Now that it has been officially confirmed that Britney Spears will not be a judge on "The X Factor" U.S. in 2013 (she released a statement on January 11), the vast majority of "X Factor" viewers who've been commenting on the Internet say that they are very happy about Spears' departure from the show.
Most people who are glad that she's gone from "The X Factor" ultimately don't care if she quit or if she was fired. They're just happy that she's gone and that she won't be dragging down the show anymore with her robotic, repetitive commentary and her obvious discomfort about being a judge on the show. (Spears' negative facial expressions and stiff body language when she was on "The X Factor" were too obvious too ignore, and she was ridiculed by many for her blatant displays of condescension and disgust.)
Not surprisingly, the same day that Spears announced her "X Factor" departure, she also announced her split from Jason Trawick, her former-agent-turned-fiancé/co-conservator, who reportedly was one of the people who pushed Spears into being an "X Factor" judge, and he led the negotiations for her to get the job. Spears and Trawick had been dating since 2009 and got engaged in December 2011. He has now been removed as her co-conservator, according to TMZ.
And this week, it was announced that Spears also changed agencies, by switching from William Morris Endeavor (Trawick's former employer) to Creative Artists Agency. With all of these changes going on at the same time, it's pretty obvious that Spears and her handlers think that "The X Factor" was a bad career move for her because it exposed her unpopularity with TV viewers and her inability to increase a TV show's ratings.
Back in March 2012, when news broke that Spears was in talks to become a judge on "The X Factor" U.S., I first reported that most "X Factor" viewers were against Spears being a judge on the show because she is a known lip syncer who shouldn't be judging people on their ability to sing live when Spears hasn't sung live in years. Many of these disgruntled viewers said they would no longer watch "The X Factor" U.S. as long as Spears was a judge on the show. And the show's downward spiral in ratings seem to prove that this widespread boycott wasn't an idle threat. (I was not surprised by the decrease in ratings at all. In fact, I predicted it as soon as it was reported that Spears might be joining the show.)
After Spears joined "The X Factor" U.S. in May 2012, reports surfaced of her erratic and disconnected behavior at contestant auditions. (She walked off of the "X Factor" set at least twice during auditions.) When Season 2 of the show premiered in September 2012, ratings decreased dramatically and continued on a downward spiral. And, of course, every time a new episode of Fox's "The X Factor" U.S. (on Fox) was on during the same week as a new episode NBC's "The Voice" U.S., "The Voice" always beat "The X Factor" in the ratings by about 2 million to 3 million viewers.
According to the Nielsen Company, "The X Factor" U.S. lost about 4 million viewers after Spears joined the show. In 2011, "The X Factor" U.S.'s first season had an average of 12 million U.S. viewers per episode. In 2012 for the show's second season with Spears on board, ratings for "The X Factor" U.S.dropped to an average of 8 million U.S. viewers per episode. "The X Factor" reportedly paid Spears $15 million, which makes Spears one of the biggest flops/rip-off stars in TV history.
Even if a lot of people stopped watching "The X Factor" U.S., it's still possible to see clips of the show on TV and on the Internet to have an idea of what kind of judge Spears was. And most viewers and TV critics did not like what they saw with Spears, as she got mostly negative reviews, especially during the live episodes that could not be heavily manipulated/edited to portray Spears in a more flattering way.
While a minority of X Factor" viewers say that they are disappointed that Spears is not going to be an "X Factor" judge anymore, the majority of viewers are essentially saying about Spears, "Good riddance!"
Demi Lovato shouldn't feel so secure in her "X Factor" job because a lot of viewers want her gone too. Lovato and Spears both joined "The X Factor" U.S. in May 2012 as replacements for fired judges Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul.
Antonio "L.A." Reid quit the show in December 2012 because he said he wanted to have more time to focus on his main job as chairman/CEO of Epic Records. As of now, "The X Factor" executive producer Simon Cowell is the only judge guaranteed to return on "The X Factor" U.S. in 2013.
