not for the producers' influence, yes it denied us the horror of an inevitable Christopher Maloney win but it does taint James' win somewhat. James was solid enough as a performer, probably leaning on the above average, but the negative traits of his are just too much for me to ever warm to him and the reason why he's this low down in my ranking.
6) Matt Cardle
The X Factor 7
Once again it is another rather dull MOR male which has seen himself eliminated in this ranking. I have to admit that the approach that I have taken in this writeup on Matt has had to change a bit based on the criticism and backlash that he seemed to have gotten from the rest of Sucks as a winner, something which has in all honesty rather taken me by surprise. Whilst I don't stand by some of the views expressed by Matt that he was this almost spawn of satan figure that some like to paint him as I will confess that he was rather dull and at time big-headed about his abilities, but still a singer who was very solid and not deserving of being placed with the dreggs of Leon or Steve, for me him placing as the middle contestant in the 'OK but flawed' category of winners feels particularly apt for him in my opinion.
Let us first begin however by addressing some of the issues with Matt and understand why there is such a poor perception of him as a winner, firstly beginning with his stage persona and personality. For a lot of people including myself Matt suffered from similar issues which thrawted James as a winner, namely in a lack of likability and warmth as a performer, as well as at times coming across as big headed and overconfident in how good he actually was as a singer, whilst he was strong, which we'll get to later, he certainly wasn't anything special even by X Factor standards, as well as this I was often left with the impression that Matt was at times rather too joyless and overly serious about the whole experience to ever truly warm to, although it does present itself otherwise The X Factor is at it's centre light-hearted Saturday night entertainment and yet Matt treated the whole thing as a humourless gamebot who appeared to look down on anyone who dared to treat the show with fun, something which was demonstrated with his attacks on the brilliant novelty act Wagner calling for his ejection from the show, and when compared with the warmth of other acts from that series, be it Rebecca, Mary or Wagner himself Matt is left looking both dull and cold as a contestant. However what redeems Matt for me as a winner was him as a performer, as Matt was in my opinion very strong and certainly one of the best of series 7 purely from a stage point of view, showing a great deal of diversity, good technical skills and a decent vocal to go with it, if at times a bit whiny for his role in the show of moody indie pop rocker, a role in which he did IMO far better then James in comparison. I also feel that compared to James Matt also stands in better regard with me because of the quality of his opposition during his series, whilst James was saddled with the status of only winning because of being the best of a bad bunch by it's end Matt pretty much dominated series 7 and did so against one of the strongest fields in the recent history of the show, beating the likes of Rebecca and One Direction, likable acts such as Wagner and Mary and producer pets Katie and Cher, and yet in spite of this I was never left feeling that Matt had robbed any of those of the win, yes he certainly wasn't my favourite contestant that series, but I didn't resent him in the way that I did with Leon beating Rhydian or G4 losing to Steve. Being someone who Cowell was rooting against also works in his favour. I am certainly not a Matt supporter (his version of Many Of Horror is enough to confirm why), but neither do I feel he deserves the grief some have given him here, and that's why he's my number 6.
The X Factor 7
Once again it is another rather dull MOR male which has seen himself eliminated in this ranking. I have to admit that the approach that I have taken in this writeup on Matt has had to change a bit based on the criticism and backlash that he seemed to have gotten from the rest of Sucks as a winner, something which has in all honesty rather taken me by surprise. Whilst I don't stand by some of the views expressed by Matt that he was this almost spawn of satan figure that some like to paint him as I will confess that he was rather dull and at time big-headed about his abilities, but still a singer who was very solid and not deserving of being placed with the dreggs of Leon or Steve, for me him placing as the middle contestant in the 'OK but flawed' category of winners feels particularly apt for him in my opinion.
