There are just four more hours of earnest ballads, sob stories and comments like “you made that your own” before this series of X Factor limps over the finish line as the winner is crowned.
I would never have said this a few months’ ago but thank the Lord that Christopher Maloney is in the final. His endurance against constant flak from the judging panel and press has become the most interesting story of the season. I applaud his dignity in the face of this onslaught, and those Sofabet commenters who realised earlier than we did that he could get this far.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the prize will be his. Instead I think James Arthur will break the bottom two hoodoo and take the ‘£1m recording contract’ tomorrow.
I should start by explaining the position I am coming from. In terms of personal taste, I agree with my colleague Dug that James is my preferred act among the final three. Also, as I explained before the week 7 show, I had backed him at 7/1 in the win market before his week 4 pimp slot. But I’ve also hedged my bets by backing Chris and Jahmene in recent weeks to leave me currently in modest profit no matter the result, with James my biggest ‘green’.
It’s a tricky little final and I’m thankful that my profitability for the series doesn’t depend on getting it right. What I really focus on are the elimination markets week-by-week, and having got my fingers burnt in week 2, I’ve clawed back those losses in subsequent weeks to hit my target profit for the series.
Nonetheless, my starting point for analysing this weekend’s final is the overnight publication of the YouGov poll for The Sun. I strongly recommend you read our interview with YouGov’s Joe Twyman at the start of this year that helps explain their methodology for the poll.
Two years ago they predicted a straightforward Matt / Rebecca top two with One Direction and Cher trailing in their wake. Last year, Marcus Collins’ three-point lead over Little Mix was within the margin of error and the two acts were level pegging in the head-to-head, leaving them with a “too close to call” conclusion.
These results suggest that in recent years, YouGov were in the right ballpark but not as laser sharp as Nate Silver in their ability to predict the result.
That’s fair enough given what Joe wisely said in our interview: “You have to remember that the X Factor is trickier to predict from polling than political elections, in the sense that on a political election day itself nothing typically happens to change voters’ minds. In contrast, what happens during the X Factor final programme itself can obviously have a big effect on the vote.”
It will have to in order to overturn the difference between each of the acts, with James on 50%, Jahmene on 35% and Chris on 15%. Nonetheless, there’s usually around a fifth of respondents not included in these percentages who are in the ‘don’t know’ camp, so that’s a further caveat.
However, it’s worth noting that YouGov chose to double again the size of their sample: 1566 people were asked in 2010; in 2011 that had risen to 2955; and this time 6363 viewers were asked. Also, if there have been underestimates in recent years, it is the acts with a younger fanbase such as One Direction, Cher and Little Mix that have performed better in the phone vote compared to the poll. This is in James’s favour.
The main bone of contention with the poll’s findings is that it seems to go against the grain of the Daily Star’s leaks that suggest Chris outpolling all opponents in the actual phone vote every week up to and including Week 7. Jahmene has apparently been his main challenger up to that point. James finished in the bottom two that week, so had plenty of ground to make up with Chris at the time (just how much we don’t know). If the YouGov poll is to be believed, that has been completely turned on its head.
That’s not so impossible if you look at past series. Admittedly, no one has come from the bottom two to win the show, and with James it was as recently as week 7. But Little Mix and Alexandra Burke were both well behind the trailblazers in their respective years until building up momentum when it mattered most. Let’s not forget that the final offers a genuine incentive for plenty of people to vote who may not have previously done so – so-called ‘floaters’.
The last two weeks have seen James give a standout performance of ‘Let’s Get It On’ and Chris arguably have his worst moment with ‘Haven’t Met You Yet’. Meanwhile the semi-final was a good day at the office for Jahmene, who got to reprise his audition number ‘At Last’ to excellent effect. In fact, it’s a shame on his part that this silver bullet was used in the semi to get him here rather than in the final itself.
Still, in the circumstances each act and their supporters will find a reason for thinking there’s everything to play for in this weekend’s final, and they’d be right. But anyone who carefully watched last year’s event will know that it helped cement Little Mix’s pole position given the difference between their treatment and that afforded to Marcus Collins. Producers can’t control the result, but they can choose to play to an act’s strength or not, and that can make a difference.
I’m assuming that programme makers will be playing to James’ and Jahmene’s strengths this weekend and not Chris’s. That’s not necessarily the case with the mentor duets, as ‘Rule The World’ with Gary Barlow seems a perfectly solid choice for Chris, as does James and Nicole’s ‘Make Me Feel Your Love’.
