I accept that it made great TV suspense but it pissed me and probably a huge portion of the audience, off. Ultimately, my beef was with making Adam have to choose which group he thought he belonged to, cutting him down by telling him he was wrong, then shoving him to the other side of the stage. I resented the way that they used and humiliated Adam - the person who draws in most of the audience - to boost ratings. It was just demeaning. I'd feel less irate if they did it to someone who was conceited or abrasive, but they chose the most respectful, unpretentious and considerate person, which was just malicious. When I watched Ryan make Adam choose a group, I really felt for him and it was the first time I'd seen him so uncomfortable, making awkward 'er' noises and fidgeting, and I cringed. I felt disgusted that the show made me feel like a voyeur watching him whilst weak. He still managed to deal with it swiftly without being cliché but it's impossible to come out of that situation smelling of roses. It not only created needless tension between the contestants, but it started stirring up shit between the different fan camps. But I guess that's what they were aiming for. I hate them for that, and I fucking hate them even more because they got what they wanted because I'm still fucking thinking about it now.
Anyway, enough ranting. It's too complicated to go into all the analysis of what the producers' exact intentions were with their manoeuvres, because there are a myriad of contradictory theories. Although I hated being manipulated, as long as Adam's still in the competition, it doesn't actually matter now whether he was bottom two or bottom three or whatever.
Being the consummate professional, I hope Adam's been able to employ super-human abilities and resist what we haven't been able to do - which is to feel hurt, torment ourselves with paranoia over his popularity and pore over why the producers wanted to shaft him. I think he's strong enough to focus on the task at hand after having primed himself for so many years. Rock week should be very enjoyable for him to throw himself into, and I hope he does it wholeheartedly. If he Googles himself this week, he should find he has an overwhelming amount of support and a call-to-arms to get voting. I'm looking forward to seeing him leap back with renewed vigour.
0 comments:
Post a Comment