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" Something strange is in the air in X Factor land. Sharon Osbourne claims that she&amp;#039;s only signed up for one year. Gary Barlow has big plans for Take That in 2014. And now, X Factor&amp;#039;s most loyal servant, the man who has survived &amp;#039;182 X Factor Fix Scandals&amp;#039; and whose blossoming hair remains one of the biggest mysteries since the Bermuda Triangle, Louis Walsh, has announced that series ten will be his last.  Of course, it may all be a coincidence. Judges change on X Factor as quickly as Simon Cowell switches girlfriends.  And plenty of viewers will agree with Louis Walsh&amp;#039;s decision that ten years of him cobbling together boybands and playing the fool at the end of the judges&amp;#039; table is more than enough Louis Walsh to last the nation a lifetime.  However, there does feel like there&amp;#039;s something more to all of this than the usual flurry of silly season X Factor stories. The X Factor continuing without Louis Walsh simply isn&amp;#039;t The X Factor. No matter how much he irritates us. Ten years of X Factor. Ten series of brilliant and bonkers television that has brought us Leona, 1D, Alexandra, Shayne, Steve, Wagner, Kitty, Cocozza, Rylan and the rest. Creating genuine stars, desperate reality TV wannabes and whatever Wagner is. Ten years of pop singers performing covers for a cast of panto judges (it&amp;#039;s not the most complex format ever is it?). Maybe, after ten years, it&amp;#039;s time to call it a day. After a decade at the top, millions of pounds tucked away in Simon Cowell&amp;#039;s deep (high-waisted) trouser pockets and changing the face of Saturday night television in the UK, who could blame Simon Cowell if he&amp;#039;s already made the executive decision to close down his pop factor franchise? It&amp;#039;s not like he doesn&amp;#039;t have other things to be thinking about right now. Ahem.  X Factor&amp;#039;s secret weapon over its lifespan has been its ability to evolve, shift and expand year after year. It&amp;#039;s managed to survive a flop series one winner, the departure of Cowell, endless imitations and a Rage Against The Machine chart campaign, because it&amp;#039;s never stood still and it&amp;#039;s always remembered that a sense of humour and having fun are more important than seeking credibility and the approval of TV critics. Simon Cowell has always maintained that he will end X Factor while the show remains at the top of its game. He&amp;#039;s always insisted that he&amp;#039;d end it if it wasn&amp;#039;t fun anymore. And if he sticks to his word that would be a very admirable decision. Watch the X Factor stars of 2013 talking about ten years of The X Factor:      Of course, The X Factor could very easily be dragged out for another decade. What are ITV going to replace it with? Your Face Sounds Familiar? More Splash!?  Olly Murs, One Direction, Cher Lloyd and Little Mix are still proving that there&amp;#039;s easy money to be made by launching pop careers off the back of TV shows. And Nicole Scherzinger could lead a revamped panel into the next decade. The depressing Cheryl Cole will she return/won&amp;#039;t she return news cycle can keep on spinning.  And maybe Louis Walsh will make his big comeback in 2015 and we&amp;#039;ll all laugh about how much we missed him. OK, scrap the last one. That&amp;#039;s just ridiculous. Do you think X Factor should bow out this year? Or do you think the show has still got plenty of legs? Let us know below: "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/the-x-factor/news/a504442/x-factor-2013-will-series-10-be-the-shows-last/>