"X-Factor is freak show to promote Cheryl Cole"

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So says Pete Waterman the 80's mega producer and judge on Pop Idol, the predecessor to the X-Factor.

In an interview with the Independent newspaper he was scathing about the programme and how it's focus is on the Judges not the contestants.

He was particularly unhappy about how people like Cheryl Cole mentor to Joe McElderry have benefited from the show

"The problem for me is that kids believe that this is a talent show. It's not. It's a freak and geek show. It's about ratings," he said.

"That Cheryl Cole has sold more downloads as the judge than the winner of The X Factor proves that it's a bigger promotion for the judges than it is the contestants on the show."

"I never watch The X Factor. I don't watch it because I was on the original Pop Idol show and I walked off the second series on principle.

"The first Pop Idol was about music, but the shows have got worse. It is not about talent, it's about television and spectacle. I'd rather make a programme about railways."

"The credit in the first Pop Idol goes to the people who trawled through and edited the performances, picking a balance between fun and talent. But that all went out of the window on Pop Idol 2. You had to have someone who cried, someone who died, someone with one leg.

"I get so many people writing to me saying, 'I've been on The X Factor, will you listen to my songs?' No! The show has produced people that others want to talk about but if they're as great as everyone says, they'd be selling 20 million albums."

Waterman was a judge on Pop Idol, forerunner of The X Factor, and on Popstars: The Rivals, the show which created Girls Aloud and catapulted Cole to fame.
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