Let us first begin however by addressing some of the issues with Matt and understand why there is such a poor perception of him as a winner, firstly beginning with his stage persona and personality. For a lot of people including myself Matt suffered from similar issues which thrawted James as a winner, namely in a lack of likability and warmth as a performer, as well as at times coming across as big headed and overconfident in how good he actually was as a singer, whilst he was strong, which we'll get to later, he certainly wasn't anything special even by X Factor standards, as well as this I was often left with the impression that Matt was at times rather too joyless and overly serious about the whole experience to ever truly warm to, although it does present itself otherwise The X Factor is at it's centre light-hearted Saturday night entertainment and yet Matt treated the whole thing as a humourless gamebot who appeared to look down on anyone who dared to treat the show with fun, something which was demonstrated with his attacks on the brilliant novelty act Wagner calling for his ejection from the show, and when compared with the warmth of other acts from that series, be it Rebecca, Mary or Wagner himself Matt is left looking both dull and cold as a contestant. However what redeems Matt for me as a winner was him as a performer, as Matt was in my opinion very strong and certainly one of the best of series 7 purely from a stage point of view, showing a great deal of diversity, good technical skills and a decent vocal to go with it, if at times a bit whiny for his role in the show of moody indie pop rocker, a role in which he did IMO far better then James in comparison. I also feel that compared to James Matt also stands in better regard with me because of the quality of his opposition during his series, whilst James was saddled with the status of only winning because of being the best of a bad bunch by it's end Matt pretty much dominated series 7 and did so against one of the strongest fields in the recent history of the show, beating the likes of Rebecca and One Direction, likable acts such as Wagner and Mary and producer pets Katie and Cher, and yet in spite of this I was never left feeling that Matt had robbed any of those of the win, yes he certainly wasn't my favourite contestant that series, but I didn't resent him in the way that I did with Leon beating Rhydian or G4 losing to Steve. Being someone who Cowell was rooting against also works in his favour. I am certainly not a Matt supporter (his version of Many Of Horror is enough to confirm why), but neither do I feel he deserves the grief some have given him here, and that's why he's my number 6.
5) Joe McElderry
The X Factor 6
And with this elimination comes the final of the three winners which I was continually chopping and changing up until the last minute. When putting this ranking together initially I had Joe in seventh place behind both Matt and James in this ranking, but as I begun to think about it more I realised that I had overlooked many of the positives aspects about Joe as a contestant and that in hindsight I was arguably quite harsh about him as a contestant initially and that especially as a performer there were some considerable positives. He still isn't what I would consider a great winner by any means (and this writeup will explain why) but I respected and understood why he did win and don't hold him back for it in the way I would someone like Leon or Steve.
Let us begin however by stating the major considerable positive trait when it comes to Joe as a winner, namely in his technical ability as a singer. Watch any of Joe's performances during the live show's of the series and you will find that the guy was nearly always pitch perfect during any of his shows, yes his song choices and vocal strength were maybe lacking somewhat and certainly not to my tastes but considering the tools that he had to work with he made full use of them and really showed his skills and professionalism, I'd probably go as far to say from purely a technical point of view Joe is arguably one of the best TXF winners ever, added to this he was also quite a decent guy who seemed polite and pleasant enough, which was one of the main reasons why he ended up ahead of Matt and James in this ranking. Unfortunately for Joe though the positives ended there, and his high technical skill ended up masking a number of flaws with him as a winner which stop him from entering my positive side of this ranking. Quite simply for a show such as The X Factor which sells itself on finding performers with that extra something that makes them special Joe was just simply too bland both as a performer and as a personality to ever have the so called X Factor. His song choices were incredibly dull and cliched and often resorted to churning out the same overplayed ballads you hear on any MOR radio station, whilst attempts to try and go in a more contemporary direction (as shown in the farcical attempt to use him to cash in on the High School Musical market with his version of 'Ambitions') ended up falling flat on their face.Whilst as a personality Joe came across at times as almost robotic, soulless and little more then a yes man to Cowell's regime, this not being helped by any means by the inclusion of Jedward, Olly Murs and Stacey Solomon in that series, all three of which oozed charisma and showed up Joe's charismatic shortcomings plenty-fold, sure he was a nice kid, but in a similar vein to Sam Evans being nice is nothing if you can't bring anything else to go with it. The main question that comes with Joe's win is can one very significant positive trait be enough to nulify many negative traits, and the answer IMO is somewhere in the middle, Joe was great technically, but he was never a pop star and quite simply didn't have The X Factor which the show looks for, his current career as a stage performer is far more apt for a singer of his type.
