X Factor Must Change These 9 Things Or Fail

I love reality shows and I'm a huge Simon Cowell fan.  I loved him on American Idol, and followed him to the X Factor.

I just knew since it was "his" show, it would be awesome.  I hate to admit that I was wrong.

I love the idea for the show, but it's been pretty lame and *yawn* boring.

So if Simon wants to boost ratings, he needs to change (at least) these 9 things before the entire show bombs.

1.  Get a new host!  Steve Jones is the most robotic, uninteresting, rude person I've ever seen host a show.  Does he ever laugh?  Does he even bend at the waist?  Seriously, I don't care how good looking the guy is, he stnks!

2.  Judges that actually judge!  The X Factor wannabes aren't learning anything when Simon disses Paula's arrangement, or LA disses Nicole's outfits.  Hello... let's critique the contestants on their vocals and stage presence.

3.  Let's focus on the contestants!  Get rid of the 80 piece orchestra, or the 47 dancers, and let's see and hear more of the contestant.  That's why we're here, isn't it?

4.  Get rid of the categories!  Throw everyone's name in a hat, and each X Factor judge draws names for their groups.  No more boys group or girls group, etc.

5.  Mentor, or get rid of it!  We rarely see any mentoring.  Mentoring boils down to choosing what song they will sing and what they'll wear.  Big whoop.

6.  Let America Actually Decide!  What is this with voting?  America votes and the judges have the final say?  WTH?  Hey, X Factor, let the judges have their hand in the pot until the top 10, after that, only America decides.

7.  Remove The Mentor's (Judge) vote!  It's painfully obvious, the judges are going to vote for their mentor-ee.  Make it easier.  Only let the 3 other judges vote.  Simple and quick.

8.  Make It More Personal!  Let us get to know the X Factor wannabes.  What do they do during their down time?  How did they celebrate Thanksgiving?  Stop rehashing over and over what we already know.  1 was an addict and 1 was a crack baby.  Ok, we got it.

9.  Make The Results Show Exciting!  My gosh, last week, we were 15 minutes into the show and they were still showing the previous nights performances.  We've already seen them.  If you can't afford celebrities to entertain us, get creative, do something other than rerunning the entire previous night!

I'm sure there's more the X Factor Gods can change to make it a better show, these were just off the top of my head.

What do you think?  What else should the X Factor change to make it a more exciting show?