Last week District3 were Nu Vibed and survived, to their credit. This week who will be Sami-ed? With a week of voting figures to go on in the 2011 series, producers sent the Welsh lass out wearing a bin liner in her second consecutive early slot. The VT was all about her being a cruiseship singer, so they made her sing cruiseship staple ‘Turn Back Time’ with a backdrop of pink triangles.
Producers clearly felt something needed to be done because their divisive act of the series, Kitty Brucknell, had the week before only just escaped a sing-off despite the pimp slot and a huge production for ‘Oh So Quiet’. A sacrificial lamb was needed, and Sami, only in the competition having been reinstated in the overs category, fit the bill to perfection.
Rylan Clark has already been in the bottom two, so the parallel between him and Kitty isn’t an exact one. Sami’s obvious parallel is Christopher Maloney, also tagged with the ‘cruiseship’ label, sent out surprisingly early last week despite his wildcard victory and clearly of no long-term interest to producers. Will Shaky Cruiseship follow in the same waters as Sami Cruiseship, and if not, who else may producers decide to sink?
They could hardly have done more to dampen Maloney’s moment of triumph last week, as our readers have already noted. The first words out of a judge’s mouth following his karaoke version of ‘Hero’ were, “Christopher, who was that up there, I don’t even recognise you.” What Nicole implied was: no nerves then, phoney Maloney. The Liverpudlian was mocked even by his own mentor (“lay off the sunbeds”) and faced accusations of ‘diva’ behaviour on Xtra Factor, rumours that have been conveniently repeated and rebutted all week.
It’s not looking promising for him. Once the ‘cruiseship’ label is out in the open, your days on the show are numbered. ‘Cheesy’ too, as Heisenberg notes. These aren’t so much buzzwords as X Factor killwords. Having brought them out at Maloney’s moment of triumph means I’m not as concerned as Panos about the show feeling the need to keep him in for a few more weeks to justify the wildcard. They’ve already shown an adequate level of disdain.
What I’m more worried about is that those supporters who voted him back in may continue to do so just one week later. Maloney was very gracious towards them in his post-song interview with Dermot O’Leary. But having agreed with our commenters that Maloney represented the standout value when the elimination market opened, I took every price I could down to about 11-2. He’s now a best-priced 9-2.
That he remains a competitive enough price despite the broad consensus among the Sofabet community that the knives will be out for him tonight – and we should always be aware of the risk of ‘groupthink’ – reminds us that there are are plenty of other candidates.
There’s the conundrum of Rylan Clark for starters. I’m inclined to agree with bunnyman’s view that he might not need to bounce much with voting figures low in these early rounds. And the sympathy bounce has always been surprisingly though not completely durable, taking in a wide range of characters. Rylan surely still has producer favour on his side, as well as all the pre-show hype. Expect a huge pimping tonight. Rumours of a mash-up involving ‘Gangnam Style’ suggest Brian Friedman has been a busy man.
Nonetheless, I don’t think programme-makers will want to take too many chances. Which means as well as pimping Rylan as much as possible, shooting down his most vulnerable rivals. As Boki noted, it makes complete sense to aim a silver bullet at someone in the overs category, given that Gary is hardly going to save Rylan in any singoff anyway. Only by getting an over in the bottom two can you guarantee mission Saving Private Rylan.
Maloney is not the only possibility in this category. Melanie Masson was sent out early last week with a production that was dated in every respect. Younger viewers may have only seen something like it on Top of the Pops 2. It will be interesting to see how she is treated this week. If producers are gunning for her, she’ll be sent out early again; given a kinder slot but still styled like Mother Earth suggests a stay of execution. A late slot with a production that suggests this century may indicate a changing tide within the category.
Fellow over Kye Sones has had more producer favour but I’m not sure how well he’s polling. The loss of Carolynne gives him probable alpha status within the category but if his solid performance of ‘Man in the Mirror’ last week didn’t catch on with the voting public, he may need another boost this time. I wouldn’t rule him out of a shock bottom two appearance.