But at this stage I can only speculate that Chris’s other alleged song choice tonight, ‘What A Feeling’ isn’t going to help. If it’s the Flashdance theme, that’s a song from a movie about dancing with numerous dancing references that appears from rehearsal pictures to have plenty of choreography. We speculated in our article a few days ago on what producers might do to dampen Chris in the final, and taking him out of his comfort zone by making him dance was on our list. If it turns out to be Kelly Rowland’s ‘What A Feeling’, that’s even more unsuitable as a modern dance tune. Either way, it doesn’t bode well.
Jahmene’s rumoured choices of ‘Angels’ and ‘Greatest Love of All’ seem far more designed to play to his strengths than Chris’s do for him. James’s other song is apparently Nina Simone’s ‘Feeling Good’ (in more recent times covered by Michael Buble). This gives him a decent chance of a repeating the kind of performance we saw for ‘Let’s Get It On’, covering a well-known classic without being too safe, and as we pointed out after week 8, smartening him up with a suit in the process.
The running order will be fascinating to see. I like Tim B’s idea that the fact Nicole is in two of the three duets will mean Chris is on second to give her a break. If that’s the case, which of James and Jahmene comes on afterwards may suggest who the chosen Anti-Chris is. They have been very happy in following Chris with Jahmene in three of the last four live shows, as someone with an extraordinary background chasing after a similar demographic. Will that mean he is most useful in the pimp slot, and how much would that boost his chances and diminish James’s?
They could of course still put Chris on first, followed by Jahmene then James. This would be a real statement of intent on the part of producers.
Overall, I don’t think Chris will overcome the poll ratings that place him in third based on his treatment tonight. My prediction is that his glorious run will come to an honourable end, leaving us with a James / Jahmene duel on Sunday. I think producers would be happy with this as a lovely, feel good-y, isn’t Nicole wonderful-y, bromance-y, one-part credible one-part old-fashioned climax.
Moving on to that duel, I don’t underestimate the power of Jahmene’s backstories, and let’s not forget that as Joe Twyman pointed out before last year’s event: “Compared to earlier rounds the final has relatively few songs and so a greater amount of time will be devoted to backstory. A particularly powerful narrative for any of the contestants could quite easily sway public opinion as much, if not more so, than a particularly strong song belted out on the…stage.”
YouGov’s poll indicated a 55-45 split in James’s favour for a head-to-head between them. That’s much smaller than the 53-33 split they had Matt leading a head-to-head with Rebecca in 2010, and the Liverpudlian managed to reduce that to 45-39 in the final tally.
In Jahmene’s favour, if Chris goes out first, that support may be more minded to switch towards him. The flip side of the coin is that both Jahmene and Chris will have been chasing after a more similar demographic on the Saturday, and one has to assume that the votes will be carried forward.
Jahmene’s winner’s song is rumoured to be The Beatles ‘Let It Be’ as opposed to James’s far less well known ‘Impossible’, although the latter is a good choice for the Saltburn lad’s singing style. I can’t rule out a Jahmene victory, though it’s worth bearing in mind that whilst he can hit those money notes, he is also a less consistent singer than James, more prone to suffer from nerves that can affect his performance
In conclusion, it’s not cut-and-dried in any way right now, but my heart and my head marginally prefer James to Jahmene with Chris an honourable third. Give us your thoughts below and let battle commence. We will try to post an analysis of tonight’s events on the site as soon as possible. Good luck to you all.
Sofabet prediction
1. James Arthur
2. Jahmene Douglas
3. Chris Maloney
I find it hard to see James winning. Jahmene’s been given a Beatles song for the winner’s song, which indicates to me that he is the anti-Chris – it’s a direct attack on his votes AFTER the final three. If they didn’t think that he could get to the final two, then they’d have had to pull out something like this before, otherwise there’s no real logic behind that song choice over any other equally popular and suitable song. If they wanted him to bring down Chris so that James could overtake, they’d have used that song choice at the final three stage.That to me says that Jahmene’ll be there and they think Chris’ll be with him, and that they might be able to dampen Chris’ support from his hometown by saying “if Jahmene wins, you get the best Liverpool band ever having their song as Christmas number 1”. If Jahmene’s against James, then it’s going to push the possible vote transfer from Chris’ supporters to Jahmene for the same reason even if they’d rather it didn’t. I think the question is therefore “can James get 2nd” and don’t think he can as there’s enough indicators that they think it’ll be Jahmene vs Chris. I’ve backed accordingly and have a huge win on Chris to beat Jahmene, good win on Chris to beat James and break even with Jahmene beating Chris. A big loss on any other combination. (think its important to note what positions people have when reading their opinions).
