Which Judge of the X-Factor Made the Best Finalist Choices?

The four judges of The X-Factor have each chosen four finalists to form the teams they will battle against each other with. There was one choice that may have been surprising but not a whole lot of choices were unpredictable. Just because choices were not unpredictable doesn't mean that the choices were good though. Which one of the X-Factor judges made the best choices and which one made the worst choices?

Going into the judge's homes I thought LA Reid had the best shot of winning. Reid's group of "boys" included the most diverse styles of music and included several talented people. Unfortunately Reid made the worst choices of the four judges. Simon Cowell is the best talent scout in the world because he sees talent in all sorts of people with all sorts of style. Reid is the best music producer in the world but really specializes in one category, the rap/hip hop/R&B genre.

Reid chose three contestants-Chris Rene, "Astro" and Marcus Canty-that will probably all be in that genre. Perhaps this is a good strategy for Reid because he can mold these artists the best but I feel like there was a great chance for some diversity and Reid missed out on it because he doesn't know what the hell to do with a country singer. In fact, that's my biggest problem. It may seem like Kanye West, Rihanna and Beyonce are more popular than Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith or Lady Antebellum but they aren't. Country music's popularity, tour attendance and album sales have increased in a time when the rest of the music industry is bitching and moaning about a loss of money.

Reid's strategy of taking three hip hop contestants could be a flawed strategy. That type of artist has never really succeeded in singing competitions before. Meanwhile the most successful singing contestant of all-time-and possibly the most successful reality star period-was Carrie Underwood, a country singer. The one different choice that Reid did pick was Phillip Lomax, probably the least likely contestant to win out of the while bunch. I'll at least give Reid credit for something different on that one but I can't help to think that Reid's group would have been better off with Brennen Hill or Nick Voss in one spot and Tim Cifers or Skyelor in the other spot instead of Lomax and Ass-tro.

The other huge blunder came from Simon Cowell who had the second worst selection group. Cowell's mistake was so bad that he actually admitted he was wrong, a rare feat for the Brit. I'm not completely satisfied with Cowell's decision to bring back Melanie Amaro though just because he didn't also send somebody home. Clearly Simone Battle doesn't belong there but Cowell has been obsessed with her from day one.

I also think that Cowell missed out on Jazzlyn Little. Little was incredibly nervous and taking her to a live show would be worrisome but her nervousness never stopped her from belting out her songs. My personal rankings would have Little behind only Drew Ryniewicz and Amaro and ahead of Rachel Crowe and Tiah Tolliver, another contestant that Cowell had an obsession with.

When the judges were first waiting to hear what category they would receive there were some saying the over 30's was the most talented group. That was not the case to me. Josh Krajcik is clearly the best of the bunch followed by Stacy Francis-although I can't stand her constant crying-and Leroy Bell seemed like a lock too. All Scherzinger had to do was pick a fourth person out of the remaining uninspiring choices. Nobody really stuck out but all my only hope was that Dexter Haygood was not chosen. So of course she chose Haygood.

Clearly Scherzinger made the decision with her heart-and I might even come out of this liking Scherzinger even more-but Dexter is awful. He's not particularly talented, he's always intimidating artists and he can't remember his lines. Dexter seems like the likely first cut in the finals. I guess Scherzinger can't be faulted too much for the decision though because there is no way that the fourth member of her group was going to have any chance to win no matter who it was, but it should have been Tiger Budbill.

Paula Abdul is easily my least favorite of the four judges and the groups category was my least favorite category. That being said, on the basis of who made the right choices, I think Paula actually did the best. If I were choosing four groups out of that mess of singers I would have chosen the same four. Lakoda Rayne could be a sleeper to win the whole thing because country is popular, they are four cute girls and at least Paige Ogle can sing. They'd be smart to make her a lead singer.

InTENsity is pretty cheesy but they made me smile and I liked all the young contestants that got passed up getting a second chance. The Brewer Boys weren't very good but I could see the decision to choose them because they could be the type of act that the X-Factor's target demographic is after. Finally there is the Stereo Hoggz. I thought their performances were a mess. I won't pretend to know a lot about dancing but if that was good dancing then I'm not interested. Each member seemed to be doing their own thing without any organization and the backup singers often didn't even sing. I would have chosen the Hoggz to advance though because their lead singer was probably the best of anybody out of the groups.

Believe it or not, Paula Abdul made the best four choices out of all the judges. Unfortunately I don't think Paula is going to win the competition. Vakoda Rayne could be a contender but I think each of the other four judges each have a better contender in Drew Ryniewcz, Josh Krajcik and Chris Rene.