According to insiders, "The X Factor" U.S. co-host Khloe Kardashian is getting fired, while it has not been decided yet if "The X Factor" U.S. co-host Mario Lopez will stay or go. Lopez's weekday schedule for "Extra," another Los Angeles-based show that he co-hosts, will be problematic if "The X Factor" U.S. wants a host for prerecorded episodes that are filmed in various cities.
Representatives for "The X Factor" U.S. are refusing to comment on any changes that the show will be making for Season 3 this year. Any other star departures from the show should be announced by late January 2013 or late February 2013.
Here's a sampling of comments on the Internet about Spears leaving "The X Factor":
From Yahoo! Music's message board:
"She is the ultimate trashbag."
"Good riddance!"
"Hey Britany, Enjoy that new 12 million dollar house Simon bought you. Sad thing is you scammed the contestants to get it. Why don't you get a concience and give the other 3 million you stole to charity."
"Isn't the truth about Brits leaving because she wasn't ask back.?/ A lot of people quit watching because of her. I don't think he IQ comes up to her ankles."
"DUH!! Everybody knows that all these shows are about, is hiring washed up singers to be judges, just so that they can rake up a few bucks to make another cd, then they're gone."
"Shocker!! like they were gonna hire her back anyway. She was so odd in that show. Horrible!"
"She's better at being a glorified pole dancer."
"Not surprised. She's an idiot!!!"
"A salamander would have been more dynamic than this toad."
"Good Lord, I used to think she actually looked hot, back in the early 2000s. Now she looks like a junkie."
"He wanted crazy Britney, but he got boring Britney"....More like he got medicated Britney."
"I enjoyed the show and watched it every week......however Brittany offered nothing to the show. Never had anything to constructively say other that 'amazing' and then scoffing when someone won that wasn't one of her charges."
"What do expect from a no talent, lipsynching ex musketeer."
"Brit was the last straw. besides sounding stupid, she was just a dud as a judge. She doesn't sing, like so many any more. If they can scream, thay have a recording deal. Not in my book. The show went to pot when they picked these #$%$ as judges."
"I actually watched the show because of Brittany. I found out she has no personality and seems uneducated. A boring person...unless there's alcohol, holla!"
"The show is a disaster and it won't make a difference even if they put Jesus, Mary and Joseph up there to judge."
"I have said all along that Mr. Cowell is working in the wrong direction trying to bring us a new pop star. Many of us would like to see talent that is cultivated properly. My picks for the new judges are Barry Manilow (he is a singer, songwriter and did a great job mentoring on American Idol), Mary J. Bligh who has had a successful career, Jon Bon Jovi who has given us great music from different genres or possibly Cher who has had many hits during her career."
"Just bring back Paula Abdul. She can't sing either, but her personality is better and at this point she actually looks the same age as Britney."
"I don't watch this garbage anymore after they hired Spears and Minaj. And Klhoe. Enough said."
"I'm shocked! This over-hyped, limited talent #$%$ will not be back? This is so painful (ROFL!!)"
"She's a has been....what did you expect?We are sooooo done with paying dumb,fake,blondes millions to lip-sync,and listen to their immature comments about how other people perform?"
"Only saw the show once. Why? Because Britney Spears was on it and I wanted to see how she would do. I hated American Idol after the first season. I didn't think she was that bad, but I disliked the format of the show. I would like all of these so-called competition shows to disappear from television, along with reality television."
"Britney, you will be missed. Just kidding, that show really sucks, I mean who are they kidding. American Idol has as they say 'Jumped the Shark' several years ago. The Voice is ok, but still pretty lame. Dancing with the Has Beens needs to be taken off the air too. I think a good idea for that show would be dancing with the hero's and have returning service members as the professional dancers partners. I would watch that."
"Demi Lovato needs to take a hike as well! She is too young and has NO credentials to pass judgement on aspiring contestants!! She and Britney are a joke!"
"The only good thing that came out of X-factor was the winner, Tate Stevens. X-Factor cannot compete with The Voice at all. Blake Shelton had the idea for a genius show there, although his judges coud use some revamping, and will this season...as no talent Cee-Lo Green. X-Factor needs to cancel. There are too many of these shows on the air, and while they are at it American Idol has run the gamut also."
