X Factor 2013 Week 6 Post Mortem: Don’t play it again, Sam

It wasn’t the singoff I was expecting. An all-boy duel transpired between Sam Callahan and Luke. The former was a firm favourite to go at 1.04 during the contest. I wasn’t tempted to chase my losses at those puny odds. Sure enough though, the panel did the sensible thing in getting rid of the lesser vocalist.

The result seemed to contradict the pecking order suggested in The Sun yesterday, which had Sam Callahan in third place behind Sam Bailey and Nicholas. The Essex lad did have everything aimed at him last night – in red and black – and that clearly helped his vote drop off. The margins behind the two market leaders may also be very small.

Otherwise, the biggest point of interest in the show was Louis namechecking Nicholas, Sam Bailey and Rough Copy as the three acts whose album he would buy tomorrow. Are these the three acts that producers are angling to get into the final? Either way, it wasn’t a ringing endorsement for Luke or Sam Callahan before their singoff appeareance, with no mention of Tamera either.

What did you think of tonight’s singoff result? Do let us know below.

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83 comments to X Factor 2013 Week 6 Post Mortem: Don’t play it again, Sam

  • Natasha

    I think Sam C voters will tranfer to Wee McNick and guarentee him at least 2nd place.

  • Hannah not falling in bottom2, that’s the biggest surprise of the night.. .I think every1 predicted Sam C leaving though, did they?
    are we expecting an all-girl showdown next week?

    • Roxie

      I think it’s because the power of going first is misunderstood. Yes it can make people forget you or if you did a performance like Hannah’s, though it actually makes you stand out even more. Hannah I thought performed well on the night and thus really deserved to be there.

      I am happy as well that Tamera made it past today. I think it shows that there is a fan base voting for her if things do get haywire. In Wishing On a Star, it was so neutral that neutrals weren’t amazed enough to vote and fans wouldn’t vote substantially enough because there was no feeling of her being in danger. I think she’s done enough vocally competent enough performances to deserve to go through

      I was so surprised to learn that neither girl was in the B2 this week and that was nice because vocally they are both definitely up there. They just need to wow with their next performance. If we have an Alex – ‘Listen’ moment with Tamera then she may have a chance at winning. Otherwise, I think the over hyping of Sam Bailey will see her there over Nick/Rough Copy. I think this is what the producers are waiting to see.

  • Boki

    It’s a mystery how both Hannah/Tamera escaped and my only explanation is (again) that Nic sucked all the boy votes.

    • Ben Cook

      Both girls got sympathy votes.

    • R

      Never doubt the power of 1D to sway the vote.
      Tweeting Tamera & RC saved them. Hannah had a sympathy bounce plus 3 judges telling everyone to vote for her.

      https://sofabet.com/2013/11/16/x-factor-2013-week-6-live-show-great-british-damp-squib/comment-page-2/#comment-33599

    • Boki

      Maybe, maybe, but my guess is that the differences at the bottom are tiny.

      • AlisonR

        I agree. I was trying to work out the possible percentages. If Sam B really did hoover up 35% of the vote last week and McNic a reasonable chunk of the remainder, I reckon the bottom six were averaging about 6.5%, with possibly as little as 1% separating the lot. So it’s entirely possible that Sam C could finish 3rd last week and I would not be surprised because the production was fun. This week, Sam B may have come back to the pack a little, McNic will have increased his, but adding up the two of them I don’t expect a lot of difference. I expect the bottom 5 to be averaging around 8% this time but still with not much more than 1% separating. It’s entirely feasible that Hannah could have gone from 8th to third with a decent performance and not a lot between them. Am guessing the order of the others would have been Rough Copy 4th, Tamera 5th, Sam 6th, Luke 7th

  • eurovicious

    Hannah bounced! And, more shockingly still, Tamera didn’t debounce. Bye Sam. You took it like a man. (fnar fnar)

    B2 result shows the power of distraction – Luke and Sam C had the most distracting staging by far. Plus with Nick hitting it out of the park, I reckon there was vote transfer away from the other boys to him. I think Luke’s bounce will be considerable. Surprising result given that most people on here including myself were working on the basis of a B2 with either Hannah, Tamera or most likely both in. That will now surely be the case next week.

