The X Factor Finals: Week 3

October 26, 2009 26 Comments

Well, it was big band week, this week, and it usually separates the metaphorical men from the metaphorical boys.  Could John and Edward stay in the competition for another week, purely by being crap?  Well keep reading and you’ll find out.

Saturday

Running Time (including the Xtra Factor): 180 minutes
Time I watched it in: 75 minutes

X Factor Ratio: 41.7%

I started watching Saturday’s episodes at half-past eleven, which isn’t desperately late but is a bit too late to be arsed writing this. I can only apologise if none of this makes sense.

Olly – Was it just me or was he dressed like a five year old at a wedding?  He gave a competent performance, but still had a look of terror in his eyes.  I was impressively underwhelmed.  Thank god for the return of ‘Lil Louis, who managed to use the clichés ’you’re the dark horse’ and ‘you’re the boy next door’ in his first set of comments.

Why did no one tell Cheryl that her head band had slipped?  It was at  the same jaunty angle as Captain Mainwaring’s glasses when he falls over.

Lloyd – He seemingly managed to sing the entire song in one breath as well as developing an American accent.  He did a back flip during the performance and Simon gave him a look that would have been more appropriate if he’d just seen him having sex with a horse.  It was a pretty good performance after something of a shaky start.

Dannii’s dress looked like what the most glamourous woman in a post apocalyptic society would wear (sparkly tatty sack).

Miss Frank – This performance lurched dangerously between good and awful.  My first reaction was that it was going to crash land in camp awful, but I think this would have been harsh.  It was their best performance to date.

I’ve missed Louis’ unique clapping technique.

Rachel – It’s only during Rachel’s VT that I realised that Mike Bubble was doing a master class.  I was doing well with my fast forwarding.  Rachel was excellent this week, and, with a strong up-tempo song (Proud Mary), she proved that she has a great voice.  If she’s in the bottom two this week then it will be a joke.

I’ve just realised that I don’t really mention what songs the acts have been singing.  Is that weird?  It seems a bit weird.  I think it’s an indicator though how much the music actually matters to my enjoyment of the show (not very much).

Jamie – Did he really only have 24 hours to learn the song, or did they just say that to add a bit of drama?  Either way, Angel of Harlem by U2 was a strange choice for big band week.  I didn’t really like it, and he kind of bores me.  And it bores me even more that I’ve said he slightly bores me again.  The performance came across as a bit karaoke, but Simon looked at the point of orgasm at the end of the song.  Louis thought that since U2 were clearly not ‘big band’ then Simon was effectively cheating and that the performance was karaoke anyway.  I seem to have the exact same views as Mr Walsh, which is more than a little disturbing.

Stacey – She’s got an old fashioned, soothing  type voice that I shouldn’t really like and yet I love listening to her.  For that reason, I’ve not really got anything sarcastic to say about her.  I won’t even bring up the 70s sitcom stuff.  I think the judges’ comments were a bit harsh.

Danyl – Something of an enigma; he’s a great singer but no one seems to like him.  The big problem with Danyl is that his performances are so professional that you get no buzz when he gives a good performance and so it’s tempting to not rate him as highly as you should.  Previous winners, Leona and Alexandra, ended up being excellent, but you at least felt that they went on a journey.  Danyl has seemed like an established recording artist from his first audition.  For that reason, I feel that his presence could almost spoil the series.

Joe – I don’t think there is really much point in me commenting too much as he’s really not my cup of tea, but the judges love him.  He’s the only performer, so far, that I fast forwarded through much of the song. He seems like a nice enough lad so I don’t want to be nasty.  That said, he’s surely not  pop star in a million years (I’ve now sealed his fate as a mega star).

Lucie – It’s a bit harsh to zoom in on her face on the 500 inch screen when she’s got noticeable zits.  She sang this exceptionally well, but it left no impression on me whatsoever.

Does each judge have to give a half hearted standing ovation for each of their acts?

John and Edward – The Twerps had a lot to live up to after last week and they spectacularly failed to deliver.  I think it’s safe to say that the joke is now officially over.  The girl in the middle of the Jedward sandwich was pretty tasty though.

Over on The Xtra Factor,  Holly seemed to be dressed as Princess Leia.  Being Holly though, you shouldn’t read this as a criticism.