Whether producers will change tack with the groups is one of the most intriguing aspects of tonight’s show. Last week’s polling figures will surely guide them. If District3 only just survived the death slot, more likely than not there will be a doubling down on attempts to ditch the threesome.
If however, their fanbase steered them more comfortably clear, producers may look at last week’s tallies for rivals MK1 or Union J. An attack on either of these would represent a sudden about-turn, nothing that the show hasn’t pulled before. With so much uncertainty, close observation is the only thing I can recommend.
Among the younger soloists, Jade Ellis is the most obvious candidate. She’s still in producer purgatory. She wasn’t given the full Habibis last week, but it was all very ‘red and black’, stripped back and low key. Dug had things right in yesterday’s article. If she’s on early, dully balladeering again, her trajectory is going one way.
Given that I expect producer love for Lucy Spraggan, whose grandmother died this week, I’d be surprised to see any other act in the bottom two.
Where does this leave us? I’m happy to have backed Maloney at twice current odds but his current market price is more realistic given the possible range of options at producers’ disposal. There’s a general sense that tonight’s show will answer lots more questions. If you haven’t got involved yet, I recommend another watching brief.
What are your thoughts? Let us know below.
Extremely tricky this week. I think ill give it a miss until I get some more clues from the show this evening. Really interested to see how MK1 are treated and how they perfrom this evening.
Funny that we reached such a consensus (also on Rob’s site) without seeing the show. It is the most logical one though.
Btw it would be interesting to see Rylan bounce, Chris and District3 in bottom 2. What is your view on that Daniel?
If they save D3 than another over is lost so next week they have to chase 3rd for Rylan. If they save Chris he might bounce next week though.
A Chris and D3 singoff? Had it occurred last week, that would have been easy to call: I still believe D3 would have been sent home against anyone.
We will have to see tonight’s show for any indication of a change of heart concerning the groups. A D3 bounce is still more troublesome if you only want one boyband in the competition.
I actually think shaky’s VT will be very telling of the producers intentions with him even more so than his song performance. If he’s given a VT to stir up symphathy by having him see the stories of him being a diva and start blubbing (shouldnt be too hard to accomplish) i think that’ll well be enough to save him against most. However if it shows a “Carolynn” esque VT were he’s talking about wanting things his own way and is shown picking his own song over the choice of his mentors (acting “diva” like) i think we can expect his exit on sunday.
Before the performances tomorrow im going for a bottom two of eithier Chris, jade or a group. Although as has pointed out Jade could easily go either upward (like Rebecca) or crash and burn (like Sophie Habibis).
If I could choose the ideal case for the producers I would put Jade and a boyband to bottom 2 with Chris very close and Rylan bouncing. Jade saved so next week she can bounce while Rylan saved against Chris. This is also a valid scenario imo but could be hard to accomplish. I included Jade in bottom 2 as a saver anyway.
If producers do try and get Maloney out and fail I think, as someone suggested, this would be further evidence that TPTB have lost the power to control things. If this is the case it will make things less predictable which would be bad news for us punters. We can predict the producers intentions ( I had 10/1 District 3 last week and thought it was looking good) but this may not be as significant as previously. Hopefully whoever they go for gets ditched as in truth we want the predictability to remain.
I predict a Rylan and Christopher bottom 2. Rylan being saved might just push Barlow over the edge – it would be TV gold, and I can’t imagine ANY of the other judges voting to save Christopher.
I think the boybands have too much support between them to be in any danger, and I think Jade gets the “noone else is voting for her so I will” vote that Sophie Habibis got for the first few weeks last year. That won’t last though.
After heart failure of last week, did manage to get out it but took to quote the shows words “balls back” and as I had previously mention last year and Daniel did Louis to wield the axe was the bet so only suffered a small loss. Will watch show tonight and see tomorrow or during the show,. Thanks for all great comments to keep me up top speed all week as very busy, next week better.