    Rough Copy really can perform anything, can’t they?

  • Dean

    Yep both girls escaped but with Luke expecting a bounce at least 1, if not both should be B 2 next week.

  • Nissl

    Well, I got my preseason 8th and now 7th picks right. Perhaps it’s worth pointing out that Sam C and Luke got dropped below both of the previous B2 singers mostly on the basis of somewhat less helpful production decisions. (After all Hannah was in the death slot with a somewhat messy production and Tamera was coming off a bounce, set up for forgetting a line and stuck in a weird cube.) That suggests to me that everyone who’s not Sam B or Nick is closely bunched (with RC a wildcard). Probably stating the obvious but it seems very likely that the next 3 out are Hannah-Luke-Tamera in that order.

  • Curtis

    By navigating Tamera through this week (with a lyrics flub which I’m certain, whether Tamera did it intentionally or not, the producers wanted to happen) they may well have done enough to steer her into 4th. B2 next week, bounce week 8 and you’re there. It would have been much more awkward if she had been B2 tonight.

  • eurovicious

    Working on the basis of Sam C being 3rd most popular as per the Sun story, I assumed they went all-out on him last night to depress his vote as much as possible with a view to getting him out next week. I guess their Christmas came a week early. Glad for Hannah that she reaped the rewards of a good performance and hope they give her something similarly upbeat and suitable next week.

    Surely this means Hannah out next week, then Luke, then Tamera? (BTW Tamera should call her fans Tameerkats if she doesn’t already.)

  • Shoulders

    All the contestants when they came on to sing we’re wearing red and black except Tamera who was all in white, on the live show they very last thing that Nicole said was don’t forget your lines and then she conviently did, Gary said waiting for the wow moment in his comments, she was left to last tonight in looking as if going to be in the bottom two, as I have Tamera at 20/1 for the win, and missed the boat to lay the bet, I’m hoping that this is all in the plan, they are deramping her so that next week her wow moment will have much more effect, all to propel her to the final !!, as a disclaimer I’m always wrong in my predictions

    • Face

      Sounds like a reasonable assumption… only snag is Tamera has been a bundle of nerves since she was B2… and before that was only average… so they are relying an awful lot on a 16/17 year old being able to really step it up at this critical juncture… I suspect she wouldn’t be able to pull it off

  • Boki

    Daniel, do you think that sing-off prices are ridiculous this year comparing to the previous ones? I have that impression, it’s mad how fast it goes to sub 1.05.

    • Daniel

      Hi Boki, it hasn’t been easy to get backable prices in recent weeks, though the singoffs have been very predictable of late. I’m now starting to miss the flash vote, which could at least give me 24 hours to get some significant money down. 😉

  • eurovicious

    Ya know, I wish tonight’s show had been as exciting as the summary “Louis had two boys in the bottom then Gary told Sam he took it like a man” might merit.

  • eurovicious

    Luke had loads of smoke/dry ice, didn’t he? While I think that was only a minor factor in his B2 appearance (if even involved at all), it’s worth asking – what do we think about the presence of heavy smoke/dry ice in general, good/bad? Smoke with red and black/a hellmouth effect is obivously a negative, but what about smoke on its own?

  • Fudd

    Adele has tweeted that she wants Luke to win so that will give The X Factor producers some ammunition if they want to lift him above someone else next week (along with the sympathy bounce).

  • Chatterbox5200

    Bwin have their First/Last to Sing on Saturday markets open. Luke is available at 3/1 to sing last. Considering that he is the only act remaining that has not yet had the pimp slot (although he has had the penultimate slot twice), at first glance, this does look a little big, and I’m going to take some of it before it is slashed.

    Looking back at previous years, the allocation of the pimp slot hasn’t always been equally distributed. After the first seven weeks, the only acts that were still in the show, that had not been given the pimp slot were:

    Series 9 – Union J & Rylan (James & Jahmene had 2 each)
    Series 8 – Janet Devlin
    Series 7* – Mary Byrne, Paije Richardson & Wagner (Katie Waissel had 2)
    Series 6 – Lloyd Daniels (Joe McElderry had 2)

    *14 acts left in after week 1.