Predictions -

It’s proving to be really tough to make predictions this year since, Jedward apart, none of the acts are really rubbish and none of them are really standing out.  I’ll give it a go anyway.

Should be in bottom 2: John and Edward + Joe

Will be in bottom 2: Olly + Jamie

Sunday

Running Time: 120 minutes
Time I watched it in: 43 minutes

X Factor Ratio: 35.8%

The show started, as always, with the dreaded group song.  This week it was like a really bad amateur dramatics society musical and there was so much overacting going on that it was actually physically draining.

Thankfully Westlife made an appearance after that, so there was a good five minutes I could fast forward straight through.  Ditto Mike Bubble.

Shockingly,  Danyl and Miss Frank were in the bottom two.  Ok, it was a shock that Danyl was in the bottom two and the mildest of mild surprises that Miss Frank were.  The big question was whether or not either of the female judges have the guts to tactically get rid of Danyl.

Miss Frank – ‘Love Don’t Live Here Anymore’ – It wasn’t a bad performance actually and it must have be tough for them to concentrate knowing who they were up against.  Towards the end of the song I changed my mind and thought that maybe it was terrible.  I just don’t seem to be able to make my mind up about them.

Danyl – ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ (Joe Cocker version) – He must have been absolutely gutted, but he was excellent as always.

Cheryl was the last judge to vote and craftily took it to deadlock.  This meant that there was a chance that she could get rid of one of her main rivals without looking like the bad guy.  Miss Frank still went home though; nice try Chezza.

Over on The Xtra Factor and Holly looked amazing.  I’m probably going to stop mentioning that though as I’m starting to sound a tad obsessive.  In the interview with the judges, Simon was rightly bewildered by the voting.   The other noticeable thing with the judges was, and I’ll put this as politely as I can, Louis looked fucked.

Towards the end of the show, Yvie and Brian revealed that had to go to an emergency meeting because nobody knew what was going on with the voting.  Bring on next week!

In Conclusion

Well, my faith in the great British public was restored when Rachel was safe, but I immediately became suspicious again as Danyl, incredibly, ended up in the bottom two.  With the demise of Miss Frank, poor Louis is left with just The Twerps.  Logically, I would have said that this left him no chance of winning, but strange things seem to be happening.  Will sanity be restored next week?

Total Duration: 300 minutes

Total time I spent watching it: 118 minutes

Overall X Factor Ratio: 39.3%

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The X Factor Finals: Week 2

October 19, 2009 10 Comments

Well, another weekend has passed and another X Factor contestant has been booted off the show.  It’s also another chance for me to write far too much about it all.   Here’s what happened:

Saturday

Running Time (including the Xtra Factor): 180 minutes
Time I watched it in: 77 minutes

X Factor Ratio: 42.8%

Before I started watching, my mate sent me a text saying: ‘ Jon and Edward! Amazing!’  That certainly built up some anticipation; were John and Edward actually capable of being amazing?  This text was followed by a more detailed description: ‘Red leather/pvc suits – hotel porter trollies – and oops i did it again by Britney! TV has found a new level!’  I decided to prepare myself for a ground breaking piece of television.

Louis was not in attendance, for sad reasons, so it was interesting to see how that might affect the final outcome.

Lucie – I don’t know whether I liked it or not; she’s a pretty good singer but it seemed slightly half-hearted.  There is something about her though, and, as Simon likes to say, she has potential.

Olly – The Whitney Houston bits seem mental so far.  Apparently, Olly was singing a Tina Turner song, but I’d never heard it before and had no idea what it was.  He was pretty good and performed well, but there is still terror in his eyes.  Cheryl said that it was his ‘best performance so far’, since it’s only week two that doesn’t mean very much.

Two acts down and I’m already missing Louis’ funny faces.

Miss Frank – There were some ropey bits during this and they still don’t seem to be a performing as a group.  Actually, there were lots of ropey bits, and I think that they could be in trouble this week, even before I’ve even seen the other 8 acts.  Simon said it was terrible and had a go at Cheryl; he reckons they might be in trouble too.  He’s just copying me.

Cheryl looked pretty nice tonight, although that probably won’t come as a revelation to anyone.  And when I saw she looked ‘pretty nice’, I clearly mean that she looked amazing.