Some commentary here from today’s Racing Post:
‘Last week’s controversial X-Factor survivor Rylan Clark is joint-favourite to go this week but it would be no surprise if he hangs around a little longer. The opening studio show descended into chaos as Louis Walsh appeared to change his mind and send the panel vote to deadlock, resulting in the surprise exit of Carolynne Poole.
However, it may be Walsh who feels to the backlash rather than novelty act Rylan. His groups failed to impress partly due to some dated songs and District 3 could be the ones to go unless they find a big improvement.
Singer-songwriter Lucy Spraggan performed her own track last week and is out to prove she is not a one-trick pony. She should get public support after a family bereavement.
The serious challengers were also identified in the first show, with 16-year old Ella Henderson proving why she is the odds-on favourite, while James Arthur divided the judges but should prove a versatile performer.’
Recommendation: District 3 to be eliminated
1pt 4-1 general
I may be wrong but I’m not so sure Jade’s up for the chop . Sophie Habibis was easy to nobble as she had minimal coverage before judges’ houses and no backstory. Jade has both. Her performance last week was a bit low-key but Rebecca Ferguson wasn’t really pimped until the latter part of her series. I think if Jade polled well enough last week the producers will want to keep her as around as an Ella backup. How she’s treated this week will be revealing.
I think she is very likeable and may not be polling as badly as some are assuming but this is only speculation of course
By the way, will there be an article on X-Factor USA again this year? It seems that Simon will be pimping the girl group Lylas if they make the live shows. But there are a lot of strong acts, especially compared to last year.
Good question lolhart, the plan is to write a preview once the live show acts are in place, just like last year.
The only thing Jade has over Sophie is the backstory. I dont think she was more visible pre lives then Sophie. And actually Sophie nailed her week1 performance (teenage dream) nicely, It was a stand out performance, whereas jade this week did just alright, blended in the crowd a bit. (i say this although i loooove her voice, just as i did sophies) I dont think she can be compared to rebecca though. Its true that rebecca wasnt really a contender untill later, but she did get the decent amount of screentime at the early stages as well and was much more standout with her sense of style and aura than jade or sophie. I dont think producers are interested at all in keeping or pushing her, but she might survive a few weeks, like paije richardson did two years ago (maybe i find the two of them a bit similar in the sense that he also had a pleasant toned voice and talent but clearly lacked producers support, was expected to fall early but somehow survived halfway)
No way, Jade was shown so much more pre-lives than Sophie. Sophie’s audition was flashed over in a montage of a lot of people, she was barely noticeable. Her bootcamp performance was exactly the same. Judge’s Houses was slightly better but it was only slightly longer than people like Melanie McCabe last year.
Jade has got a full length audition with Leona approval, a lengthy, emotional segment at Bootcamp when she sung “I Won’t Give Up” and was shown first for the girls at Judge’s Houses with a long VT and extended song shown. Other people to perform first in their categories at Judge’s Houses? Carolynne Poole, James Arthur and GMD3, all who got through to Lives and got loads of screentime. Plus, Jade has a strong narrative revolving around her daughter. Sophie had no such narrative or really anything that was memorable about her.
A Christopher / Rylan B2 is a strong possibility.
Would they have the nerve to save Rylan after what happened last week and all the complaints to Ofcom? 🙂
The answer is yes. 🙁
…but I agree with Daniel that Rylan will get a huge pimping to try to avoid B2 and that decision.
These are the current votes for favourite act on Tellymix, which I assume are from the past week:
Ella Henderson (34%, 2,079 Votes)
Jahmene Douglas (10%, 639 Votes)
James Arthur (8%, 493 Votes)
Lucy Spraggan (8%, 492 Votes)
Union J (7%, 402 Votes)
Christopher Maloney (6%, 360 Votes)
Jade Ellis (5%, 332 Votes)
MK1 (5%, 314 Votes)
District3 (5%, 304 Votes)
Kye Sones (5%, 284 Votes)
Melanie Masson (5%, 279 Votes)
Rylan Clark (2%, 162 Votes)
Ella is way out ahead (Frankel or Devon Loch?)