The X Factor 6
And with this elimination comes the final of the three winners which I was continually chopping and changing up until the last minute. When putting this ranking together initially I had Joe in seventh place behind both Matt and James in this ranking, but as I begun to think about it more I realised that I had overlooked many of the positives aspects about Joe as a contestant and that in hindsight I was arguably quite harsh about him as a contestant initially and that especially as a performer there were some considerable positives. He still isn't what I would consider a great winner by any means (and this writeup will explain why) but I respected and understood why he did win and don't hold him back for it in the way I would someone like Leon or Steve.
Let us begin however by stating the major considerable positive trait when it comes to Joe as a winner, namely in his technical ability as a singer. Watch any of Joe's performances during the live show's of the series and you will find that the guy was nearly always pitch perfect during any of his shows, yes his song choices and vocal strength were maybe lacking somewhat and certainly not to my tastes but considering the tools that he had to work with he made full use of them and really showed his skills and professionalism, I'd probably go as far to say from purely a technical point of view Joe is arguably one of the best TXF winners ever, added to this he was also quite a decent guy who seemed polite and pleasant enough, which was one of the main reasons why he ended up ahead of Matt and James in this ranking. Unfortunately for Joe though the positives ended there, and his high technical skill ended up masking a number of flaws with him as a winner which stop him from entering my positive side of this ranking. Quite simply for a show such as The X Factor which sells itself on finding performers with that extra something that makes them special Joe was just simply too bland both as a performer and as a personality to ever have the so called X Factor. His song choices were incredibly dull and cliched and often resorted to churning out the same overplayed ballads you hear on any MOR radio station, whilst attempts to try and go in a more contemporary direction (as shown in the farcical attempt to use him to cash in on the High School Musical market with his version of 'Ambitions') ended up falling flat on their face.Whilst as a personality Joe came across at times as almost robotic, soulless and little more then a yes man to Cowell's regime, this not being helped by any means by the inclusion of Jedward, Olly Murs and Stacey Solomon in that series, all three of which oozed charisma and showed up Joe's charismatic shortcomings plenty-fold, sure he was a nice kid, but in a similar vein to Sam Evans being nice is nothing if you can't bring anything else to go with it. The main question that comes with Joe's win is can one very significant positive trait be enough to nulify many negative traits, and the answer IMO is somewhere in the middle, Joe was great technically, but he was never a pop star and quite simply didn't have The X Factor which the show looks for, his current career as a stage performer is far more apt for a singer of his type.
4) Little Mix
The X Factor 8
The X Factor 8
Little Mix
are a bit of a strange one to judge for me as winners, they came during
a rather strange era of transition for the franchise which I feel the
show has not yet truly got out of and arguably fell victim to a weak
series which aided their win, but I feel that far more positive traits
surpass the negatives associated with the girls, they were quite strong
singers which showed great progress during their time together, they
were pleasant enough as a foursome and also did so much in showing that
anyone could win the show, especially when you bare in mind the
perception of girl groups in the X Factor up until that point.
Let me begin however from stating that The X Factor 8 has a good claim of being one of the worst series of the show so far from a production point of view, from chosen novelty act Goldie leaving the process even before the live shows, four acts leaving the show in the first week which isolated more fans then it did win them, the decision to keep Frankie Cocozza around backfiring on production when news of his off-show antics emerged and the potential farce of Amelia Lily winning the whole show in spite of having previously been voted out. Baring all of these in mind the show desperately needed a winner which didn't necessarily need to be the best singer, but more then anything a good feelgood story which would gloss over the series' faults and show that all of these production issues were all worth it, and that is in my opinion what Little Mix proved to be. You have to remember that prior to Little Mix girl groups in the X Factor (particularly those which had been manufactured) had often been restricted to early week fodder to be disposed of in the early weeks, with the farcically overpushed Hope being the only exception up until this time, and for Little Mix to exceed all of these expectations and not only make it to the end but win the whole thing was a great underdog story that is rather overlooked. And looking at the girls from a musical and performance point of view it isn't hard to see why they proved so much more popular then their girlgroup peers, they weren't as overtly sexualised in a way that wasn't isolating the core demographics of the voting audience and allowed for their positive personalities to shine through during their shows, coming across more then anything in their on and off screen personas as humble and appreciative about their whole experience, I also felt that of all of the winners Little Mix were the act that in my opinion most grew as performers throughout the live shows, in the early weeks they were certainly solid but nothing special admittedly and yet by the time of the final had grown into a professional troupe that had felt like they had been performing for years. In terms of weaknesses for the girls the argument could certainly be made that their win was somewhat by default, series 8 as mentioned was a bit of a mess in terms of production and the final cast was also rather tedious, Marcus Collins felt like nothing more then a weaker Joe McElderry whilst Amelia winning as mentioned would have been a severely tainted premise, so the suggestion might be that Little Mix benefited from a weak series, but I am willing to give the girls the benefit of the doubt in this regard, the show had been wanting a group win for a long time, and I'm glad it went to a set of very pleasant and decent enough girls.