Also, this is information that’s readily available to all bookmakers and the kind of thing that they can weight a lot better than punters. I’d also say in a trading room it’s a lot more difficult to justify going bigger priced on James/Jahmene based on Chris’ vote topping Daily Star leaks (where you’d probably be laughed at by your peers) than by playing ball with the “popular” acts and using polls and social media statistics as justification. I’d also expect that they have more liabilities on James because he’s the kind of person that most casual betters would have had a little flutter on to make watching the show enjoyable because he’s their favourite. thus artificially contracting the price (as that does contribute to pricing these markets). Even if he does win, I can’t see any value whatsoever.
Superb analysis Luke. My positions are similar to yours and I agree completely. The prices on Jahmene and James are artificially low, just as Ella’s was, because of the amount of money that’s been on them from the get-go.
The charity single in Liverpool angle won’t fly with the Hillsborough track being released on the 17th. That will rightly be the song people in the city will want at number one this Christmas, not anything X Factor related
Based on the facts we have to hand…
1. Jahmene
2. Christopher
3. James
Although I agree it’s still wide open – any of the three could pull it off in my mind.
This was an interesting tweet on the topic of the Sun YouGov poll…
Dan Wootton @danwootton
Very interesting X Factor poll in The Sun tomorrow: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/x_factor/4687289/Sun-poll-reveals-who-readers-believe-will-be-crowned-The-X-Factor-king-ahead-of-final.html … Predicts a big win for James. But X Factor staff not so sure.
Guys, is the 3rd place act leaving tonight or at the beginning of Sunday’s show? Thanks.
From RT:
“At the end of the show, Dermot O’Leary announces the results of the phone-in and the least popular contestant gets the chop, with the lucky two going through to the last stage of the contest.”
James already won the show last week when he did “The Power Of Love”.
Even though I believe Christopher probably has been topping the vote regularly, I just think that’s down to the demographics of people who vote in the early stages.
This year is completely crazy. The poll results might be the key but I’m not convinced.
Based on the song choice indicators I agree with Luke on Chris/Jahmene on Sunday, that would mean Chris is still leading and James can’t catch him.
Having said that, it’s also possible James became 1st already in the semi and Chris is far far third (as the polls suggest) so he can’t harm two J’s so they allowed him to exit on Saturday with dignity. But again, press attacks on him just go on to keep his voters motivated, Sun/Yougov poll result will provoke his voters even more. Do we have a case that polls don’t reflect multiple votes which Chris is likely to get? And what’s the proportion of the floaters in the equations?
Too many questions and some will remain unanswered, I think I’ll just give up…
Hi Boki, agreed that it has been a confusing year and questions remain unanswered. It is worth looking at our interview with the YouGov guy Joe Twyman as we asked him about how he might take into account the question of multiple voting in their polls: https://sofabet.com/2012/01/20/x-factor-2011-review-part-5-an-interview-with-yougovs-joe-twyman-on-x-factorpolling/
Or, if you want to lay James, who despite being talented is truculent, who never smiles, who has no feelgood story, whose musical style is an acquired taste, whose winners’ single is obscure, who is the only contestant to have been in the bottom two, and who we know has been polling lower than the other two finalists, the price on Betfair is excellent.
My daughter just confused me – James is the best and has most followers, but a lot of people won’t bet for Chris because x-factor winner is a taint that would hurt his credibility. If that is a genuine vote/no vote criteria that could explain the polls differing from the result. I also like the multiple vote thing if all Chris voters vote twice than he only needs half the followers.
My position is now strongly anti J (both of them) for Saturday – I will then look to lay back to a position of profit when there is only 1 J left. Obviously if Chris is 3rd I’m toast!!
… obvious mistake – 2nd line – Lots of people won’t vote for James …. – sorry for the errors but on my browser the “enter your comment here” doesn’t clear away so I can’t review first 2 lines
Link to complete Yougov results:
http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/brkccrkz1r/YG-Archive-Pol-Sun-results-071212-x-factor.pdf
Strange things is that among 60+ group 36% will vote Jahmene, 20% James and only 19% Chris (with 24% waiting to decide on the show).
I think most people here know my take on things, but for the record, here’s my prediction:
1. Chris
2. Jahmene
3. James
Anyone seen Sauron lately?