Rylan is a distant last place which could be down to the mess made of last week’s show.
All the acts are closer than I would expect considering the performances, with Chris being higher than expected and Kye being much lower. I’m guessing that the overs get more of their votes from a mature audience than the general Telly-mix reader.
As a nice counterpoint to this, creationagency.com’s stats for this week are out. A quick scan over them reveals that all 3 overs, Jade, MK1 and (interestingly) Jahmene have the least amount of buzz. Rylan has a lot of buzz but based on my own Twitter searches for him I’m pretty sure the overwhelming majority of it will be negative. Doing best social-meeja-wise: Union J, though District 3 are also doing well compared to the rest of the field. Figures for Ella, Lucy and James are middling (ie. lower than the boybands but well above the 6 lower-scoring acts I listed above) and strong enough to suggest they’ll definitely be safe.
They have just thrown the kitchen sink at Shakey it was laughable
Well, I didn’t like mentioning of Liverpool (twice) and the market didn’t respond as hard as it could.
Hey Boki, Don’t forget our man in Liverpool says Chris isn’t playing well there, which would reduce the significance.
I loved it. Cheese! Drink. Cruiseship! Drink. Cheese! Drink.
Hopefully he’s right, let’s drink to that ! Cheers ! (although I’m seasick 🙂 )
I liked the cruiseship bar and lounge in which Chris sang. Does any1 know if it was a cruise in the greek islands or was it the french riviera?
After the first six acts have performed no one will remember shaky’s performance. Talk about front loading the show!
Shaky’s stitch up the most blatent I have seen
Cannot beleive Shaky still odds against for elimination, i make him a 4/6 shot at best
Empty pub for James Arthur, not used since the Sophie Habisis culling.
Maybe PG, but personally I thought James was awesome and VERY safe
But it was with Nicole, not a friend saying how popular he is while some pensioners play dominoes.
Plus the comments & MJ Blithe call are big positives.
There’s a difference, though PG – Sophie’s followed a big buildup about going home and seeing how big the XF was. James was taking Nicole for a quiet pint, you wouldn’t expect anyone else to be there.
Apart from the fox!!!
🙂
Safe as houses just a strange VT. Liked the performance he is one of the better ones.
It looks like many commenters were right, a 2 step approach to acheive by producers tonight
1)Get Shakey in bottom 2 , this would appear to be successfully exectuted I suspect.
Now for step 2 , keep Rylan out of bottom 2 , see how they get on with this 🙂
James made Jahmene very forgettable.
Btw they are desperate to keep Kye and Melanie (slot 10 and 12) or is it tactial placement of Rylan between 2 overs.
Kerching, easy money on fakey shake, he will be about 1/5 by tomorrow afternoon
Looks like they are aiming at Christopher, but I think they’re in danger of a second missed target in a row. Good song and vocal, references to Liverpool, and look at the acts put on late (surely to say in danger of dropping in themselves) Kye, Melanie, MK1, Rylan
Exactly. It was a really strong vocal and there were several Liverpool references.
Agreed , 2/1 and bigger MAD price for elimination, now we seen the show
Is anyone else getting on Christopher to go at 9/4 and 2/1 ? Be odds on by tomorrow IMHO
Extremely tempted but I’ve got big returns on 10/1 and 5/1 bets from suing the week, don’t wanna get greedy
OH dear, after MK1 , maybe I got in too soon ….lol
Earlier in the week I meant. Mk1 Maloney bottom 2, Maloney to go
I read it exactly the same Stoney. Mk1 Maloney bottom 2, Maloney to go.
What about Kye? and Mel still to come.
Is it possible they can see the voting in the show, see that Shaky is doing too well, and have put the worst acts at the end of the show to deramp?
I’m still on Shaky to go but a little less sure.