Let me begin however from stating that The X Factor 8 has a good claim of being one of the worst series of the show so far from a production point of view, from chosen novelty act Goldie leaving the process even before the live shows, four acts leaving the show in the first week which isolated more fans then it did win them, the decision to keep Frankie Cocozza around backfiring on production when news of his off-show antics emerged and the potential farce of Amelia Lily winning the whole show in spite of having previously been voted out. Baring all of these in mind the show desperately needed a winner which didn't necessarily need to be the best singer, but more then anything a good feelgood story which would gloss over the series' faults and show that all of these production issues were all worth it, and that is in my opinion what Little Mix proved to be. You have to remember that prior to Little Mix girl groups in the X Factor (particularly those which had been manufactured) had often been restricted to early week fodder to be disposed of in the early weeks, with the farcically overpushed Hope being the only exception up until this time, and for Little Mix to exceed all of these expectations and not only make it to the end but win the whole thing was a great underdog story that is rather overlooked. And looking at the girls from a musical and performance point of view it isn't hard to see why they proved so much more popular then their girlgroup peers, they weren't as overtly sexualised in a way that wasn't isolating the core demographics of the voting audience and allowed for their positive personalities to shine through during their shows, coming across more then anything in their on and off screen personas as humble and appreciative about their whole experience, I also felt that of all of the winners Little Mix were the act that in my opinion most grew as performers throughout the live shows, in the early weeks they were certainly solid but nothing special admittedly and yet by the time of the final had grown into a professional troupe that had felt like they had been performing for years. In terms of weaknesses for the girls the argument could certainly be made that their win was somewhat by default, series 8 as mentioned was a bit of a mess in terms of production and the final cast was also rather tedious, Marcus Collins felt like nothing more then a weaker Joe McElderry whilst Amelia winning as mentioned would have been a severely tainted premise, so the suggestion might be that Little Mix benefited from a weak series, but I am willing to give the girls the benefit of the doubt in this regard, the show had been wanting a group win for a long time, and I'm glad it went to a set of very pleasant and decent enough girls.
3) Shayne Ward
The X Factor 2
On paper Shayne should be somebody who I dislike as a winner of the show; another example of the horribly drawn out and tedious MOR balladeer who manages to win over both the housewives and teens, all accompanied by a persona which was never that exciting or rootable, especially when compared to those that he was competing with in that series, yet when all of his character attributes are put together the end product isn't the disaster that you would expect, far from it in fact as what we got instead was a solid all rounder who was able to show the flashes of pure brilliance that made you think that there was a possibility he could have made it as a marketable pop star.