I completely agree. I’m sorry Daniel, but I can’t see James overcoming both Christopher and Jahmene. Not with the leaks throughout the series and his treatment so far. It has all indicated to me that James’s treatment is because he’s not doing very well.
I accept that I may be biased because I need Christopher to be in the Top 2 to win anything and if he doesn’t win, I need Jahmene to win.
However, I can’t see Christopher’s voters abandoning him at the most crucial point in the series and I can’t see James Arthur overcoming the voter deficit. In my opinion, Christopher will be the champion come Sunday Night.
My prediction:
1. Christopher Maloney
2. Jahmene Douglas
3. James Arthur
Rule The World is a big song choice for Chris, it is hard to call, lets see how the show goes but polls or no polls he not beaten yet. Is one going at end of show tonight?
I will go: 1. Chris 2. James 3. Jahmene.
I think in retrospect a huge push was given to Jahmene last week to make the final so may well be in third place going in. Chris v James would be very hard to call 24 hours later but I will stick with Chris. I just hope Jahmene does not win as have nice prices on the other two: 40/1 & 10/1.
Jahmene to go tonight would have made for a comfortable 24 hours but probably too much to ask so am about to do straight forecast Jahmene/ Chris to cover all if Chris makes last two.
For a poor year talent wise it is certainly an intriguing final punting wise.
The very best of luck to everyone.
My prediction is the same as eurovicious:
1. Christopher
2. Jahméne
3. James
If James is still in it tomorrow then I will do another prediction. Getting proper nervous/excited now #MoreNervousThanMaloney
The expected voting this week doesn’t differ much from the way people claim to have voted last week. If these results are correct Chris would have been so far behind that we would surely have been bottom of the vote, unless Union J had a woefully low level of support.
James was always my favourite but i predict hell come 3rd after all (which is the best place for him imo).
Between Chris and Jahmene, Id love Chris to win just so he doesnt do well post XF but i predict a Jahmene win (similar to Leons journey).
To the Sofabet Team:
Ive really enjoyed reading ur articles this year(my first year), keep up the good work 🙂
What other tv shows u planning on doing?
I think it’s a little naive to take any poll that has Chris so far behind at face value. He’s been bottom or near bottom of every poll since week 2 yet we know none of those polls have been accurate. We’ve had the judges hinting at the size of Chris’ support and we’ve seen James in the bottom two. It’d take some wind in his sails for James to overtake Chris by as much as the YouGov poll suggests. This could well be the closet three-way final we’ve seen. Nip n tuck between Jahmene and Chris for me although with the polls can understand the James price plunge.
Thank you. Exactly. Well summarised.
I don’t think it matters whether Christopher has been topping the vote throughout the lives. The votes for the final is many times bigger, and crucially I would imagine the demographic is very different. I just think James’ fans are more likely to be the sort of people who don’t vote until the final, whereas Christopher’s fans have been motivated to vote every week.
I disagree. Little Mix had several weeks of momentum going into Lives. Matt Cardle topped the vote from Week 2 onwards and stayed there for the final. Joe McElderry’s head of steam was enough to push him to the win.
I think vote topping is vitally important and I will be very surprised if James even makes it to Top 2.
I don’t know what to predict to be honest except Jahmene win based on the charity single.
Chris passed 8 on bf so it would be incredible comeback if he even goes to top2. If he gets eliminated tonight I’ll take a substantial loss so I can only hope that majority here is right. So I want Chris 2nd and Jamed 3rd.
The market changes on Betfair don’t represent knowledge, they just represent people’s bets – especially those with a lot of money backing James and laying Chris. Don’t worry about it. Just one example: Leanne was 8 point something going into the final of The Voice.
I’m with you Boki – but not going to throw anymore at it or juggle on BF. My only consolation is I have been scared sh*tless by BF moves against Chris at least 3 times to see them fade away prove wrong. My feel has been that a lot of people have been laying off part of earlier 30-1, 40-1 bets which keeps him long
Exactly. During the series, the regular contraction in Chris’s odds every weekend simply represented people going “OK, they didn’t get him last week – they’ll have to get him this week”. We now know that he topped the vote in weeks 1-7. Same thing in the final: people are just thinking “but he CAN’T win, because he’s not cool and they don’t want him to”. The market doesn’t represent knowledge.
Frankella Where are you now!!!!!!!
Bottom of the vote and out, that’s where she is… 😉
The twothings going for James are the yougov poll and the fact he’s probably the producer’s choice. X factor polling is in it’s infancy, and polling was turned on it’s head politically in 1992. Unreliable in my view.
