'X-Factor' fans have apparently expressed their anger at the voting off of Laura White on this weekend's show. White, who was apparently second favourite to win the latest series of the pop talent show, came in the bottom two after this week's viewer vote, which, our resident 'X-Factor' expert tells me, means she had to take part in a 'sing-off' after which the judging panel - Simon, Cheryl, Louis and Dannii if I remember rightly - decide who stays and who goes.
This week they decided to let White go, which has angered 3500 of her supporters so much they've gone to the effort of setting up a petition calling for her to be reinstated or, at the very least, given a record contact. That in itself probably wouldn't grab the headlines, but then Culture Secretary Andy Burnham, who is MP for White's home town of Leigh in Greater Manchester, stepped in and raised the matter in Parliament.
After a debate on the whole Sachsgate affair, Burnham told the House Of Commons that MPs "should resist that temptation to comment on editorial matters", but then added: "Although the temptation is great in my case, having seen the wonderful and talented Laura White very harshly voted off 'X-Factor' on Saturday".
Now that the matter has been addressed in Parliament, and with some of those 3500 whiners, sorry, I mean legitimate complainers, claiming they couldn't get through to vote for White on the night, everyone seems to be giving quotes on the matter. Nick Weinberg, spokesman for bookmaker Ladbrokes, said White's exit had been the "biggest upset in 'X-Factor' history", though Guardian TV critic Julia Raeside tried to play down the significance of the affair when interviewed by Radio 5, observing: "It's just not important is it? It's four people who are sitting behind a desk on a Saturday night entertainment show. The soap opera of the show has become 50% of the programme".
I thought the soap opera has been at least half the programme ever since it began, but what do I know? Certainly not enough to officially comment on this for myself. But fortunately I don't need to, because here with the last word on the matter is the uber-expert on these matters - Ms Lily Allen.
She blogged last weekend: "Right, I think we were all a little shocked right? Laura didn't deserve to go in my opinion, neither did Ruth (my personal favourite). I've been left feeling quite upset by the whole of tonight's show. I can not believe that week after week, Daniel the pool man is still in, people are quite mad, I'm sure. Now, I don't know what people think on here, and I understand that she was ill, but out of respect to Laura, I think Diana Vickers should have to sing a Mariah Carey song next week, I'm sure she's capable of rising to the challenge, I just don't think it's fair otherwise. Everyone needs to be judged in the same way or the whole thing becomes meaningless".
'X-Factor' meaningless? Never.