    Considering that it is rare to give the “joke act” the pimp slot, and it’s since been made clear that TPTB set about trying to get rid of Janet, I am assuming that Union J and Lloyd were stripped of their chance for a pimp slot to help the votes for the producers favourites:

    Series 6 – Joe hadn’t topped the vote until week 7
    Series 7 – Katie Waissel was always struggling until her second pimp slot in week 7
    Series 9 – James didn’t top the vote until week 8

    Therefore, although Luke is due a sympathy bounce from tonight, he may be given the pimp slot to make things look fair, as he now doesn’t appear to be a long term threat to Sam B/Nicholas.

    Along the same lines, Tamera and Nicholas are the only acts not to sing first and are both available at 3/1. I have mixed thoughts about whether they would want Tamera to open the show (they may want her to b2 so she can bounce), but they may not see any risk with giving Nicholas this slot. Dutching them gives odds of Evens.

    • AlisonR

      Thanks for that, Chatterbox. I’d been wondering myself who hadn’t sung first/last yet.

    • Argenta Q.

      Problem is, though, that they seem to be on a mission to take him down after three straight good slots (too popular, perhaps?). They could very well put him in the middle this week than back at the beginning in Week 8.

    • Fudd

      The final two slots may be more important than usual this week because the acts that get them will avoid the Doctor Who Special on BBC One and, because of that, may get an upper hand on the rest. Certainly Who will provide a bigger threat to The X Factor ratings wise because there’s a cross demographic between the two shows.

      Therefore, I would be slightly surprised if Luke was given it; I think they may be left for Tamera and Rough Copy who appear to be limping along in the public vote but the producers want to give a boost to. Nicholas might get the early slot as I don’t think he’s under any threat with maybe the producer’s target (Hannah?) going second and Sam Bailey third with Luke fourth.

      • Chatterbox5200

        Thanks Fudd. I wasn’t aware of the Dr. Who special was on, and this may well influence the running order. I agree that the final two slots may well be occupied by who TPTB really want/need to pimp.

    • Dean

      I like having a guess at the running order. For me

      1. Tamera (thijk they don’t mind if she’s B2 this week to bounce her to final)
      2. Wee Nic
      3. Hannah
      4. Sam B
      5. Luke
      6. RC (don’t think they’d want T and RC B2 so 1 or the other will get the pimp)

  • Roxie

    I think it’s still very much unclear what the producers intentions are still at this point. Usually we have some idea of who their main Plan A is at this point but I am left completely bewildered as to who their favorite is at the moment? If it is still Tamera then they’ve set her up perfectly to have some sort of breakthrough performance next week. Now I think only whether she delivers or not will make the producers decide who their Plan A really will be.

    If Rough Copy is then Plan A now then I forsee the TPTB to try to get Hannah and Tamera out as soon as possible as Tamera especially is incredibly similar in style to Rough Copy. Then again we did have JLS vs Alexandra in the final two in 2008, it may happen again with two R&B acts being in the final 2. Sam B I still have a feeling that all this over hype is going to be damning. I really think we have to wait until after Week 7 to really decide the winner. Tamera may get the pimp slot again this week.

    • Rough Copy are not Plan A that’s for sure.. I remember all the hype going around JLS 5 years ago, how all the judges were praising them week after week, how Simon said JLS and Alexandra were on another level to everyone else in the competition and that they HAD to be in the finals.. I don’t know but I don’t feel the same treatment to RC this year. its not their first time in the program either, except from Kaz (is that how you spell it?) who I only remember cos of the visa problems I still don’t know the other 2 member’s names and they still don’t have a lead vocalist. I know if Gary doesn’t win this year its gonna be his 3rd consecutive year in not winning but Sharon also never won. Right now the only ones I can see winning are Nicolas, Sam or Tamera. We know the producers would rather a girl won than a boy, which is why, due to Tamera’s unlikely chances to win since she fell in the bottom 2, they are pushing Sam, way more than Nicolas. I realized this in the last 2 weekends.. every time Dermot, Caroline or Matt asked one of the judges or someone in the public who they wanted to win, they answered Sam. the only exception was Sam’s last interview last night who said he wanted either Nic or Tamera.. I took it as “Tamera and Nic have equally the same chances to win, eventhough Tamera already fell in the danger zone”.
      Which brings me to Tamera. Gary said we’re still waiting for that breakout performance.. which is true. Sam got quite a few exceptional performances but after all that hype with Tamera pre-live shows, we haven’t seen THE performance yet. it will probably come in the next week or two, which will decide (by looking at the votes after that performance) if they want to go till the end with Tamera or not

    • Ben Cook

      If The Sun’s report is accurate, only Sam or Nick can win this now, and it is obvious that Sam winning would be a better result from both a TV show and selling albums point of view. She is clearly Plan A now.

