James Blunt: X Factor was “quite painful”

British singer-songwriter James Blunt has spoken disdainfully of his time judging on The X Factor on Seven in 2015.

That’s a grudge he’s kept quiet a long time?

“I didn’t enjoy it, and I struggle with The X Factor, because it’s more TV show than music competition,” he has told Radio Times.

“The winners are always the judges’ choices rather than the ones who do best each week.

“Seeing these hopefuls with their 15 minutes, and their dreams shattered for ratings, I find quite painful.”

Blunt judged alongside Guy Sebastian, Dannii Minogue and Chris Isaak, with Isaak’s act Cyrus Villanueva being crowned winner.

His comments follow The Voice coach Jason DeRulo saying, “…over the last 20 years, the ratio isn’t very high in terms of having successful artists from singing shows. I think the reason why is because the shows are largely based on singing alone, and that’s not the real world, we live in a world where people are attracted to not only someone’s voice, but also a song, someone’s personality, what they do on social media.”

None of these reservations appear to stop artists FIFO-ing into Australia and taking the big bucks in television.