Rachel – She began her performance lying on her back on the stage; I’m no expert, but surely that would make it harder to sing.  Still developed a nice range of facial over-acting during the song, so that was quite funny.  She has a good voice but I wasn’t at all convinced by her and there were a few rough bits.  It seems a hallmark of this series that many of the contestants have decent voices but not enough of them have any ooomph, so far.

Joe – I thought that Joe should have been in the bottom two last week, but I tried to have an open mind going in to this performance.  I suppose he’s not got a bad voice, but I think it would work better if he was a drag act.  Again, the judges loved him; I think I’ll just have to accept that he’s not my cup of tea.

Danyl – Like Rachel, he employed a great range of facial overacting to ‘enhance’ his performance.  I don’t think the song did him any favours, but he’s a cracking singer.  The main problem I have with him is that he’s looking so strong that if he goes on to win the competition, it will just be really boring.

Lloyd – Whitney’s words of advice for Lloyd were the ramblings of a mad cat lady - I’ve no idea what it she was on about so I can’t even try to analyse it.  I enjoyed this performance, and he made the song his own, except for the chorus which was ridiculous in its ineptitude.  And wouldn’t you know it, both Dannii and Simon agree with me.  If only I could convince them about Joe.  Simon had yet another go at Cheryl; what a nasty man.  Cheryl started crying and Lloyd hugged her. Lucky Lloyd.  Anyway, I thought Simon was overly critical of Lloyd and I think he did more enough with the verses to stay in comfortably.

John and Edward – They had a lot to live up to, based on the texts I received earlier in the night, and the performance was suitably mental.  Absolutely mental.  And then, just when you thought they couldn’t get any more mental, they did the talking bit.  If you’ve not seen it, you should go and find it, and prepare to watch through your fingers.  And, they really did sing ‘Oops I Did it Again’ by Britney Spears, dressed in red PVC, being spun around on porters’ trollies.   They’ve clearly given them absolutely ridiculous dancing and outfits and gimmicks because they’re such appalling singers.  In a strange way, that just makes me want them to stay in, so I can see what they are made to do next.  Simon said it’s the worst performance he’s ever seen; in a way, that’s quite a compliment.

Rikki – He could quite easily join Joe’s drag act.  Again, he’s not a bad singer, but it wasn’t great.  I could see him struggling unless the alleged Scottish block-vote saves him.

Jamie – I wasn’t convinced by him last week, but he was excellent this week.  Somehow, though, he bores me slightly.

Stacey – She has an amazing mutant-like ability to look different every time you see her.  They decided to put her in a frock this week, but it still wasn’t very flattering; at least they disguised the fringe.  I do like her voice and find her performances more compelling that they somehow should be.  She seems a bit under the radar at the moment and I have a sneaky suspicion that she could be a dark horse.  Unrelated to her singing ability, I am becoming increasingly convinced that she is actually 1970s sitcom character who has travelled to the real world.

Over on The Xtra Factor, they had a new feature, Dermot’s Debrief, which felt like an attempt to get Mr O’Leary more involved.  I realise that I haven’t mentioned him since my thoughts on the first show, on the 23rd August.  Despite him presenting the more profile programme, I can’t help but feel that Holly is the main presenter; as I’ve said before, hosting the ITV1 show is actually a rubbish job.

Predictions -

Last week, I did say that Kandy Rain would be in the bottom two, but other than that I was completely wrong.  I think it’s even tougher to pick this week, and there’s a few that could/should be in trouble.  I’d love to see John and Edward stick around, but they are actually rubbish.

Should be in bottom 2: John and Edward + Miss Frank

Will be in bottom 2: Miss Frank + Rachel

Sunday

Running Time: 135 minutes
Time I watched it in: 47 minutes

X Factor Ratio: 34.8%

After last week’s cringe-fest, I was dreading the opening group song, but, while it was still pretty embarrassing,  it wasn’t quite as bad as last week.  Not quite.  Stacey looks completely different again, but, to be fair, they’d dolled her up well this time.  I did have to wonder whether or not, ‘Queen of the Night’ was the best song choice they could come up with;  it hardly seemed appropriate.