  • Gamblebot

    Random fact: Tamera is the first act to avoid the B2 in Week 6 after landing there in Week 4. Mind you, the last two victims (Union J, Misha) performed late, as well.

    • Roxie

      Yes she’s defied the odds in this case. Every act who’s ever been in the B2 on Week 4 and survived has B2’d on Week 6 as well aside from Series 1. So that must mean something? Maybe she recovered a bit like James did after delivering Cry Me a River but didn’t bounce high enough so they did this deliberately to set up for a ‘Let’s Get It On’ type breakthrough next week?

      • Gamblebot

        In any case, she would have been saved anyway, like the last five acts (Rachel H., Lloyd, Katie, Misha, Union J), but it says something about her popularity (or TPTB’s nuking skills).

    • eurovicious

      Indeed. I’m much less surprised about Hannah escaping B2 than I am about Tamera not falling into it.

  • Nissl

    Totally unhelpful for betting, but reviewing the judges and presenters, two things I thought I’d mention. First, did anyone catch Louis’s looks of childlike glee tonight? Perhaps an over the top reaction to complaints none of the judges smiled? Well, this was much more fun anyway. Simple psychology, if the people see smiles, they also smile. Then they decide they are having a good time after the fact.

    Second, Dermot really needs to work on his joke delivery. Every time he’s trying to get one in, he speeds up and gets quieter. It’s a bit of a defensive reaction I think, but it doesn’t actually help any misses go down better. Could just be a cultural difference there, though.

  • Argenta Q.

    Luke will be bounced, but by how much? Last year, Union J opened the show after a Week 6 B2 appearance (but it was because they were next to last the week before).

    That said, who will they drag to the bottom 2 with Hannah?

  • Argenta Q.

    I noticed that the last few targets were killed off perfectly by BOTH staging and styling.

    Miss Dynamix
    -colour vomit
    -cheap lettering
    -plinth
    -vomit clothes.
    Kingsland Road
    -colour vomit
    -relentless close-ups of each member but not the group
    -uncoordinated clothes.
    Abi
    -out of this world staging
    -no glasses
    -plinth
    -“That’s Life”
    -shoes
    Sam C
    -red/black
    -bad angles
    -“FAITH”
    -unusually loose black shirt with white paint on
    -that haircut

  • David

    I read sofabet regularly and would like so comment.

    Like everyone else, last week I thought Hannah was destined for b2. Her performances last week had got at best mixed reviews. Although I personally thought they weren’t bad they certainly weren’t showstoppers. Then the “leak” from The Sun seemed to confirm all the rumours and statements that she “wasn’t connecting” with the viewers.

    I enjoyed her Croydon patois but a lot of commentators derided it and it seemed as if she could do nothing right. In retrospect I wonder if a bit of unconscious snobbery and racism influenced people’s judgement.

    Anyway, it was a great performance on Saturday. In my opinion the best of the night, and it was recognised and rewarded by the viewers.

    So far, apart from Sam Bailey’s Enough Is Enough no-one has given what Hannah gave on Saturday.

    I realise that we don’t know what the song choices are yet. If Hannah has something right in her sweet spot (fnur fnur) as she did with the soul version of Satisfaction then surely there’s no reason why she can’t do that again. Her confidence must be high now. The audience were clapping and singing in along – she did a great bit of call and response to the “I Can’t Get No” bit and having that kind of response from thousands of people must be a hell of a boost.

    I’m no expert. I just wonder. Why, after such a great performance and salvation in the vote, are so many people so convinced that she’s going to be b2 next week.

    I got the feeling last week was a bit of a test where all the acts were left to sink or swim, with the producers waiting to see who was left at the end. That certainly makes jmore sense to me than all the speculation about chosen ones and Tamera. It also makes sense of the judges’ comments, which otherwise seem inconsistent and an unreliable guide anything concrete.