The second is all about whether the producers have thongs under control, I don’t believe they do, and just seen Christophers Xtra Factor rerun.
There is enough credible data in the other direction for me to go against the prediction above.
I think 1. Jahmene 2. Chris 3. James and that’s the order of my book. Good luck everyone.
Typo of the year 🙂
Please god just let it end, thank god i get back the money that i laid out 3 months ago …and added to…and added to……..
For the record I will win a tiny percentage on the outright whatever. James my best result but my gut says Chris, hold on 15/2 i may need to add to………….
tpfkar, lets hope thongs are under control!!
Typo not a Freudian slip, promise! Any chance of an ‘Edit’ button for Christmas please?
that would be a wardrobe malfunction
Is this a good time to announce that I’m representing San Marino in next year’s Eurovision Thong Contest?
Big scream for James when he sung in the intro compared to Jahmene and Chris
Has a finalist ever been booed before? Lol. Sorry wont commentate just wanted to add that.
I’ve gone for “OPPOSE JAMES” as my prediction. Just seen the numbers, not so sure!!
Same sudden crisis of doubt hit me, and so put some money on Chris to be 10th elimination / third, having previously been Dutching both the Js to be first out.
Was spooked by reading this headline column and advice, and the presentation of the YouGov poll results.
Occurred to me I had become emotionally attached to my anti-James sentiment.
In the run up to Eurovision, I fell in love with the Spanish entry and the incredible vocal performance of Soler. At the other end of the range, I detested the bouncy-jaunty Italian song and its singer, styled like an Amy Winehouse clone.
In the “Big 5” market, the Italian entry was a very warm favourite, and so I concentrated on backing the Spanish lass.
Late in the day, I considered that my emotion was blinding me to the voting strength (or lack thereof) factor, and so I hedged with a bet on Roman Lob, the singer representing Germany. And it was just as well I did, and a last gasp switch win at that, as I think I remember it coming down to the final results call, for Germany to pip Italy (in the Big 5 market).
Yep, sure have been spooked by the new and latest information provided in this column. YouGov polls: a new area of study for me!
And do breaking YouGov poll results trump Daily Star leaks?
It’s Manchester, they hate Liverpool don’t they…
brilliant song Jahmane, but you murdered it!!
This song wasn’t announced before, have the producers gone rogue with their leaks?
Was that a caption for EVERTON for Chris? Sneaky….
Yep, is he gonna be on stage doing keepy-uppies with Rio Ferdinand next?
Being fair the end of his vt was really nice I thought with a big audience.
Audience in Manchester asked not to boo Christopher during ad break according to some tweets, that VT was wierd!
Yeah most of it was quite cringe. No booing to stop sympathy vote
Links to the tweets?
Poor Shakey, after being told how great he is by pensioners, his backdrop is a load of cassette tapes-totally alienating anyone younger. As ever, he sang it well.
Dermot sticking it in too
“You’re not going back to Liverpool” – just about the most provocative comment I’ve ever heard.
Awful song for Chris but EVERYONE knew it, I mean EVERYONE! may have a negative deramping effect!
James VT is genius. The emotional stuff. He is the chosen one I’m sure.
Would’ve said the other way… he doesn’t have a story behind the tears, especially when you’re competing with Jahmene. Good of them to get Hometown Glory in the VT though considering it was a standout performance.
His performance was epic again though he owns the songs, brilliant.
Yep, agree, he’s by far my favourite of the contestants and would be wanting him to win if I had no financial interest.
Have to concede James has had a very good round one. Pimp slot in both semi and final. It does seem the producers are aiming at the 1-2-3 in the sofabet prediction, but I’m still not convinced they’ll get it.
After round one I think James won it hands down…but talent and performance doesn’t always result in votes..fingers crossed
James has gone into 1.57 on Betfair
They are pimping James to high heaven, maybe he needs it. VT was good but obviously they going hell for leather to get Christopher out tonight, whole show is bit chaotic though to not let the viewer settle especially the new ones. All seems a bit too desperate though.
Chris’s homecoming couldn’t have looked any smaller if they’d filmed it using Lego. Worried?
Part of me thinking that the mic cutting is a set up and they’ll do the same thing during Chris’ duet because they know that he won’t be able to handle it (and doing this first will just make it look like technical difficulties rather than deliberate)
As much as I agreed with your earlier comment, this is too far-fetched. Things happen. They coped with it fine and so would Chris/Gary.