"Britney's short, to-the-point comments were the best thing about X Factor. It amazes me at how much good talent comes out of the U.K. version of X Factor while the U.S. show leaves so much to be desired."
"Britney Spears has the intelligence of an 8 year old. Figures she's mean spirited, cocky, and inflates her own abilities. Girl your body is gone, now your career is gone. Deal with it. You could never sing, you could never write. You're not even a musician, you're a product."
"To be fair, I think it's a reasonable assumption that her presence on the show would boost ratings. The author almost makes it sound like it was a stupid decision to cast her and it wasn't; it was a risk that just didn't pay off. Britney will be fine. I'm digging her new song Scream and Shout and she's got 15 mill in the bank. Good for her."
"Seems like a #$%$ thing to do after all that good publicity she got. Britney looks great on x factor, see Britney's cute expressions on x factor. No where was there anything about tension between the judges and certainly there seemed to be no problem with them on the show. Now it's time for season two and it's like "oh, bye bye Briteny". Pff Whatever. She was the only good thing that show had going for it. Certainly a better judge, and a more qualified one, than Demi Lovato. I wonder if they are going to be replacing her too. They will loose some fans over this for sure."
"Britney Spears = an idiot. I am sick of Britney Spears and all her B.S. I do NOT give about Britney Spears, THE X FACTOR, & AMERICAN IDOL. None of this changes my personal life."
"But they paid her!! So in the end, Britney will go back to her career (make even more money) and Simon lost! Boo hoo! Tough it up!! Serves him right for trying to cash in on Britney's unpleasant past."
"The only loss here is the $15 million that Brit gets to smile (smirk) all the way to the bank. She should donate every bit of it (because she didn't earn a penny) to the hungry or to the rebuilding caused by recent storms."
"That program is a joke. I've never heard of any one show being plagued with so many problematic #$%$."
"I'm done with these shows. Brittany was better than looking at Lovato's sickly forced smile all the time and it was clear if the singer was gay they got more consideration."
"She was terrible on that show. I felt embarassed for her. She sat there with her mouth gaping open half the time and said That was amazing in baby talk. Didn't even sing at the end like Demi."
"She may have been bland while judging, saying the same old stuff...like 'amazing' BUT for the most part i liked what she did with her contestants, she knew what to tell them to do. Carly was there til the end, granted her voice is great. In my opinion she did a far better job coaching than demi did. I understand for a singer their money is made in touring, so thats inevitable, but 15 million for half a years work? I would be okay with that."
"I thought Demi did a wonderful job as a judge. Brit just does not know how to be in public anymore. I love THE VOICE. Cassadee Pope would beat all the contestants on the other shows. Those judges really get behind and BELIEVE in their contestants. That is what it is all about people!!!"
"I think 13 year old Carly Rose herself would be a better judge than Britney. During the break I happened to watch XfactorUK videos on youtube from 2009 and 2010 with judges Louis, Simon, Danni, and Cheryl Cole. I have to say the chemistry on that panel was so much better than the 2 seasons in the US. Danni and Cheryl making extended excellent comments most of the time. I know they tried Cheryl, and she does have a very heavy local accent that perhaps didn't work here, but I think Danni would be very good. Then keep Demi and get some other record executive that's more likable than LA."
From E! Online's message board:
"I have a lot of respect for Britney after turning her life a complete 180. However, I found her extremely boring. She never gave any real good insight, she was just there to bring ratings in. But she didn't even do that. I'm not trying to bash Britney at all, but she kept making strange faces and always seemed a little 'off' in my opinion. I think that it would be better for Simon to go after someone who is a Professional and could really show these kids how to be Super Stars without being stuck up and rude."
"Somebody needs to fire Britney's team. They are running her career into the ground."
