It seems staged? Like as if they already know who the contestants are and if they have a story or not.
How long are the auditions (stage its up to now) go for each session? (real life time) apparently the judges seem to wear the same clothes
I'm assuming that they can get through around 10-15 auditions per day. I've been part of the X-Factor audience in 2010 and boy-o-boy, it took around 9 hours to get through like 18 contestants or something! They had to perform, then stop the cameras for applauding, then if it wasn't loud enough, the audience had to clap again, then if the judges said something wrong, they had to stop filming and start again. After each performance, these makeup artists had to come out and lay another kilo of makeup on the judges and fix up their suits, then they had to arrange the stage, then the judges would need a break, then they would interact with the crowd, etc.. There is a lot of work involved.
Also, yeah, it does actually seem staged quite a bit. It's weird how they always ends up resulting in all four contestants turning around for the contestants with sob stories. I don't think they are told everything, but they must be briefly described to the judges beforehand, surely.
Idk why they don't change clothes.