Last night witnessed the first episode of series five of The X Factor which once again provided a platform for fame-obsessed talentless idiots to grab a bit of airtime.
But enough of Dannii Minogue.
This, the debut showing of the new series, lived up to Andy Millman's rant about reality shows in the Extras Christmas Special... "they wheel out the bewildered to be sniggered at by multi- millionaires."
Ricky Gervais got it word-perfect for the opening episodes of the X Factor as Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Dannii Minogue and new-girl Cheryl Cole were in full mock-mode from start to finish.
And most of the time, it was deserved.
But despite the judges sensing an overall lack of star quality during the early auditions, and Cheryl Cole sighing: "I really thought the talent would be of a higher standard", there were a few flickers of hope.
Former drug-addict
Mainly from former drug-addict and mother-of-five at the age of 26 Rachel Hylton, whose Amy Winehouse-esque vocal Simon was delighted with.
"You've very nervous," he told her, "but I absolutely love you."
He later told the cameras: "Not enough people in this country are given a second chance.
"And I want to give her that second chance".
It all got a bit "get-the-violin-out" though so the X Factor producers left us with a moment of comedy genius to savour - Welsh duo Ant and Seb.
Their disastrous soul-rap version of Mysterious Girl was the runaway funniest moment of the series so far - albeit one episode in.
Check it out!...
Granted it's the same format as all the series before it, but you don't fix what's not broken do you?
We've another four or five weeks of the fun bits til we get to the serious stuff too.