Let us first begin with Shayne as a technical performer, and in many ways he was very similar to Joe McElderry in being someone who more noted for strong technical skill as opposed to outright vocal strength, in the process hiding what was at times a whiny vocal with near pitch perfect accuracy, where the two differ however was in the type of work which Shayne performed compared to Joe, whilst Joe got locked in a sea of mummy pleasing ballads Shayne was much more diverse and able to show his skill in very different scenarios, being pitch perfect on a ballad is hard enough, but to do it on a complex, upbeat number takes real skill, and Shayne in my opinion showed this, the standout example being a version of 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love' which could have been an absolute disaster but passable down to Shayne's skill as a singer, and the moment for me which told me that he was going to win. In terms of persona Shayne was also fairly decent, nothing to write home about in terms of charisma but pleasant enough and lacking the arrogance and self entitlement of the likes of Matt or James. Shayne also is in good standing for me as a winner due to his status as a winner in regards to the X Factor franchise and the competitors he beat in his series, whilst series 1 was all about the show trying to find it's feet TXF2 was the breakout series that started to win over the public, and after Steve's lackluster stature as a winner the show needed someone to succeed which had the gravitas and skill to be sold as a potential star, and in my eyes Shane on the show managed to deliver that perception to the audience, yes his post show career wasn't the strongest but that didn't entirely matter to production at that point. As well as this Shayne managed to win against what was in my opinion a strong cast, Andy Abraham was a weaker singer then Shayne but arguably the most rootable contestant the show has ever had, Brenda Edwards was a great journey contestant and combined it with strong diva vocals whilst Chico emerged as the first breakout novelty act, and yet they were all left in their wake by the skill of Shayne, and I feel that at the end of the day nobody really resented him for doing it. Shayne lacks the vocals, gravitas or post-show success to compete with Alexandra or Leona, but he is IMO a strong winner who has unfortunately found himself somewhat overlooked by the TXF community.
The X Factor 2
On paper Shayne should be somebody who I dislike as a winner of the show; another example of the horribly drawn out and tedious MOR balladeer who manages to win over both the housewives and teens, all accompanied by a persona which was never that exciting or rootable, especially when compared to those that he was competing with in that series, yet when all of his character attributes are put together the end product isn't the disaster that you would expect, far from it in fact as what we got instead was a solid all rounder who was able to show the flashes of pure brilliance that made you think that there was a possibility he could have made it as a marketable pop star.
Let us first begin with Shayne as a technical performer, and in many ways he was very similar to Joe McElderry in being someone who more noted for strong technical skill as opposed to outright vocal strength, in the process hiding what was at times a whiny vocal with near pitch perfect accuracy, where the two differ however was in the type of work which Shayne performed compared to Joe, whilst Joe got locked in a sea of mummy pleasing ballads Shayne was much more diverse and able to show his skill in very different scenarios, being pitch perfect on a ballad is hard enough, but to do it on a complex, upbeat number takes real skill, and Shayne in my opinion showed this, the standout example being a version of 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love' which could have been an absolute disaster but passable down to Shayne's skill as a singer, and the moment for me which told me that he was going to win. In terms of persona Shayne was also fairly decent, nothing to write home about in terms of charisma but pleasant enough and lacking the arrogance and self entitlement of the likes of Matt or James. Shayne also is in good standing for me as a winner due to his status as a winner in regards to the X Factor franchise and the competitors he beat in his series, whilst series 1 was all about the show trying to find it's feet TXF2 was the breakout series that started to win over the public, and after Steve's lackluster stature as a winner the show needed someone to succeed which had the gravitas and skill to be sold as a potential star, and in my eyes Shane on the show managed to deliver that perception to the audience, yes his post show career wasn't the strongest but that didn't entirely matter to production at that point. As well as this Shayne managed to win against what was in my opinion a strong cast, Andy Abraham was a weaker singer then Shayne but arguably the most rootable contestant the show has ever had, Brenda Edwards was a great journey contestant and combined it with strong diva vocals whilst Chico emerged as the first breakout novelty act, and yet they were all left in their wake by the skill of Shayne, and I feel that at the end of the day nobody really resented him for doing it. Shayne lacks the vocals, gravitas or post-show success to compete with Alexandra or Leona, but he is IMO a strong winner who has unfortunately found himself somewhat overlooked by the TXF community.
2) Leona Lewis
The X Factor 3
The X Factor 3
Well I think we all knew that it would be a double diva top two in this
ranking right off from the start, the only question really was which of
the two it would be which got my seal of approval as the best X Factor
Winner, that quite obviously has gone to Alexandra but I don't want to
use it as any indicator that Leona is in any way an inferior contestant
that should be looked down on people, far from it actually. Leona is for
me the first true superstar of the X Factor franchise, the contestant
which helped to create the perception of the show for casual viewers
that it was more then just glorified karaoke and that real stars could
come out of the show, and came at a time when the show had really built
up momentum and needed the mega-success that she provided, and whilst
there were some issues with personality that ultimately was the reason
behind her silver medal placing her skill and talent was very impressive
and sees her as my number 2.
