Phone Ban: Gary Says No To Twitter For X-Factor Finalists

Gary Barlow has spoken out and said he wants the ‘X-Factor’ contestants to have their phones confiscated during the live show finals.

He said he believes the finalists should be barred from using them during the live shows because they spend too long on social networks like Twitter and focus on the negative comments from viewers.

Gary spoke out about the hopeful’s Twitter use during the judges’ houses stage of the contest.

Does it have anything to do with Gary being the victim of internet troll Kenneth Tong last month? Perhaps. Tong used the micro-blogging social network to make a series of sick jokes about the singer’s stillborn daughter Poppy. The show's host Dermot O'Leary was also the target of one of Tong's trolling sprees.

Gary said; “Last year's contestants spent too much time on Twitter when they should have been spending the time working on their songs and performances.”

That’s a fair enough point Gaz, but what do we think about the novelty of being able to keep in touch with our favourite contestants during the live shows?

Speaking at Boughton House in Northamptonshire, where he is based for this stage of the contest, he said contestants were noticing the one bad comment they were receiving and worrying about that, as opposed to enjoying the hundreds of positive comments people were sending them.

"They'd look at 100 comments and 99 would be positive but all they would think about was the one that was negative. It's not good for them," Gary said.

"If they didn't see Twitter, it would be much better for them. If I have my way, I'll take their phones off them as soon as they go into the contestants' house.

"The X Factor is hard work. They need to put all their energies into their performances, rather than worrying about who has said what about them on Twitter."

What do you think? To tweet or not to tweet?