Bang bang, they shot her down – we got our answer, as Curtis said. It was obvious to us after last night’s show that producers had no interest in keeping Sophie Habibis around for long; I wasn’t expecting Misha B to be in the bottom two with her. However, this was another foregone conclusion in the sing-off, and like Boki I lumped on. I ended up with liabilities of over £13,000 for a profit of just over £1,000 at average odds of 1.08.
Misha’s descent into the bottom two is a reminder that this is as much a popularity contest as it is a singing contest. Would it have happened this soon without bullygate? We had already expressed doubts about the record of confident, black female singers on the franchise both in our original 1-16 prediction and after Misha’s excellent first live show performance brought her down to 7-2 and challenging for favouritism. But as Chatterbox commented, it must have had some impact. Can she recover?
Interestingly, the initial reaction in the win market was relatively muted – Misha drifted out to only 6-1. This reflects the fact that she does have plenty of qualities in a weak field. Misha clearly failed to attract public votes this week, but at the top of the market, both Janet and The Risk didn’t convince at all. This is an even more open race than before.
That Misha was beaten in the phone poll by some far more unconvincing performances does not bode well. No one who has been in the bottom two has ever gone on to win the show, as Mark explained. It would be a surprise not to see her price drift out further. But I reckon she’ll get a boost in the short-term at least. The recognition that she didn’t deserve to be in the danger zone on merit alone means that she is probably due a decent sympathy bounce.
Talking of which, after his early bottom two survival, Frankie managed to escape for a second successive week, also to my surprise. By playing up his bad boy persona, producers have managed to find a niche for him in this series: he has become the love-to-hate figure that programme makers may have originally had in mind for Kitty Brucknell. Kitty herself benefited from a sympathy bounce this week, and remains another character the show has done its best to promote.
The same could not be said for poor Sophie, and it was easy to feel sorry for the North London lass, who has been on the end of some harsh criticism and boring song choices over the last few weeks. What did you think – has Sophie been treated unfairly, and what does this mean for Misha B’s fortunes for the rest of the series? Do let us know in the comments section below.
Sophie, like Sami and Nu Vibe before her, was completely set up for this. I did feel sympathy for her although the increased figures in my bank account dampened that sympathy slightly.
But whilst Sophie’s exit was mighty predictable, Misha being in the bottom 2 was a big surprise to me. I thought that out of the big 3, she was the least at risk today. I expect her to receive a sustained sympathy bounce on the back of this, and what I mean by that is that I expect her to take a path similar to Danyl Johnson a couple of years ago. She won’t win, but she’ll probably keep out of the bottom 2 for a number of weeks yet.
I find it hard to look beyond the obvious Frankie/Kitty for next week’s bottom 2, with Frankie finally biting the dust. However, with Frankie avoiding the bottom 2 today (which was a big shock to me), who knows? I mean obviously someone is voting for him.
Ultimately Sophie was clearly lacking that star quality and was always living on borrowed time.
She came across as safe and boring , the sort of girl who’s idea of being rebelious and non conformist is taking a library book back 2 days late.
As soon as Misha was announced as her partner in bottom 2, then Sophie was an absolute banker to go. Just suppose for example Tulisa had voted to send Misha home, after all that had happened she would as a judge have been accused of jusdging personalities and not performances and would lose all credibility.
Misha is undoubtably one of the 2 or 3 best singers left in the competition, she blew me away when I saw her live at bootcamp, however she is going to need some clever PR to lose the bullying tag which has clearly hit a nerve with the public (lets face it, based on perfomance she is not bottom 2 material) and get herself back in the competition.
As for next week, my feeling is Frankie will be safe for one more week and they will lose one of the other boys (either Marcus or Craig), leaving all judges with 2 acts remaining and a nice well balanced final 8 for the live tour. I am still pondering which one is the chosen one of the two, my feeling is one of the two will be dropped next week to enable Gary Barlow to focus all his attention on one main boy contender left, Frankie will drop out a week or two later.
So my early bets for next week are 2 small wagers on both Marcus and Craig for the elimination, both of which should be nice prices.