Let's begin with Leona from a technical and performance aspect of the show first and in doing so we start with by far the strongest aspect of the girl, even though I am a straight male who likes his indie music and doesn't buy into the hype of the X Factor as a show I will be the first to admit that Leona was amazing, vocally she was nearly always pitch perfect and combined this skill with a very strong diva vocal which made her more often then not the star of the show with her power ballad displays, yet in the process never succumbed to the temptation to fall into Mariah territory and overemphasize and enunciate for the sake of it, some may call this boring on her part I personally consider it a sign of professionalism, and truth be told Leona's ballads were so strong that she never really needed to go OTT in her performances anyway, as well as this Leona had a humility and likability about her which was endearing to us as viewers, she was never in any way exciting but you could see that there was a good person there and one which never felt as if she was big-headed about herself, which was refreshing for a diva balladeer such as herself. Plus purely from a personal point of view I loved Leona because she proved to be the only person that stopped the awful Ray Quinn from winning series 3, and anyone who manages to achieve that has to be give praise from myself. If I had to find faults with Leona as a singer it would be that she did somewhat play it safe with her song choices by sticking with ballads but also at times I found her rather cold and difficult to warm to, and felt that I could never actively root for her in the way that I could with the likes of Alexandra for example, part of this may of been down to her status as the untouchable day one victor but part of it may have been down to her personality or more specifically her lack of it, yes Leona had humility but I could never say she was ever that exciting a person, if anything though I guess we can use this as an indicator of how good she was as a singer that it never proved a fatal flaw in the way it did to someone like Joe. Leona however deserves praise as a singer and as a reality TV winner, and whilst her star has waned with the flop of her second album you cannot deny that she was for a short while a megastar, as well as being one of the first major success stories of TXF and for that I compliment her and place her here in this ranking.
Let's begin with Leona from a technical and performance aspect of the show first and in doing so we start with by far the strongest aspect of the girl, even though I am a straight male who likes his indie music and doesn't buy into the hype of the X Factor as a show I will be the first to admit that Leona was amazing, vocally she was nearly always pitch perfect and combined this skill with a very strong diva vocal which made her more often then not the star of the show with her power ballad displays, yet in the process never succumbed to the temptation to fall into Mariah territory and overemphasize and enunciate for the sake of it, some may call this boring on her part I personally consider it a sign of professionalism, and truth be told Leona's ballads were so strong that she never really needed to go OTT in her performances anyway, as well as this Leona had a humility and likability about her which was endearing to us as viewers, she was never in any way exciting but you could see that there was a good person there and one which never felt as if she was big-headed about herself, which was refreshing for a diva balladeer such as herself. Plus purely from a personal point of view I loved Leona because she proved to be the only person that stopped the awful Ray Quinn from winning series 3, and anyone who manages to achieve that has to be give praise from myself. If I had to find faults with Leona as a singer it would be that she did somewhat play it safe with her song choices by sticking with ballads but also at times I found her rather cold and difficult to warm to, and felt that I could never actively root for her in the way that I could with the likes of Alexandra for example, part of this may of been down to her status as the untouchable day one victor but part of it may have been down to her personality or more specifically her lack of it, yes Leona had humility but I could never say she was ever that exciting a person, if anything though I guess we can use this as an indicator of how good she was as a singer that it never proved a fatal flaw in the way it did to someone like Joe. Leona however deserves praise as a singer and as a reality TV winner, and whilst her star has waned with the flop of her second album you cannot deny that she was for a short while a megastar, as well as being one of the first major success stories of TXF and for that I compliment her and place her here in this ranking.
1) Alexandra Burke
The X Factor 5
The X Factor 5
When I started pre-planning this ranking it was always my intention to
have a Leona and Alexandra top 2, and based on the high standard that
both had in the show comparative to the show's other winners that was no
surprise, but which of the two I would choose as my winner was a much
harder decision and for a long time I did tease with having Leona in top
spot due to her stronger vocals and her status as the first X Factor
superstar but the more I thought about it the more I realised that
between the two Alexandra was the better all rounder between the two,
yes she wasn't as good of a singer as Leona but I felt that in nearly
every other aspect, particularly those in relation to her relation with
the audience, she was far superior and the main factor which swayed me
in the direction of Mrs Burke.