"I thought Britney was the best judge. I guess the ridiculous sparring between Simon and Demi was what the network thinks makes us watch. I am over 50 and I have new found respect and admiration for Britney. She was mature, warm, insightful. She wasn't in the business of tearing someone apart but was honest when called for. She was also the best mentor of the lot. She had the kids for pete's sake! Children! I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Emotional maturity is not allowed on these shows."
"I agree - the immature ranting of Demi got quite annoying. However, part of Britney's job as a judge was to offer some sort of critique of the performances. All she ever said was "you're amazing" when she liked something or "I didn't get it" if she didn't. While Britney was nice/easy going...she had no depth as a judge and brought very little to the table. I am glad to see her go. A judge actually needs to judge, not just sit there and smile."
"It's pathetic how everyone gave her sh-t when she went off the deep end and wanted her to turn her life around. Now that she has, it's a fault? Give me a break!"
"Remember that this show involves mentoring so judges opinion in the live shows is not that important, her mentoring was great, the kids in her team made it to the finals. I don't want to criticizes Demi cause I love her but her team didn't and used to talk a lot in the live shows."
"Actually her mentoring was not great. Did you not see the first couple live shows? She gave upbeat pop songs to Carly and Diamond, both of who performed badly. The only reason Carly made it that far is because Britney left her song styles up to her."
"Britney was a horrendous judge. I don't know what show you were watching, but your opinion must have been distorted by that pair of rose colored glasses you were obviously wearing. You could not have been a worse judge then Britney if you had tried. She was a decent mentor, but they gave her the perfect category for that and I'm not sure she would be capable of mentoring adults. At the judges table, however, she was flat out awful."
"I personally don't like Brittney. She was a terrible judge. She was a good judge in audition, but that's it. She was a good mentor though. Demi brought life to the show. I love her. She wasn't the best mentor, but I think she learned from it. She was an amazing judge though."
"Even though britney gave bad critiques on the table, she at least knew what to do with the kids and their performances, demi didn't know what to do with any of the members in her team although she had insightful critiques when judging the contestants. i still think though demi was a lot worse than britney."
"This show is gonna flop without her, people only watch the show to watch her!! And they have to fire Demi she's annoying everybody. At leat Britney its too much for that **** show!! I Can't wat for her new album!!!"
"I don't watch the show because of the Celebrities on there. I watch it to see and hear new and amazing people/voices that I haven't heard before. I think the competition made the show for me, not the people judging it."
"Simon Cowell and the producers of The X-Factor wanted crazy Britney to show up but instead they got reasonably sane Britney showing up. With less than spectacular ratings for the show, it was too expensive to keep paying her $15M per season. Let's face it, she was quite overpaid to do the show. At least she had the good sense to quit while she was ahead. Poor Simon Cowell, it looks like his X-Factor will never reach the same heights as American Idol did in its heyday. It's a matter of time before Fox decides to pull the plug on The X-Factor."
"Britney didn't bring the drama Simon thought she would bring. Did she decide to leave, or did she get wind that Simon would dump her, so she beat him to the punch?"
From the Huffington Post's message board:
"Fifteen million dollars for that train wreck????"
"I like Britney but, my God, she was the worst judge I've ever seen. 'Amazing' was her only comment and ONCE she actually spoke an entire sentence, 'I just don't get it.' I know she has a disorder but she seemed to be heavily tranquilized. What is 'amazing' was to see a performer who can light up a stage appear almost comatose when interacting. Britney also chose horrible songs for her kids. Carly Rose was very likable and garnered lots of votes but not because she was given good songs by Britney. Every song she sang was alike, nothing young, fresh or uplifting. Go back to music Britney-- you are good at performing but the absolute worst judge I've EVER seen. Good luck."
"She got fired and they let her save face. Most celebrities are way too brittle to admit ever being not good enough."
"Brittany was fired!! It's as simple as that."
"Slows a little class on Simon's part to 'let' her quit. The show ought to be tanked, I quit watching after the first season when I suspected it was rigged."
"Buh-bye, Britney. I will not miss your fake voice nor will I miss your 'amazing' comments."
"I watched it once. She was horrible. No personality whatsoever."