I was shocked today, who is voting for Frankie, there’s something we’re all missing here. Pure speculation here but being last announced safe doesn’t often mean your third from bottom does it? It’s for drama.
I’m now wondering who is going to end up fourth the strong contestant who ultimately polarises opinion (Cher, Diana, Danyl) both Misha B and Janet fit that mould. But I’m expecting a huge sympathy bounce for Misha B on the forums there is a lot of speculation she’ll do a JLS/Olly Murs and gain momentum to second. The flaw in that theory is they were bottom 2 very late in the series, Misha could gain and lose momentum by Top 4/5.
Bottom 2 for next week looks like a minefield. Misha-B should be safe, I think Kitty might get a pimp slot and I’m afraid to say Frankie is a dead cert for the bottom 2 after the last couple of weeks. Given the theme (clubclassics) I think it could be a trainwreck for Janet and Craig.
The unfair thing is: judges find HER song choices boring and we now that the contestants don’t always have a freedom to choose. But at the end, life is a bitch…
Misha was a shock indeed, producers played with fire and she got burned, zero chance of winning left for all the reasons already mentioned. Btw I wanted to ask for an update of several articles – do you still think Misha, Craig and Risk are not going to win and if Marcus is still with a chance iyo (Misha became clear in the meantime).
Rg Frankie, before 2nd show I concluded (based on twitter) that he has enough followers to be safe but he ended in bot2. Now I think that his followers also thought he’s safe and they didn’t vote much, which they do now.
Btw does anyone found Janet reasonably comfortable with the short piece of top10 opening song this evening? I didn’t record it so watched only once but first impression was positive in a sense that she actually CAN do an upbeat song.
There is no doubt in my mind that Janet can do an upbeat track. Check out her recording of Avril Lavignes Skater Boi on You tube.
This is a card the producers are daving to be played at a later date when needed.
The whole shy Irish girl thing is a bit of an act IMHO.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUT_hU_wDas
This is a good info, thanks! I thought that the moment is coming this week (after Louis said she’s boring) but they took her another step below. The question is when they are going to play that card (if not too late).
Like many things X Factor Mischa being in the bottom two was a surprise but shouldn’t really have been. Her character type traditionally doesn’t do well and her admission on the vt of being a bully obviously didn’t go down well. She can hold a note but her performances are almost too perfect, a little clinical and cold, in fact when I wrote my summing up last night I’d actually forgotten to include her, it seems the voters I’d too.
You mentioned the chaos of the show but the intentions of the show have never been clearer, Nu Vibe, Sami and Sophie’s exits have been easier to read than Spot Goes For A Walk.
I would say don’t get hung up on tradition, the tour acts will be whoever thy hunk will sell tickets and the show never shies away from stretching a musical theme as far as possible. I’m sure Craig and Janet will be doing very slow versions of Club Classics next week and Frankie’s will involve as much actual singing as a football chant.
If you had to ask me who’s in favour this week, who got help I’d flag up the running order favours for Risk (problems aired while Strictly still tangoed), Little Mix and Craig. Frankie and Johnny got the good comments but they took the hubris out of Johnny’s performance while it looked like they tried to dampen Janet and were neutral on Marcus.
Musically next week may play into Marcus’s hands though… Tough to call…
Stop press: Kitty might have to overcome tomorrow’s Mirror front page http://t.co/JHwoGpIO
Must be a slow news day for the Mirror. Anyone with ears could tell her voice was modified at the start of that performance. It was done for effect and critically, it was not autotune.
The digital effects did help to disguise her nasal tone when singing the quiet bits though!
Thats a bit of a “bears shit in woods” story from the Mirror.
I don’t think it is any particular shock or secret that a vocoder was used for parts of the song….I cannot see it having much of an effect on the votes.
Is this really a story, anyone with ears who watched would be aware of this already.
What next??? Daily Mirror exclusive “XFactor group song mimed every week!”
I agree you’re 100% right artistically but a front page headline like that won’t gain her any support.