Fortunately I was wrong! Jahmene coped with it great.
Not been a great night for Jahmene I think. He could go.
James is walking this…
Jahmene is being buried here. Is James being ramped to beat Chris I wonder? (And hope). 7/2 Jahmene to leave tonight is a great price IMO
What makes you think he’s being buried? Best first VT, not quite as bad as James’ second VT, performance’s were both solid and he got a lot more alone time on the mic in his duet than either of the others did. Don’t think they’re trying to bury him at all!
Although, 7/2 does look a reasonable price to me playing the percentages.
I just think the reaction they are giving James is hugely different to Jahmene. Is it to push James ahead of Chris into second who really knows? They are bigging James massively.
Could some of the camera shots been from any further away. There was more coverage of the structure of the venue building than Chris!
Interesting production choice to have Gary on the piano.
a) Severely limits the number of camera shots with both Gary and Chris in shot together.
b) Highlights the mentor as the “real” instrument-playing musician – and thereby indirectly slights Chris’s non-playing.
c) Places a physical (and emotional and visual) barrier between Gary and Chris. Like a large set of crossed arms.
I agree Guido. What could have been a great duet for Christopher really didn’t do him any favours. No real visible chemistry between Gary and his act, even when stood together at the end of the song, Gary gave no real indication that he believed in Christopher.
Best performer this evening JAMES
Best singer Jehmaine
Most popular Shaky
JEHMAINE to go home this evening because as we have seen the best singer does not win this competition.
1. MALONEY
2. JAMES
3. JEHMAINE
It shouldn’t be but all hail the sun god Christopher and all of Liverpool who must have been listening to that first song with their TV sets turned down.
Jahmene.
In the reminders, Jahmene & Nicole very close (in a close up), switch to a solo Chris before switching to a very distant sight of Chris & Gary, as the camera pans closer they switch back to a solo Chris. Finally a close-up of Nicole with James.
As much as I want Chris through, I don’t see it happening.
Too many people on my timeline who haven’t voted all series are multiple voting for JamJah.
Depends how many people are on your time line!!!! I hope Chris can get there yet and think he will. He performed better than any other time I think.
What Kevin said. Size of sample?
True. Not enough to make a difference, although one person voted for Jahmene over 50 times which kills me on so many levels.
Lol I hope it’s their own phone bi
I get really wrapped up in German Eurovision selections. Voted about 40 times for Roger Cicero in 2007, No Angels in 2008 (yeah, yeah, I know), Jennifer Braun (who finished second) in 2010, Taken By A Stranger in 2011 and about 100 times for Katja (who came 5th) and Ornella (who finished 2nd) in 2012.
I hope so too.
Lucy Spraggan tweeted a pic off her multiple voting for James & Jahmene, then deleted the tweet.
I hope Chris’ 82 year-old fanbase have really fast fingers.
Argh! 🙁
Chris out. I knew it. I didn’t mind him but his time to go was now. A proper final 2. Come on James.
They finally got him!
Like I said, topping the vote in the early stages means sweet F.A.
So the poll was right after all…
Was the James pimping to get him into second? Could be a different story tomorrow. 15/8 Jahmene will not be there by the end of voting tomorrow.
I thought this too but really I think they are riding the momentum since his B2. He has to be fave now.
Definitely favorite but it may not be as cut and dried as it seems now. I wish I had laid off some of Chris money now but thems the breaks. That’s racing.
The runaway train finally grinds to a halt, now who going to win? I thought Nicole duets were good and helped both, the piano and Garry wearing white shirt to stand out with Christopher in dark has to be the biggest stitch duet of the show so far.
damiel i think all you james supporters will get them fingers burnt tonight pmsl.all because the sun says he will win.the last time they got it right was when matt won it and they said joe would win it aswell.we all knew joe and matt where going to win it….never listen to the newspapers they tell to much bullsh4t.i think you should go and look at On Digital Spy poll which is more for james.the vote is
51.52% for Jahmene 203 votes and 48.48% for james 191 votes.when it was the final 3 left james had 50% of the vote Jahmene 35% and chris had 15%.think it was the same in the sun aswell.now chris has gone Jahmene % has shot up .
i think the 4/9 and 2/5 is all wrong .i can not spilt them like the vote on Digital Spy says.
and remerber Digital Spy has been pimping for james for ages..
at least that chris is not they.and we have 2 good singers to watch tonight
i can not call which one will win as it will be very tight.
but if i was forced to chose it would have to be
from before i would have to chose Jahmene.hes the better singer.