Wow. If that doesn’t save Rylan, nothing will. Is Melanie about to be set up as the Alpha Over? We will see. Jade was fantastic imo. The best of the night.
I would say Melanie should be safe.
Pimp slot.
Crying
The red & black was contrasted by her white outfit which, along with so many close ups, helped her stand out.
A good vocal which suited with a very relevant song that’s in the current John Lewis ad and in the charts.
Plus great comments.
Melanie was unpleasent to watch to me, not because of red-black but her styling didn’t work for me. Otherwise no objection.
Hey Daneil just asked a question on xtra !? 🙂
I have loads of cash on Rylan to stay for a bit – so maybe I’m biased, but he’s safe. James Arthur for me at 37-1 to be bottom two is a ridiculous price. So I snapped it up. I’d still only say there’s a 10% chance, but it was all a bit intense for me!
There was a blog that rambled on about Red and Black last year, plenty of that on display tonight! Got various half baked theories on that, but that’s for another day!
Enjoyed the red and blacks tonight, Richard 🙂
Brief thoughts from me: firstly regarding the lineup, I thought it interesting that the least popular acts (judging by the stats) were given the second half (Jade, MK1, Kye, Rylan, Melanie) and the most popular/favoured acts given the first half (Jahmene, Union J, Ella, James, Lucy, District 3). With one notable exception: Chris, with start number 2 (eurofans will understand the significance) buried amongst the favoured acts, and immediately followed by Union J. The other two Overs were right at the very end. While I wouldn’t necessarily put it down as a nobble and I wouldn’t be surprised either way to see him land in or escape the bottom 2, it clearly shows a lack of interest in keeping him around. That said, his vocal was really excellent, and I can only disagree with cynics on here intimating his nerves are fake etc. – you can’t fake that body language (either in his first audition or on the show tonight), and his nerves aren’t mutually exclusive to his having had previous professional experience as a singer. The public have no reason to see his nerves as fake either. Like Gareth Gates a decade ago, he’s composed and in his element while performing but his anxiety returns afterwards.
Putting that to one side, the biggest warning bells by far for me tonight surround MK1 after that performance. It was neither one thing nor the other. I have a strong feeling they’ll be in the bottom 2, they could even go – I can’t see who that performance will appeal to.
Thought the overall quality tonight was excellent – it was a good show. Jade really brought it. I think Kye will be safe. For the first time tonight, I really connected with Ella as a person and as an artist – superb vocal. Alienating song choices for James and Lucy (plus Nicole basically shouting “YOU’RE A MASSIVE LESBIAN” at her) but one assumes they will be safe (though I couldn’t say for certain). Still not sure about Melanie despite the pimp slot – perhaps not a great number of viewers will know the song and I’m not sure it was right for her. With his own segment and a big production, was Rylan the real pimp slot (if that makes any sense)? Apropos Rylan, I’ve been a big critic of him, but as of tonight he’s solved his two biggest problems – he really looked like he was enjoying the performance (which I also really was), and the vocal sounded fine and didn’t leap out as bad. Basically he worked it. Contrary to what I predicted earlier in the week, I think he’ll be safe. At this rate he really could be the British Haffi Haff (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IrduZNMQfA)…!
Euro, agree with most of what you’ve said but contrary to your comments, I think a lot of people will know the song that Melanie sang as it’s currently being used on John Lewis’ ad, so I think that choice will have done her no harm at all.
Thanks Cath, Tim B just pointed this out to me too – I live in Germany and watch next to no British TV (apart from shows I bet on like X Factor), so this passed me by… I’m familiar with the song from the opening scene of the director’s cut of Donnie Darko, haha!
Couple of things I think where highlighted tonight.
The biggest question I have been asking is, is running order as Key as previous years, now lines are open from the start and there is practically no SCD clash.
Was it to be on early?, late? Middle?
I really dont think that matters anymore, I think its now all about position of the artists around.