There was a lot of talk, beforehand, about whether or not Cheryl would mime etc etc.  I’ll have  to be honest, I fast forwarded through it all, so I can’t actually comment.  Needless to say, I definitely fast forwarded through Whitney.

After the usual, painfully drawn-out reveal, we got down to the the final two:  Rachel & Rikki.  Rachel was certainly no  surprise and, with Rikki there, it looks like the Scottish voting thing is a myth.  Because there was no Louis present, it effectively meant that the final decision, on who went home, would be Simon’s.

Rachel sang With or Without You by U2.  I hate to repeat myself, but I will; she has a good voice but I still wasn’t convinced by the performance.

Rikki sang a rubbish Westlife song.  I thought the same about him as  I did about Rachel.

I wasn’t sure who Simon will go for, but he went for Rikki.  Fair play to him that he didn’t just pick Rachel because she’s been in the bottom two both weeks.  Cheryl says that she can’t believe that John and Edward are still in: technically, she’s 100% right.  They may be funny but they shouldn’t really still be in.

In conclusion

Miss Frank and John & Edward dodged a bullet this week and Rachel is going to have to be spectacular next week, in order to stay in.  Rikki was never going to win the competition, so I’m glad that I get to see at least one more J&E mentalist classic performance.

Total Duration: 315 minutes

Total time I spent watching it: 124 minutes

Overall X Factor Ratio: 39.4%

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The X Factor Finals: Week 1

October 12, 2009 11 Comments

This week saw the first of the live shows on The X Factor, here is how it went down.

Saturday

Running time (including xtra factor): 180 minutes.
Time I watched it in: 90 minutes.

X Factor Ratio: 50%

I was disappointed that they’ve decided to drag it out over two nights, but I think that I’ll just about live.  Plus, it gives me extra time to blog about it all.  I hope you’re all impressed by my invention of the ‘x factor ratio’, the percentage of the original running time that it took me to wacth it all.  By inputting all of these values in to my super-computer, I hope to be able to plot a 4 dimensional graph that represents my relative enjoyment of each episode. Or something.

Here are my thoughts from when I was watching the show:

Rachel – Sang an awful arrangement of ‘Let Me Entertain You’ and it was a bit of a lacklustre performance, but she’s clearly got a cracking voice.  I’m prepared to cut her a bit of slack for being the first contestant out.  The song choice really didn’t do her justice.

Louis looks like he’s had a makeover that hasn’t worked properly. Weird.

Kandy Rain – It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t a complete car crash.  It was therefore a million times better than what I was expecting.  Dannii & Cheryl were right in the whole ‘let’s get away from being  strippers by dressing as strippers’ debate.  They clearly weren’t saying that they shouldn’t dress like that, just that you shouldn’t complain about people not taking you seriously and then dress so provocatively.  Anyway, I like Cheryl when she gets angry, and she gives Simon what for.

Olly – I didn’t really like the song (a Robbie Williams one, was it She’s The One?), so I don’t know whether that put me off slightly, or whether it was just his performance in general.  He’s got a good voice though.

Rikki – Louis pulled a funny face at the start of this.  As for Rikki, he’s quite a little oddball, but he’s another with a good voice.  Louis pulled another funny face towards the end; he’s funny.  There’s been nobody really crap so far, but no one has blown me away either.

Stacey – She’s such a gonk, I love it (although, there is a chance that she could get annoying).  She looked totally different, I wouldn’t have  known it was the same girl.  Her voice sounded a bit old fashioned (maybe a bit country & western), but  I probably enjoyed it most so far.  Her outfit was awful and really unflattering.

Miss Frank – Louis pulled a little sad face for some reason.  The singing actually sounded pretty good but they didn’t look like they were performing together.  Simon didn’t know their names, but at least he was honest about it.

Jamie – He looked a bit silly pretending to be in a band, and I was a bit embarrassed for him.  I hate to agree with Robbie Williams, but the early part of the song was awful.  It got better but I wasn’t really impressed.  Cheryl was right again, when she said that he didn’t look like he believed it when he was singing.  Simon was definitely being biased in his comments.

Lloyd – I thought it was simultaneously pretty good and absolutely awful.  I quite like the tone of his voice, but he seemed to be all over the place.  The ‘dancing’ was also cringe-worthy.  He will  be safe because he’s blonde and 16.

