How do you know a TV talent show is floundering in the ratings and out of ideas? Look for a quickly manufactured feud between its female judges.
The 'judging panel catfight' – an approach long pilfered by reality talent shows for a cheap viewer grab – has made for awkward viewing on Seven's latest incarnation of The X Factor (uh, The XX Factor?) in recent weeks, not least of all because judges Iggy Azalea and Mel 'Scary Spice' Brown seem to have missed the memo.
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Iggy speaks up about her feud with Mel B
Iggy Azalea sets the record straight over her supposed feud with Mel B. Vision Channel Seven
While head-scratching producers have been pushing the 'Iggy v Mel' narrative hard, the two judges have been hilariously sabotaging the sexist nonsense at every turn.
Take last week, for example. While Seven was airing ads and posting tweets playing on the duo's supposedly prickly relationship, Brown was already discrediting it in an uncomfortable appearance on the network's own Sunrise.
![Last night's X Factor fails to fire with supposed catfight between Iggy Azalea and Mel B.](/web/20170106185313im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/e/v/d/k/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gsek9a.png/1477899153412.jpg)
Kochie, obnoxiously grilling Brown on the backstage bad blood, was met with some honest diplomacy.
"I know you're trying to get some rivalry between me and Iggy, but there isn't any!" the Spice Girl told the host.
Kochie pushed. "Don't miss Mel on X Factor tonight – how will she and Iggy get on?" he read off the show's teleprompter.
Brown, fed up with the innuendo, 'jokingly' stormed off set with barely disguised rage.
![Mel B's faux walkout on Sunrise when pushed about her ongoing feud with Iggy Azalea.](/web/20170106185313im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/e/v/7/o/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gsek9a.png/1477899153412.jpg)
Mel B walks off set of Sunrise after tough questions about her relationship with Iggy Azalea https://t.co/XkgsZzNjAN
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) October 23, 2016
Such promotional undercutting occurred again on last night's episode, in a rare moment of unscripted realness.
Azalea, reacting to host Jason Dundas' boneheaded question about whether there can "only be room for one girl group on the show", lashed out.
"Who said that?" she responded. "Coming from a man!"
"I'm a woman in the music industry, and I'm sure Mel, you can relate. It's always like, 'Do you like Mel?'" she said, mocking the narrative viewers are being fed.
"I look up to Mel," she added. "I used to dress in leopard skin for years because of this woman."
The series – which earlier this month premiered to an all-time low of 904,000 viewers (last year's launch hit 1.5 million, by comparison), and dropped to a season low of 676,000 viewers last night – might need a jolt, but lazy manufactured wars amongst its female judges isn't going to win any fans.
We go live in THREE DAYS. What'll happen when @IGGYAZALEA meets @OfficialMelB? → https://t.co/NkZWozJD46#xfactorau goes LIVE 7pm Sunday. pic.twitter.com/oSbjkHvDX4
— #XFactorAU (@thexfactorau) October 20, 2016
Besides the ugly double standard that pits women against each other for drama (when are we gonna see a headline like, "Ronan Keating gets claws out at 'bitchy' Joel Madden"?), the whole thing's already been done too often, another backstage secret flogged to death.
At this point, viewers are either savvy enough to notice the strings being pulled, or are just plain bored.
Mariah Carey helped pull the curtain on such nonsense back in 2013, following an ugly public 'spat' with fellow American Idol judge Nicki Minaj, that even drew comment from President Obama ("They'll sort it out", he said at the time, hopefully).
Carey, who along with Minaj left the show after just one season, later slammed the show as "fake", calling it "the worst experience of my life".
"It should have been about the contestants instead of about some non-existent feud," she told KIIS FM's Kyle and Jackie O last year. "Putting two females against each other wasn't cool."
Nine's The Voice tread a similar path last year, with judges Delta Goodrem and Jessie J.
After weeks of on air bickering and a series spokesperson confirming the "feud is real", Jessie J put the whole thing to rest with a telling Instagram after her final episode, in which she told Delta "I really admire you".
Despite the heavily hyped feud, the series scored its lowest-rating season finale ever. The war didn't work.
With both viewers and judges themselves switching off the lazy 'girl v girl' theatrics, perhaps TV's grubbiest go-to ratings grab might finally be put to bed. A talent show focusing on the talent? Lol, who are we kidding.
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