For me though a successful X Factor contestant must have an overcome the odds story. Leona, Alexandra and Rebecca’s shyness. Matt’s last chance to make it. Joe’s little lost boy act. If Kitty is seen having the odds stacked in her favour by a voting public who don’t read past the headline and first paragraph then she could be in trouble. Could.
I already feel that Frankie’s vote is a anti-show vote, I think if this story takes off it could seriously depress the Kitty vote
Daniel, couldn’t agree more re ‘that this is as much a popularity contest as it is a singing contest.’ For me, Misha is without doubt the best singer, and i do think she will recover.
Wow.
Sure didn’t see that coming.
Sophie of course but MISHA?
Bullygate did its’ damage and she was indeed holed below the waterline last week although I didn’t expect good ship MISHA to take on so much water so quickly.
Glad MARCUS is safe (obviously) and now downto 7/1 in places is a serious contender. I feel a bit sorry for SOPHIE put through at the expense of the much more talented AMELIA and the never given a chance- even her sing off choice song was really dreary and dreadful and was sung really badly and she was bound to go.
One good point- actually there’s a few but the best point is that the voting pattern doesn’t leak out to the bookies- MISHA was virtually the rank outsider to be in the mire. I have noticed this in all the XF and BGT competitions – you really don’t know what is going on in the markets.
What we in these parts do know is that MARCUS is finally being taken as a serious competitor by the bookies and our slips at various prices from the original 14’s and out to 33’s are still pressed and waiting and not in the bni as our champion’s odds tumble to – hang on, let me see- best priced 13/2.
I shall wait another week I think before laying any off. There’s a couple of rags to go first and then time to lay a bit off.
Who said X Factor was not a popularity conteat?
Bleesed are the modest.
That was that, Sophie gone, I was watching with my 8 year old niece tonight, asked me vote for Kitty!
That was not what I expected for sure.
Next week clubclasics an odd one, not easy fot sure. Guetta only club act doing any mainstream buisness and a Euro beat cooked Nu Vibe well and truly so song choice going to be vital.
Won’t suit the boys really,
I think Nugget asked re bookies tonight, it was not easy get allot on but did manage a reasonable amount with PP at 13/8 on Sophie when they shortened Frankie just after show started.
My views on the sound well expressed past few weeks, Kitty’s voice was processed last night but only for effect.
Janet needs a strong week next week or going to be well wobbly favourite, Marcus at 33’S is nice slip to be sitting on at least. Long way to go though.
5 in a row Daniel??
Bit off topic – but has anyone had a look at the prices for next elimination? Just wondering what peole think (i have no intention of backing anything this early!!) just interested!!
http://www.oddschecker.com/specials/tv/x-factor/next-elimination
Only Boyles and bwin up atm
Hi Mark
I am looking to place small early bets on the two boys , Marcus and Craig at double figure prices (hopefully 16/1 plus) for next elimination.
Waiting for a few more firms to price up before I step in though.
Hi Mark, as you say much too early.
Bookies love Frankie at this stage, short odds lay away probably their plan for another week anyway.
As I said yesterday any one of six again. Voting numbers might be low so tight margins between bottom two or not.
This place on a roll despite the mayhem and chaos on the show so same tact for this week, sit tight ’till Saturday most likely.
Hi Donald
Maybe I have just been a bit lucky, but have done well so far getting in early.
Much as I admire Daniel and some of the big punters on here, I have neither the nerve nor the bankroll to place massive lumps on at 1.08 and such prices.
I don’t think its ever to early to start looking for value in the prices, often the first prices issued are where the mistakes lie.
Hi Nugget, couldn’t agree more, I chanced The Risk last night small stakes.
I had serious result when Maria Lawson was voted out against The Conway sisters. I did have a go at Frankie last week also.
I got on at 13/8 tonight on Sophie which was well decent odds 40 mins later so there is value around even when the show starts.
Lets see how week develops.
Daniel and the gang on a roll in fairness
I agree with that, I dont have the nerve to pile in to short prices like 1.06 etc – seen it all go wrong too many times
I’d rather either lay short odds or leave them alone, the return isnt worth the money put down to win a decent amount!