Lucie – She provided the most confident and best vocal up to this point, she was very good.  I thought Simon’s comments towards her were very harsh; perhaps he sees her as a threat.

John and Edward – The Twonk Twins were about as bad as you’d imagine they’d be.  On the plus side, Louis  pulled another funny face.  Cheryl summed it up best when she said, ‘it’s not your fault that you’re in the final 12.’

Joe – Was it just me that thought he looked slightly creepy? He looked like he’s been attacked by the same people who attempted the makeover on Louis.  His voice would be alright if he was in a musical, but I didn’t think he was very good and he looked terrified.  Predictably, the judges loved him.  I still think that I’m right though.

Danyl – After the ridiculous boot camp and judges’ houses auditions, Danyl managed to reign himself in and was awesome, even though he was performing a girls song.  He was head and shoulders better than the rest, so they’re all going to have to go some to beat him.  I can’t believe what Dannii kept saying, with her implications that he was gay.  What was she thinking?

It was a pretty good first show, and I’ll put down some of the lesser performances down to nerves.  There’s clearly not as much dead wood compared to  other years, so the contestants are really going to have to step it up if they’re going to make an impact.  Robbie Williams was perhaps the worst celebrity ‘masterclass’ mentor so far.  I’d probably jump all over that, except he admitted as much himself in an interview beforehand, so fair play to him.   Plus, the contestants all seemed really pleased to see him.

The Xtra Factor really comes in to its own following the live shows; I think that without it, I may not still be watching at all.  The main ITV1 show, apart from the singing, can be a bit stale; sob stories and ‘witty’ soundbites from the judges.  Over on ITV2, you get to delve in to things a little deeper, from extended interviews with the judges, the back stage buzz, and you get to see a totally different side to the contestants.  It’s all ably held together by Holly Willoughby, and you should know my feelings about her by now.

Predictions -

Should be in bottom 2: John and Edward + Joe

Will be in bottom 2:  John and Edward + Kandy Rain

Sunday

Running time: 120 minutes
Time I watched it in: 51 minutes
X Factor ratio 42.5%

Louis wasn’t present, which was understandable following Stephen Gately’s death; Simon awkwardly insisted that the show would go on. And it did.  The first part of the show involved all 12 acts doing a song together.  It was, maybe, the most cringe worthy thing I’ve ever seen (and that’s saying something).  Even now, I can’t believe that it actually happened; it already feels like a repressed abuse memory.  Alexandra  Burke came out next and did her new single; she’s looking pretty good, she sounds great, but the song was a bit lame.

Dannii then made a weird sort of apology for her ‘Danyl is gay’ implication from the previous night. Then,  Simon made some comments to suggest that Dannii was a lovely person and definitely didn’t mean anything by it.  It was all very awkward.

Then we finally got to the results, which I largely fast forwarded through.  The main ‘shock’ being that John and Edward were, hilariously, safe.  Rachel was somewhat unfairly in the bottom two, and probably suffered from going first on Saturday.  I’ve no idea what the song was that she sang in the ‘sing off’, but she surely did enough to stay safe.  She’s got a cracking voice and was much better than the previous night.  She almost started crying at the start of the song and so did well to pull herself together.  Kandy Rain were predictably in the bottom two and it seemed inevitable, at this point, that they would be going home.  Their performance wasn’t bad, but it was a little bit karaoke.  They were worse than on Saturday.

They started the judges’ voting by assuming that Louis would have voted for Kandy rain, so that was fair enough.  Dannii and Cheryl then obviously chose to save Rachel.  It didn’t look good for the girl group.  Simon then, amazingly, voted to save Kandy Rain, which meant that it went to
the overly dramatic dead-lock.  So, Kandy Rain went home.  Ho hum.

Over on The Xtra Factor, they showed ‘candid camera’ style scene from Saturday night in which Cheryl went to Kandy Rain’s dressing room to clear up that she wasn’t attacking them personally. But, why were the cameras there?  It felt like one of those fake backstage bits that you get in wrestling, where they pretend that they don’t know the camera is there.