If you are an average act in the middle of the favourites Ella/James/Jahmene, then you are in big trouble, you are very unlikely to pick up any extra votes, as viewers will be waiting to vote for their favourite, who they have either:
a) Just voted for
b) Waiting to vote for them because you know they are on next
Here we will find Christopher. Trapped between the above 3 along with Union J.
He is clearly the target for this week to go.
Now lets look at Rylan.
Acts around him were Melanie/Kye/Jade, not the favourites, not the worst, but the average acts (perhaps could include MK1 in this)
I noticed that these acts performances were forgettable and not highlighted as standout, infact Kye was slatted. Do I think this was a tactic to get Kye out? Absolutely not.
Whats more likely is the producers dont have him listed as a winner. So they can de-ramp him, Also if they know he wasnt near the bottom in week one, they can afford to de-ramp him even more knowing he is high enough to avoid the bottom 2.
Giving Rylan the opportunity to pick up the lost votes for Kye.
So this week for me was all about Saving Rylan and targetting Chris.
Judges Comments to Highlight
GMD3
Judges comments repeated the words Vocal Harmony/Harmonies Group, can someone tell me last time a Vocal Harmony group had a number one? Is there even a target audience for that type of act? They have been isolated with a limited audience. Producers see them as disposable for the second week in a row.
MK1
How many times was “Glee” mentioned, Basically if you was an MK1 fan, then the judges have just told you “YOU do not like Glee, so you will NOT vote for them”
For me its between GMD3 and Christopher on who goes, also MK1/Jade not entirely safe from bottom 2
You might be right indeed. I thought in the first place that Kye was doing bad in the votes (seeing his 10th slot) so they wouldn’t risk him or Melanie when offering Chris, but was surprised by the de-ramp. Besides Chris they offered few more just to avoid Rylan bot2 at any cost.
This was my thoughts too Boki, it seemed to me that the purpose of much of the dampening comments may have been to make sure that those close to the bottom filled the bottom 2 slots and lifted Rylan into the safe zone, if that means doing it to 3 or 4 of them to be on the safe side then so be it.
Didn’t have impression mk1 is in such a danger as market suggests, fun performance. James maybe the best of the night. Kye bland again…
Rylan seems to have learnt tonight to enjoy it a bit more, it shone through in his performance (although the heavy backing vocals helped) and I have him as safe from bottom 2.
Thought James stood out tonight, his best perfomance yet.
Tonight confirmed for me that Ella is too short in the betting and although a worthy favourite, not unbeatable.
I found MK1 vocally awful, I think they may be in for an early exit from the show.
Jahmene performing first suggests to me he has enough votes to keep him out of the bottom 2 and was given the slot because producers know he is in no danger.
Both boybands seem to be building enough teen girl support to keep them safe.
Jade has been very good so far but not sure she will get enough votes to see her to the final stages, safe for now though, could be a dark horse cos her voice is faultless.
I think Lucy could be out pretty soon, though not this week.
Poor Chris has been stitched up good and proper this week, he has a good voice but he is rock solid elimination bet for me.
The late slots should keep Melanie and Kye safe for now at least, worried with both though that they are not gathering enough public support to keep them in long. Both can sing but, Kye in particular is rather dull and beige and does not seem to be connecting with the public.
Jahmene good long-odds value for bottom 2. Not because he was bad – I thought it was his best performance of the series – but because I’ve forgotten it already and also because his VT and comments were creepy, combined with the fact the stats show he isn’t flying as high as the other favoured acts (Ella, Lucy, James, the boybands).
JUst one more thing, I was very critical last week, I thought it was the worst opening show in 9 years.
Tonights show was much better, well balanced, good mix of songs, better production and sound levels.
I thought they put together a solid and entertaining show tonight, long may it continue.
Rylan safe as houses..clearly dont everything they could to give him a bounce and keep him safe this week
I was disappointed by Lucy – I enjoyed her audition performance but found this week to be a bit of a chore , however with the death in her family and slot I assume she’s in no real danger?