But that’s true, the early markets have some value, just a case of a bit of a riskl as we dont know the order but still value out
I thought Littlem mix/Craig/Kitty possibles for b2 next week
Frankie – not sure about atm so leaving alone
Misha B – gets a sympathy vote..UNLESS the papers cover her nagtively all week then she may well face b2 again?
Johnny – safe for a few more weeks
The Risk/Janet will be safe being the chosen ones
Hi mark,
We have to look who is the most expendable act in the producers eyes at this stage, each of the chosen to be pushed out actually exited in these 3 rounds. The problem is that the list they want to save/postpone became so big and soon they need to sacrifice someone. The only thing that comes to my mind at the moment is to offer the weaker of Marcus/Craig to the slaughter but I’m still not sure which one it is. This week I had a combo on Craig/Sophie which payed off so that might do the trick again.
Great reading the article and comments, lots of excellent points. The VT they showed of Sophie going back to a half empty pub making small talk with a mate was scandalous, when you compare it to Janet’s. Don’t get me wrong, I backed her at 8s, so I’m not thinking of ringing Ofcom or anything.
Have I missed why she hasn’t got family?
If so why was that not used to make her more interesting (!)
Nothing new to add on Misha, except she may be worth a look in the ‘first announced safe’ betting. A girl hasn’t been named first yet (The Risk, Marcus and Kitty) either.
Keep up the good work
Sorry if this has been brought up (too hungover to read all comments) but not sure I would have fancioed risking 13k on the sing-off. Now she’s been bottom two I rewally don’t see Misha having any chance. On that basis I thought there was a small chance they might go for the shock factor and put Sophie through. Ok, Misha can sing but and they may have her in line for some sort of career but it’s not like it would have been losing a genuine world class performer.
On a separate issue, was out with the inlaws last night and when I got the text about misha I think they thought it was slightly strange me shouting “Boom, Marcus is gonna be single figures” over and over. Tempted to lay a little off but I reckon biscuit boy is the only one that can beat Marcus now and let’s face it, what kind of career could he have?
Also, and this may be the hangover and optimism over Marcus combining, but not sure how they could stitch Marcus up, not by the song anyway. Club classics should suit him reasonably well and he’s also sung first so perhaps unlikely to go off first again. Which means that Craig could be a tempting bottom two bet, especially as that would add more shock factor (because he’s been bigged up whereas Marcus hasn’t).
Agree with much of the above, I think this week’s elimination market is much harder to pick than the last three weeks. Not sure anyone is really safe, although interested in today’s poll in the Sun that has Janet some way ahead as “favourite contestant”. First stabs in the dark are that Kitty, post-sympathy bounce may be due in the B2 again and that this could be the week that Rythmix follow the well-trodden girlband path out the door.
Although I wonder if Mischa has no pals left and she may not benefit from the bounce as others have suggested…an interesting week ahead, looking forward to reading more comments and debate!
Having started this series with the opinion that Misha was doomed to join the Rachels club, things were beginning to look slightly more hopeful for her. However, the combination of Bullygate and Misha’s appearance in the bottom two has served as a harsh reminder that I shouldn’t pay too much attention to odds that so often seem to shift around based on the perceived quality of weekly performances (and judges comments) rather than on decent analysis of the contestants’ potential in the competition.
If you look at Series 5, for example, I believe (although I don’t know where I could find this info) that Diana Vickers and JLS were the bookies’ favourites whilst the phone votes were topped mostly by Eoghan Quigg and Alexandra Burke (Quigg really was depressing to watch, wasn’t he?)
On the other hand, Olly Murs came second without ever topping the vote and JLS just lost out to A-Burke after topping the vote only once. Although Matt Cardle topped all but the first live vote in Series 7, statistics show that Rebecca probably received more votes after the final elimination, meaning that another week could have seen her steal the crown at the last minute.