The first key aspect I want to bring up in regards to Alexandra as a winner is the one which in my opinion most worked to her favour when putting this ranking together, which was her growth throughout the show and her storyarc which transfixed me as a viewer, whilst I definately felt that Alexandra certainly had positive traits as both a performer and as a singer during the show's early stages there was never anything about her which made me think that she could emerge as a realistic contender to win, the ballads were still shaky and she at times lacked a true star power, but as the series went on I found that Alexandra more so then any other X Factor contestant showed a massive growth in confidence and skill that made me endear to her and get behind her story by the end of the show, and to see the shy girl of the early weeks transform into a powerful Diva holding her own against Beyonce was a great storyarc and a great TV transformation. I felt as well what added to Alexandra's endearing stature as a winner was also her status somewhat as an underdog within the show, partly fuelled by her early season anonymity but also due to the support of the producer and public pets that she overcame against all the odds, be it the godawful housewives favourite Eioghan, producer's pet Diana or the late season juggernaut that JLS became by the end of the show, to see Alexandra succeed in spite of these was refreshing to see. As a performer Alexandra also impressed me, as I mentioned she wasn't up to Leona's balladry levels but she wasn't a slouch either by any means, very strong vocally and engaging as a performer but arguably showcasing much more of a warmth as a person through her performances in a way in which Leona never did, I also felt that Alexandra was also much more of a risk taker then Leona when it came to her song choices as well, while Leona at times got stuck in the safe hole of MOR balladeering Alexandra at times wasn't afraid to go for some upbeat numbers which in the process showcased her abilities in much better ways then what Leona never did, and this upbeat tempo is arguably the direction she focused herself on in her post-show career to great success. Alexandra for me is a great example of a great Reality TV all rounder, not the best performer, singer or underdog story, but rather somebody who achieved all three at such a high standard that I cannot ignore her for it, and even though her version of Hallelujah was unforgivable I am willing to overlook it and consider her my best X Factor winner ever.
The first key aspect I want to bring up in regards to Alexandra as a winner is the one which in my opinion most worked to her favour when putting this ranking together, which was her growth throughout the show and her storyarc which transfixed me as a viewer, whilst I definately felt that Alexandra certainly had positive traits as both a performer and as a singer during the show's early stages there was never anything about her which made me think that she could emerge as a realistic contender to win, the ballads were still shaky and she at times lacked a true star power, but as the series went on I found that Alexandra more so then any other X Factor contestant showed a massive growth in confidence and skill that made me endear to her and get behind her story by the end of the show, and to see the shy girl of the early weeks transform into a powerful Diva holding her own against Beyonce was a great storyarc and a great TV transformation. I felt as well what added to Alexandra's endearing stature as a winner was also her status somewhat as an underdog within the show, partly fuelled by her early season anonymity but also due to the support of the producer and public pets that she overcame against all the odds, be it the godawful housewives favourite Eioghan, producer's pet Diana or the late season juggernaut that JLS became by the end of the show, to see Alexandra succeed in spite of these was refreshing to see. As a performer Alexandra also impressed me, as I mentioned she wasn't up to Leona's balladry levels but she wasn't a slouch either by any means, very strong vocally and engaging as a performer but arguably showcasing much more of a warmth as a person through her performances in a way in which Leona never did, I also felt that Alexandra was also much more of a risk taker then Leona when it came to her song choices as well, while Leona at times got stuck in the safe hole of MOR balladeering Alexandra at times wasn't afraid to go for some upbeat numbers which in the process showcased her abilities in much better ways then what Leona never did, and this upbeat tempo is arguably the direction she focused herself on in her post-show career to great success. Alexandra for me is a great example of a great Reality TV all rounder, not the best performer, singer or underdog story, but rather somebody who achieved all three at such a high standard that I cannot ignore her for it, and even though her version of Hallelujah was unforgivable I am willing to overlook it and consider her my best X Factor winner ever.
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