X is for X-factor

Okay, so it's cheesy, exploitative and appallingly lucrative and that's just the behaviour of the judges. Love it or hate it, deny you ever watch it, one thing you cannot do is avoid it. Well in my house anyway, with my 10 year old daughter glued to it (and threatening she's going to audition one day.)




Whether it's auditioners making a complete ass of themselves.










or an unexpected gem of a singer in the shape of an ordinary mortal,







the show has inexpliquable irresistibility.


The X-factor maybe?


This year for the first time ever, I actually watched the programme.


And solely because of a likeable, 50 year old, mostly ordinary but very talented contestant.

Observing Mary Byrne, a woman of an age deemed "past prime" and far from Twiggy-like in proportions, journey her way through the exhausting jungle of the weekly shows, did make me feel, that age or waist size should never be a barrier to success.

Most memorable, while Mary was storming her way through X-factor, in the last weeks of November 2010, Ireland received some visitors.
During those bleak weeks, when the International Monetary Fund team arrived to sort out our economic woes, Mary Byrne's storming success did go some way in spreading cheer.

You go, MaBy!