In looking for a way for Misha to bounce back in the competition, we can only hope she is more of a Ruth Lorenzo than a Katie Waissel. The former was in the bottom two in Weeks 2 & 5 but eventually made it to a respectable 5th place. The latter made it two places lower with a lot more pushing and many more appearances in the bottom two. Other notable alumni (Cher Lloyd, Olly Murs, JLS) were all in the bottom two by Week 7 – admittedly a lot less embarrassing than Week 4 but still early for contestant going on to have Number 1 singles. I think it’s also important to remember the number of contestants left at this stage is much lower. When Cher came bottom in the phone vote last year, it may have been Week 7 but there were still EIGHT contestants remaining – only two less than in Misha’s pool last night.
I’m with you on your suggestion that this series has gone horribly wrong. I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I considered Misha’s styling to be dangerously alienating and the harsh look does nothing to help the girl in her upward climb from the Bullygate pit. I fear that whilst the Halloween theme should have suited Ms B, the scary makeup, growth-like horn-hair and evil cackling in the rap will have done nothing to soften her after last week’s debacle. Note also the judges’ (and indeed Misha’s) refusal to directly negate the claim of bullying – only to dismiss it as irrelevant from the performance. The whole thing is a little fishy – perhaps they are planning a post-show career for Misha but think that being a nice girl and winning will do nothing for her ‘urban’ street cred? I’m also with you on this series being an open playing field. I think if anything, it is last year that should be considered unusual – 16 contestants, one clear winner in the weekly vote etc. Let us remember that the early favourite has rarely been the winner.
Interestingly, I think the real money spinner from this series could be Rhyth’little’Mix. The current girldband market is not half as saturated as its male counterpart and “The Saturdays” haven’t neared the chart successes of The (actual) Sugababes and Girls Aloud. Belle Amie gave it a go recently and failed. In a way, I think it makes more sense for producers to push the girlband over Misha as it is more important for a group to advance further in the competition in order to appear in any way credible. With Janet and The Risk as surefire finalists and a third spot filled by one of the Scouse lads, there are only so many spaces for the ‘pushed’ top fivers (i.e. Cher last year). Whilst I don’t see Little Mix making it quite that far, I would imagine the producers will invest a disproportionate amount of energy in them in the coming weeks – perhaps even at the expense of Misha?
Poor Sophie. She gave far better than she got and was never given the chance to fly with dreary song after dreary song.
Share the shock on Misha though – my thoughts from the weekend:
1. We’ve had 6 different contestants in the bottom 2 in three weeks. Suggests that voting is low numbers, or very changeable, or that a small number of contenders are getting most of the votes.
2. Janet was awful on Saturday, but I’m convinced she is a strong favourite, being held back before an upcoming upbeat pimp slot. Her 15 seconds on Sunday night showed she can do this comfortably. The similar Sun poll last year had Matt leading Rebecca if I remember it right.
3. It’s not impossible that Saturday was the start of another horse-switching on the groups, in preparation for putting The Risk out of its misery in favour of Little Mix.
4. A mentor being away seems fatal for their category; didn’t Louis lose a group while away for Steven Gateley’s funeral?
16/1 Craig Coulton to be in bottom 2 next week looks too big to me 🙂
What ya reckon??
Good shout Nugget. He could struggle with Club classics
I wish 16’s were still available. It seems like a great shout. The best I can get is 9’s.
Is it just me, or does 3/1 available for Little Mix to be the top group seem a bit too high for a 2 horse race, especially considering that the other horse is The Risk. With their change in group members (which may be seen as an unfair advantage) and an unconvincing performance last week, are they really more likely to be top group than Janet is to be top girl?
Hi Chatterbox
SkyBet are still offering 12/1 Craig bottom 2.
Hi Nugget,
I would probably agree about Craig except the producers have been backing him with pimp slots, positive VT, the whole “Liverpool” card, Gary’s comments “Performance of the evening” – which anyone could see it wasn’t. MARCUS stays out the bottom 2 and clearly has his supporters but if there is much more obvious favouritism for the less talented CRAIG our goose might be slowly cooked.
