There was a bit of confusion in the pressroom (and we assume at home, as well) during Thursday’s Top 13 elimination show at FOX’s The X Factor after Jason Brock was eliminated and yet there was still several minutes left in the hour. Then, hosts Khloe Kardashian and Mario Lopez made a shocking announcement: They were going to reveal the rankings according to America’s vote.
That’s unique for the singing competition and executive producer and judge Simon Cowell says that he had a lot to do with the decision.
“I said, ‘You know what might be interesting? The one thing everyone wants to know, including me, every week is who won.’” Cowell tells reporters after the show. “And I said, ‘Why don’t we just tell everyone and see what happens?’ And at first, everyone was like, ‘You can’t do that.’ I said, ‘Yeah, you can do it.’”
Cowell, who says that even he didn’t know the results of the vote, says that they’re not sure if they’ll reveal the rankings every week, but that they’ll try it for a couple weeks for now.
Clearly, revealing the rankings is a game changer for the show. Here’s what Cowell and fellow judges Britney Spears and Demi Lovato had to say about the standings.
Note: L.A. Reid, who mentored Brock, didn’t speak with reporters after the show.
Simon Cowell:“I think what’s happened is it’s changed the dynamic of the show now, particularly for me because I thought our acts were doing much better than was revealed. So, we have to change a few things up now.”
“Now, we know where we stand, particularly someone like Beatrice [Miller] and perhaps Arin [Ray] who were thinking they were doing much, much better than they were. They’ve got to change their game plan now. So, I think the revealing of the vote is going to change next week’s show dramatically.”
“[The biggest surprise for me], I would say Emblem3 not doing better. I would’ve thought they would’ve been Top 3. But, I said this about the UK show. When the UK show finished, we published the results of the vote. I thought One Direction was winning every week. We never won a single week. Now if I had known earlier on, I might have changed something.”
Britney Spears: “I was surprised by the ranking, I really was. I thought, of course, my people would be No. 1 through five. So, I was surprised… I’m not surprised [that Diamond White is in the Top 4], I’m excited for her.”
Demi Lovato: I look at this as an amazing opportunity to see how much America really loves my contestants and to see how much work we really have to do. Obviously, we have to put in work every single week. I got to put in work no matter what I do. It’s a part of the industry; just continue to find ways to improve yourself and your craft. But, since Jennel [Garcia] didn’t rank as high as everyone thought they would or Paige [Thomas], maybe we just have to consider some different options and reevaluate what we’ve put out on stage and maybe take it down a notch.
Watch the rankings again above.
What surprised you about the rankings? Do you agree with the judges’ take? Sound off below.