Hi all, most of it has been covered but I’d like to add that I think Christopher will definitely be in the bottom 2, but that I think any of District 3, MK1, Jade and Kye could be joining him. Basically anyone who they de-ramped. Rylan should be safe I think. Kye will suffer massively for being on before him too, and he’s just so forgettable.
How did they de-ramp Jade?
Sorry Jack, you’re right, they didn’t de-ramp Jade. But I thought her VT didn’t have any impact. She sang very well indeed but her performance was VERY copycat/karaoke and I felt like she was a bit forgettable.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Lucy was bottom 2 with Chris, but Chris bottom two sure,
Chris v Jade – chris goes
Chris v District 3 – chris goes
Chris v Kye – chris goes?
Surely all the likely b2 scenarios endup with chris being the one getting the boot
James Arthur rushed to hospital in ambulance ? Is this true?
Could be worth laying now on Betfair for outrights?
I knew he was having a fit onstage.
Rylan gone, a gift at 4/1
Any reasons? reasons or thoughts would be good
Hi map. Rylan was just plain rubbish and also consistently bottom of any opinion/voting polls (which were quite accurate last year…eg Tellymix etc). Chris wasn’t much better but he is very likeable beneath and because he is a sack of nerves.
Huge Liverpool voting support too which will keep him around for a bit longer hanging on by his fingernails. However, he should be gone soon though because he just hasn’t got what it takes to be a pop star.
It’s still all pure guessing though at the end of the day (with a some scientific/historic guidance from here to help) and a good betting game for us if we land lucky.
My b2 prediction this week is Chris and Rylan, with Rylan to go. Good luck with yours too map.
It seems cruel but as soon as rumours appeared about him being rushed to hospital I was checking if it was true and looking for ways to gain advantage on bets.
Also for some reason ITV cannot repeat tonights Rylan performance in phone voting clips for legal reasons, video taken off youtube and blanked out off itv+1 show, bit wierd but they could now even say if he finishes bottom would be unfair to throw him out?
Why cant they repeat Rylan? They can repeat everyone elses performance but not his?!
To my understanding it’s something to do with his replacement of “Gangnam Style” with “Rylan Style”… the Youtube video was put back up fairly quickly after editing that part out.
Just been doing a bit of Twitter/Youtube research and to my surprise, the reaction to Rylan’s performance was overwhelmingly negative. People still don’t like him and didn’t seem to enjoy it especially (I certainly did). This being the case, he may not bounce. My prediction now: Rylan/MK1 bottom 2, MK1 go on deadlock. Unlike my laying of District 3 last week, I won’t be laying Chris this week as I don’t feel as confident he has a strong enough fanbase to definitely survive. However, I feel he’ll be safe.
I’m with Nugg that it was an all-round enjoyable show tonight. Credit obviously given to Brian Friedman, but it feels the production team as a whole have upped their game.
12 good vocal performances as well. I ended up all green by laying several acts (e.g. D3, Rylan) and backing at better odds once they sang, once it was clear that each act was well-prepped.
Chris is clearly disposable, but I see him as less a cert for bottom 2 than I did for District 3 last week. If XFactor wants rid of you, telling Liverpool to vote for you twice ain’t the way to do it. They didn’t play the diva card. And he really did sing it well.
Union J much better than last time, but I still saw no chemistry between them and I’m unconvinced that reality is matching the hype. D3 allowed to breathe, and the show does seem in no hurry to lose any of the groups. I now see MK1 as disposable fun; the show is happy to have them around but won’t bust a gut to keep them.
Rylan nailed it; looked like he was enjoying himself, the banter was there, if he’d done that last week they might have got rid of District 3 after all.
Can’t believe that Kye hasn’t been mentioned more. 4/1 with boyles to be in the bottom two is huge. Performance was poor, judges comments were negative and he looked deflated at the end. I also think he doesn’t appeal to many voters. Finally, he was right before the ads and followed by the act everyone is tuning in for – Rylan.
Don’t know who else will join him… Maybe 3D.