In Conclusion

The biggest conclusion I can draw from the weekend is that I have written FAR too much about the X Factor and that I seem to take it far more seriously than I would have imagined.  As for the show itself, the right act probably went home as it would have taken a miracle for them to make an impact in the competition.  The other thing is that they shouldn’t have changed the format to have it over two nights.  An hour for the results show was really over egging it.  Thank god for Sky Plus.

Total Duration: 300 minutes!!

Total time I spent watching it: 141 minutes

Overall X Factor Ratio: 47%

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The X Factor: 2009 Finalists Vs 2008 Finalists

October 7, 2009 2 Comments

Well, I’ve only just posted about The X Factor, but, a comment from my friend, CJ, has made me question the assertion that this year’s finalists seem the strongest line up so far.  I was going to address this point in the comments section of that post, but it seemed entirely fitting for it to be a post in its own right.  So, here it is.

It was certainly my gut feeling that the standard is overall higher this year, but then, as I’ve said a few times, I always tend to think this until you get to the live rounds and it’s only then that you really see who is actually good.  But, is there any basis for thinking that this year are stronger? I thought it might help me to decide if I compared this year’s finalists to last year’s.  This isn’t an entirely fair comparison as when you think about the 2008 contestants you have in mind their actual live performances from last year, and not just the few auditions we’ve seen from the 2009 bunch.  I’ll give it my best shot though.

Girls

2008 – Diana, Laura & Alexandra

2009 – Lucie, Rachel & Stacey

From the 2008 auditions, Laura & Diana definitely stood out more than any of the girls from this year, but I’m not sure this means that they were actually better singers.  Interestingly enough though, Alexandra wasn’t even on the radar at this stage, and yet ended up being the obvious winner.  I’d say that although not being particularly memorable (yet), this year’s girls could have the potential to hold their own.  I’ll have to give the win to 2008 because of how good Alexandra turned out to be, even though this is probably unfair.

Boys

2008 – Eoghan, Austin & Scott

2009 – Lloyd, Rikki & Joseph

One fairly drab lot of boys has been replaced by another lot.  I think Lloyds is quite interesting as his voice is quite different, but, overall, I’ll call this one a draw.

Over 25s

2008 – Ruth, Daniel & Rachel

2009 – Danyl, Olly & Jamie

The 2009 lot are so much better than their counterparts from last year that it’s not even funny, and that’s even after you’ve taken all the awful histrionics in to account.  A clear win for 2009.

Groups

2008 – JLS, Bad Lashes & Girl Band

2009 – John and Edward, Kandy Rain & Miss Frank

Kandy Rain have the potential to be as awful as Bad Lashes and Girl Band, while Miss Frank have the potential to be better than all of them.  Only the potential though, they’re currently awful too.  John and Edward are so bad that I actually quite like them now, but I don’t think that counts.  JLS stand out from nearly every other group in X Factor history in that they managed to achieve the level of being ‘OK’.  2008 will have to win because of JLS.

Conclusions

Based on this rough comparison, it looks as though my gut feeling is wrong and 2008 was perhaps a slightly stronger year.  Perhaps.  As I’ve said before, and as I’ll keep saying, you can’t really compare until we’ve seen the class of 2009 perform live.  We should have this conversation again after the weekend. Bring on the finals!

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The X Factor: Judges’ Houses

October 7, 2009 9 Comments

Well we’re getting very close to the live shows on The X Factor, this week sees us visit the judges’ houses (which are obviously not their real houses, so I don’t know why they call it that).  Here’s what happened.

Saturday

Saturday’s episode starts with perhaps the biggest shock in X Factor; Louis was in Italy not in Ireland!  I needed a lie down to cope when I found that out.  We then meet who each judge has drafted in to help them.  Louis had Ronan Keating, the Irish Gary Barlow, so it looks like the two of them are finally talking again.  Cheryl had Will young who is so posh and sincere that I could listen to him all night.  Sadly, Simon had Sinitta helping him yet again.  I can only assume that she must have some incriminating photos of him.  Over in Dubai, Dannii has the somewhat more impressive Kylie to help her.

I was a little underwhelmed by the ‘Boys’ category, although they seem pretty solid throughout and with young male singers, their looks play as big a part as their voices.  I was slightly baffled by Daniel Fox, but I wouldn’t be shocked if any of them got through.