MARCUS just hasn’t been given a fair crack of the whip yet- I would love to get hold of the pillock who substituted the riff for Superstition” with the backing track for INEXCESS. What a stupid thing to do, not that it made that much difference to MARCUs who rode above it in his true professional manner.
I have sizeable bets on MARCUS to win and to be top boy and as far as I can see only CRAIG stands in his way as in a final against JANET and either of the groups MARCUS would make mincemeat out of them.
D’ye know as I was typing that last sentence, it occurred to me that in the later stages of the contest the candidates get two or even three songs – how would JANET and CRAIG do there? They would be boring as hell- even more than they are now because they dont have the versitility.
Maybe some of that 16/1 for CRAIG is not such a bad bet after all.
I don’t personally feel that sorry for Sophie. Although she had obviously been set up to go, I don’t think she would have lasted much longer as her doleful, melancholic voice (with whiny loud voice), was too limited. I backed her to go as soon as the song list was out. I also did a combo at 12-1 on Sophie and Frankie before the show and thought it must be in the bag with the two of them and Misha standing there!
Sophie and Janet gave the worst performances in my opinion, with Frankie being helped by a clever song choice suited to ‘speak singing’. I can’t see what connection ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Stay’ had to the theme, and given the judges’ penchant for squabbling about such things, was surprised (or not) this wasn’t picked up on. It seems Frankie is the new Wagner/Weasel and he could be getting an ‘anti show vote’ as EM says. He does have a big Twitter following and Louis from One Direction has been urging his own followers to vote for Frankie. This is outrageous skulduggery. If Frankie is good enough he shouldn’t need to be pimped by last year’s teeny bopper idols, and Syco should tell him to stop meddling. Or do they have a hand it? Or is this a conspiracy theory too far?
Yeah the said guy was tweeting for people not to vote for james michael and vote for frankie before we knew of the twist!!.thought it was outrageous then,and now you have mentioned it i believe it was really unfair on james who wasnt getting a fair crack of the whip anyway,don t know why it still bothers me coz i know its all a fix anyway,i just don t like injustise and i thought then as i do now that it was a dirty trick by sycho.Don t watch the show now but am intrigued by this webpage and learning actually how the show works and love reading the insights!.
My thoughts on the weekend:
I think that the “Bullygate” incident turned a lot of people against Misha, but also motivated her fanbase. This week, in the middle of the pile, getting forgotten along the way, not only failed to motivate her fanbase, as the Judge’s did some backtracking, however minor, on last weeks comments. At the same time, her styling and performance served to remind people of the “bully” claims of last week, meaning that floating voters didn’t vote for her either.
Who is voting for Frankie Cocozza? He comes across as a vile and repulsive human being. People have argued that his main demographic are teenage girls, but most girls I know find him horribly repulsive and I simply don’t know how girls can vote for someone who “bangs” girls and even forgets their names.
Sophie was stitched up, but I think that the producers sent her through with her having the potential to go far. However, I reckon her pimped Week 2 performance of “Wherever You Will Go” didn’t get that many votes and she may have just escaped the Bottom Two. After this, the producers were happy to ditch her as they realised she would never have enough support to win.
Depending on when Frankie goes, one of Marcus or Craig has to leave soon. I think that if Marcus can get a pimp slot(He hasn’t got one yet) and impresses then Craig could be axed. Certainly, Craig hasn’t lived up to his early promise. I think we need to wait on this one though.
Little Mix got a lot of pimping this week and I thought that they could take over from The Risk as the alpha-band as in recent weeks, they have been far better than The Risk. We shall see, though I was surprised that The Risk survived the B2 from the death slot.
In the overs, delighted Johnny survived from a tough slot, he was great! Kitty is one of the best performers as well, but whether she will survive for much longer is another question.
Janet was poor, but her fanbase was always bound to carry her through.
Next week, I would love to see a Frankie-Kitty B2 as I want to see the back of Frankie. However, its very difficult to predict who will be in Bottom Two, as there have already been 6 different acts in there so far. I’ll wait until Saturday before making any call.