"Britney Spears;; I hope she has a great new album.. these pros surprise people and do really great work.. You think to yourself.. Ah she's washed up.. She'll just float around till she's sucked up by some movie role.. No- not yet.. Who do I think would be great? I have it for; Sheryl Crow. I think she's enormously versatile and can be a great member of the X- Factor bananza."
"The way this has played out leaves egg on everyone's faces. She wanted to come back, they didn't want her, announced it to the world, then suddenly they say 'We'd love to have her back', then she quits. We all know how this went down, and I feel embarrassed for her because it's so obvious. When all is said and done, she's not a good fit for the show, and I'm sure she wasn't happy. This show isn't going to last anyway. She may as well go back to what she wants to do sooner than later. I hope Simon doesn't keep trying to chase after judges to draw in ratings. It's not going to work."
"Good. She was useless anyway. Demi is sooooo much better in that role."
"Back to the trailer park. Bring back Cheryl Cole."
"The technical term for this is her contract has not been renewed not she quit."
"She was a lousy judge did not say more than one small sentence which did not make sense Considering she is in the business we expected her to come out stronger."
"Considering Simon's reputation for turnover, Britney was most likely let go like her predecessors and just covering her ego..like most people would...by saying she quit."
"Quit before you are fired!! Right Brit??"
"Simon needs to take Xfactor back to England. What is he going to do?, fire a judge or judges each season? That is what he got for firing quirky Paula. We loved Paula. He dumps his girlfriends and judges as he changes his socks. Britney may not have been exciting, but her girls did well under her tutelage, one coming in 2nd."
"X Factor was a hack show as far as I'm concerned. 5 million prize to the winner and the judges get 15 to 20 million. Doesn't seem quite fair to me. The singers on The Voice were much, much better at singing than those on X Factor anyway."
"This is a very wise move on Britney's part to leave this clunker. She really doesn't need this show....it is just one among too many of the same type. Glad she is back in the studio and will tour again soon."
"Britney was about the only honest voice on the show and the one who called it right, even when politics got in the way. But sincere judging from those who still ply their craft is not what we wanted. We wanted a show of judging -- God forbid the real from those still in the trenches. If you wonder if Britney is the real thing, you need only watch her direct the setup of the stage in her next performance. Pure genius and no bull."
"Why she was on the show to begin with is mind boggling. its not like she is in a dire need of a career boost. last time i checked, her albums still hit #1 and she can still sell tickets to tour. While she did a good job mentoring her acts, she sucked as a judge but the show as a whole sucked even more. time to give it up Simon. XF is just not gonna happen in the US."
"She got what she wanted from them. a paycheck & more face time to make her relevant again... got us all looking & listening again..."
"Saw a taping of XFactor when they were in RI...while the other three judges were friendly...waving to the audience, talking to people in the audience....Britney did not..when the first introduction music started she blocked her ears...when they judges would take a break it was always 5 or 10 additional minutes before Britney came back....and always surrounded by several body guards...non of the others had this. I thought she was a snob and boring in her judging..."
"Interesting stuff considering that Simon Cowell has spent the last couple of weeks avoiding answering questions whether he would axe the ‘it girl’ who it has been said behind closed doors (that’s media talk for leaked) wasn’t really leaving an indelible impression with viewers (which is media talk for saying there weren’t enough fist fights to keep viewers sufficiently riled up). At least Britney can leave with her integrity. Right...?"
"THANK GOD! She gave new meaning to the words vapid and inane."
"It surely did not look like she was having fun in the show. Demi, on the other hand, looked very comfortable. Nut adding Kardashian and :opez in the middle of the season turned me off completely and when the judges started gushing over below par singers just did it for me. Didn't watch since."
"L.A. Reid was smart to get out. I wish he would conduct his own talent show because he is a true judge of talent. X-Factor was such a disaster ! Brittney is not qualified to judge, Simon is a boor who thinks a black T-shirt is good enough for his audience (WRONG!), and adding a Kardashian and the other stage host was a huge mistake. I finally gave up watching because it was too painful, and the talent was just so-so."
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