The ‘Groups’ category is notoriously rubbish, and this year is no exception.  Ronan and Louis seemed to criticise every single act after they sang, and didn’t have a good thing to say.  You’d have to say that that was quite worrying for Louis’ chances of winning.  I don’t think it actually matters to the outcome of the show which three  acts they pick.  Unsurprisingly, Louis still managed to find time to defend John and Edward.  More surprisingly, and despite slagging all the acts off, they still audaciously claimed that they have a potential  winner.

Simon seems to have the most difficult job in selecting which of the ‘Over 25s’ will go through, the category looks to be very strong.  It’s actually a bit of a joke when you compare this group to what Louis has to work with.  The most disappointing moment of the week was when Danyl sadly didn’t reprise his hilarious cover of ‘Holding Back the Years’.

The ‘Girls’ category is definitely stronger vocally than the boys, and they certainly look better in bikinis (was it not a bit gratuitous that they sent them down a water slide?).  I’m not sure which ones are the best singers, but I definitely fancy Stacey McClean most.

I realise that at this point that I haven’t picked any of the contestants to go through; it just seems too tight to call this year and I’d struggle to single anybody out.  I also realised, as I was watching it, that the episode seemed endless; this was because, unusually, I actually watched most of it.

Have I mentioned this week that The Xtra Factor is the better programme?  I’ve come to the conclusion that I big part of the reason for this is that you actually get to see the personalities of both contestants and judges; you don’t just get sob stories and cheesy soundbites as you do with the ITV1 show.  It also doesn’t hurt that Holly is almost unbearably lovely.

Sunday

I was a bit apprehensive about watching this episode beforehand as it tends to be full of people crying and I find it totally unbearable.  To be fair to them, it’s not surprising that they cry considering the way that they drag out the reveal as to whether they’re going through or not.  It’s bordering on animal cruelty.

The ‘Girls’ were the first group to be revealed, and Lucie Jones was the first contestant through through.  She has that girl next door type appeal, so she could do pretty well.  Sadly, Stacey McClean didn’t get through. Typical.  Next through was Rachel, who I could tell you exactly nothing about.  The last girl through was the other Stacey; I though that this was a good decision as has distinctive voice and a likeable, goofy personality.

The dreaded ‘Groups’ were up next and I couldn’t have cared less, other than the vague hope that John and Edward would get through for comedy value.  First through were Miss Frank, who, if I was being cruel, I might rename as Miss Take.  Next through were Kandy Rain, the girl band consisting of ex-strippers.  They should be popular with the largely female voters then.  Last, but by no means least, came The Twerps, sorry I mean, John and Edward.  This pair of idiots were somehow the most nailed-on finalists in the whole competition.  I won’t pass comment on Louis’ possible motivations for this.  That said, you can always rely on Louis for a mental decision to keep the show interesting.

The slightly lacklustre ‘Boys’ were next and first through was Weirdy Eyebrow Man (Rikki), quickly followed by Lloyd, whose voice I probably like most in this group.  Before the third finalist was revealed, we had a bit of drama with Cheryl having to stop in the middle of her decision over Daniel Fox.  I’d like to think that her dilemma was genuine and not done to build up the tension.  Since I fancy her, I’ll assume that it was genuine.  Last through was the totally unsurprising, Little Geordie Joe.  It seems to be the rule that you put through people who are from vaguely the same geographical area as you.

Finally, we got to the ‘Over 25s’, and early bookies favourite, Danyl goes through.  They’ve been slightly critical of him since boot camp, but I think this was mainly to not make him seem like the dead cert to go through that he was.  Next through was slightly quirky Olly and finally came Jamie.  I was a little bit surprised by Jamie, not because of a lack of talent, but because I thought Simon would put through at least one of the girls.  They still look the strongest category.

And that’s nearly it for this week, apart from The Xtra Factor.  Have I mentioned that The Xtra Factor is…oh, I have.  Well, what  about Holly…oh, I’ve done that one too.  Never mind.  The most interesting thing was that Holly also thought that Simon would put at least one girl through, proving that great minds think alike.

And that really is that.  I’m actually looking forward to next week, as the live finals really separate the men from the boys (so to speak).  See you there (not literally).

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