Oh and on the subject of Little Mix, they tried to play to the sympathy vote (Questions about Jessie’s weight) and there was a sense of unity between them as well. I think, all things considered, Little Mix have been pimped quite a bit.
I agree, at the moment, Little Mix are a better vocal harmony group than The Risk.
Hi All. (sorry folks, put my post-mortem two-penneth in the wrong thread just now).
Found this on my Yahoo news this morning if it helps at all. Yet another thread reflecting the public’s opinion about the result and generally on MISSY BULLY B’s waining support.
(BTW, that rather rude looking ‘appendage’ on her head would actually have been far better suited on FRANKIE’S head, such is my opinion of his sick-making pathetic Liam-esque antics that Liam does so much better). I now get up an hour earlier every day so that I can detest him for a bit longer. The sooner he is gone the better.
http://uk.tv.yahoo.com/shock-for-ill-kelly-rowland-as-misha-b-and-sophie-end-up-in-x-factor-bottom-two.html
For me, there is no doubt about MISHA’S obvious talent BUT one needs the whole package to be liked enough for folk to spend money on voting.
Had my nagging suspicions about her from the start and was hoping for something like this to help scupper her chances against my early favourites MARCUS (and the the ones to watch LITTLE MIX, who are now starting to making a late run for the finish line).
I’m with Simon “le chat” here as the solid, constantly brilliant MARCUS is just soooo likable, keen and very talented and both of the aforementioned acts are like sponges, gracefully soaking up everything they are taught and are both enjoying the moment without letting it go to their ‘very deserving’ heads. IMHO, both acts are being groomed and tested for greatness (and XF are especially pushing for a band to be up there on reflection of JLS’s instant and lucrative recording contract returns-££’s and awards).
Not keen on the new MIX name, but as they say “a name is what you make of it”. ‘Rhythm-X’ would have been better as it sounds the same but is different enough for copyright (plus a nice cool looking X in it for a logo). Nevertheless, they will now also be soaking up the stray Misha B text votes, as it is the ‘daft with their money’ teeners who seem to have the spare cash to blow on them.
There is a mighty BIG gap in the market now for a new ‘updated’ (girl next door type) Spice Girls and win or lose XF these girls will be HUGE. They can ALL sing well. I love their chemistry and at 66/1 I shall have a very nice Crimbo if they come good against my other bet on MARCUS.
I ain’t gonna ‘risk’ my money on THE RISK (or any other act as I don’t want to end up trying to ‘buy’ money by spreading myself too far). They WILL do well after XF but they do need to work hard on those harmonies as they were cringing on Saturday. Forgivable and redeemable at this moment with the problems they have had.
CRAIG is great, but has yet to do something stunning to blow my socks off (and to maintain that level too).
The lovable JOHNNY definitely has something (but is never gonna win or be a pop star). He is comfortably suited to tv and I love the guys fast wit, he will likelty be the next great ‘game/talk show’ Graham Norton-esque host.
KITTY (is her Dad really Mr Spock ?) has a great powerful voice and is a great LADY GA GA type show-woman, BUT she is strange. She is just far too emotional and intense for me (and the riggers of the fickle show biz) and always seems close to having a breakdown if anything should go wrong or if she got the boot.
JANET is now getting samey and beginning to grate on me now that the initial novelty value has gone. Her voice/singing style is just too contrived for me. Though a very popular (automatic) choice for most (and hence a real danger to my favs), I never bought into the sweet little Irish girl thing and to keep it up in public is mighty hard.
The cracks in it appeared recently with some of her ‘over confident’ comments and attitude. Despite this innocent act, she is very aware of herself. You can see it in her eyes on her many ‘un-pro’ YouTube vids (a very amateur ‘self praise’ approach in itself anyway to curry public favour).
She could do with a bit of ‘grounding’ in a B2 sing-off to bring her back to earth. She was abysmal, weak and embarrassingly off-key this week.
Viva La MARCUS and/or LITTLE MIX for the title this year !!
Well thats my humble opinion on it all for what it’s worth and if it is of any use to undecided floating gamblers out there. Its all just a game anyway (which has some surprise endings in XF).