It was Friday night and I settled in front of the TV again for 3 whole evenings of the X Factor with a bottle of wine and a jaundiced eye – Yes I agree – It’s above and beyond the call of duty.
The competition has now moved on to the boot camp stage and the remaining contestants must fight like gladiators to stay in the competition. Poor Cheryl, you would feel a little sorry for her as the ultra-tense version of musical chairs played out to a highly charged crowd. 6 singers were chosen to take a seat if Cheryl thought they were good enough but here’s the rub – if she thought subsequent performers were better, then someone had to lose their seat. Every choice that Cheryl made was greeted with hysterical booing – my son wondered if the audience had been paid to over-react – I thought, maybe they’d been given drinks spiked with speed. Just to complicate matters, Cheryl felt she had eliminated Emily Middlemas in error and when we thought the final 6 had been picked, decided to change her mind and bring her back. Between the jigs and the reels, I felt that she chose the right 6 – Chloe Jasmine, Emily Middlemas, Kerrianne Covell, Lauren Platt, Lola Saunders and Steph Nala. I just hope she checked under her car before she drove home!
On Saturday night, it was Mel B’s turn to pick out the boys. Mel was a lot more sure of herself denying 3 contestants seats straight away without batting an eyelid and telling one of them to ‘do one,’ in a most unsympathetic way.
Dermot O’Leary was in the wings all the while, reminding us what an exciting show this was, making Shakespearean asides – ‘Oh man, what’s going to happen next?” ‘And now it gets interesting’ Come on Dermot, stop looking at your watch, it’s nearly time to clock off.
Mel’s 6 were chosen – Jake Quickenden, Jordon Norris, Danny Dearden, Paul Akister, Jack Walton and Andrea Faustini.
We then moved on to Simon and the over 25s. More booing and swapping around of seats .
we were left hanging at the end of the night – Simon had decided someone was going to lose their seat but we had to wait ‘ til Sunday night to find out who. – Ooh the suspense!
Sunday night arrived and Kisela Berice was sent home to make way for Jay James. After that the whole thing started getting out of hand as people were told they’d lost their seats only to be made come back again because the by now, rabid mob weren’t happy. The judges took a back seat at this point and just let the audience choose.
In the end we were left with Jay James, Ben Haenow, Fleur East, Stevie Ritchie, Helen Fulthorpe and Lizzie Pattinson going through to Judges houses.
Louis groups were up next and the 8 member boyband put together especially for the show went down a storm. Simon was grinning from ear to ear after their performance. (Ka ching, Ka ching, Ka ching!)
Blonde Electric (definitely not the new Jedward!) were sent away but called back again because Louis felt he’d made a big mistake! (whatever)
The competition descended in to chaos at the end of the night with rejected band, Overload grabbing the microphone and saying they weren’t going to go without a fight. The mob bayed ferociously in the background and Louis decided to have a sing off to resolve the situation. The unnamed girlband were finally chosen to go through and the final 6 were Blonde Electric, Only the Young, unnamed girlband, Boyband concept, Pow Pow girls, the Brooks twins.
The judges left the arena then, glad to be alive!
Next week is judges houses. There won’t be an angry mob, I’m afraid and there is a strong possibility of some very emotional scenes.