    I’d also add that if I was going to go to anyone’s gig from the current finalists, it wouldn’t be Rough Copy or Sam Bailey. It would be Hannah. She’s already been described many times as having a great work ethic (she practises so much they have to put her on vocal rest), she’s obviously got great performance skills and when she pulls it back and stops the “shouty” style, she’s got a hell of a voice, as she showed on Saturday.

    Is it not possible that she could even replace Tamera as the number one girl?

  • David

    One other thing….

    I think that Hannah on Saturday, Sam Callahan in the sing off on Sunday and Abi in her sing off last week demonstrated how important it is to choose the right song.

  • Heisenberg

    “You know you’re the chosen one when…”

    A cameraman climbs into your oven.

    http://goo.gl/H6N8LE

    • eurovicious

      Hahaha :). That whole VT was weird. It portrayed Sam in a much more overtly… downmarket way than we’ve been used to, starting from her looking an absolute state in her to-camera remarks and continuing with the naff baking sesh. I’m not saying it should have been Fennel Friday but I don’t know, something about it just rubbed me up the wrong way. Sam is supposed to be working-class, but not (I’m gonna say it, and I hate myself for doing so)… chavvy. To me at least, her children rolling around on the kitchen floor in bare feet, her telling Celine Dion “I sang Titanic last week” (it’s called My Heart Will Go On), her getting the kids to make rude noises while preparing the jam tarts etc combined to create the wrong impression. Sorry, I know I sound Victorian.

  • Heisenberg

    Here’s the blueprint for a Rough Copy VT:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5l-dgk-7GY

  • Nugg

    Was at the show last night, it is a strange year, There appears to be no passionate support or hate towards any of the acts amongst the crowd or production team. I wouldn’t rule out Rough Copy winning based purely on chats with various people I spoke to last night.

    • Chatterbox5200

      Hi Nugg. I’ve just received “General Admission” tickets for the live show on Sat 7th Dec. It recommends arriving early to ensure entrance. Can you provide and guidance on a good time to turn up? Or did you have Guest List tickets?

      • Nugg

        Ok, first and foremost do you have a spare space on your ticket. If you do please message me 🙂 as would love to go. I went to Sunday show, was a popular week as Gary, Miley and Backstreet Boys were playing as well as 1direction doing a prerecord to be shown next week. I arrived 11am (ticketless) and was lucky enough to meet a girl from Belgium who had travelled alone and had a ticket for two. I was 20th in the queue. I would say about 150 general admission tickets got in last night. I think everyone who was there before 2pm got in pretty much, I would recommend getting there about noon and queuing for 7 hours if you are able to and want to be sure of getting in. A word of warning, they are VERY hot on ticket checks this year, more than I have ever seen in the past, tickets cannot be transfered, If you haven’t got photo ID (passport or drivers licence) for the name on the ticket you WILL be sent home, this happened to several I saw.

        • Chatterbox5200

          Thanks for the info. I have a ticket for 4 people, but once I tell them that they are likely to need to queue for 6+ hours, I envisage that I may have a space! Would a message through here be the best way to let you know? Or do Andrew/Daniel have your email address?

  • Heisenberg

    “Hey mum, don’t vote for her, she hates my favourite pop star”

    http://goo.gl/nmcZ61

    • eurovicious

      I think that story’s positive. When your kids’ favourite popstar starts taking her clothes off and rubbing her bum against men dressed as zebras, enter Sam Bailey – the clean, family-friendly alternative.

  • Gamblebot

    I just noticed that pretty much every audience member asked during the Live Shows or Xtra Factor loves Sam Bailey.

  • General Hogbuffer

    Ahhh – the good old days when winning this show was actually the main and only aim !

    Unfortunately, 1 Dimension changed all that, nowadays it’s all about the exposure. When the stupid voting hordes wouldn’t elect the chosen ones, SyCo simply decided to ignore the outcome and threw all their might behind the act they (rightly, it has to be said) deemed more marketable.

    You could see the first glimpses of this when Will Young beat Gareth Gates, but Simon still stuck to Plan A and invested in Gareth.

    So I am convinced that these days, TPTB are running a two-tier scheme: there is a desired winner, but the act identified to make a commercial success with is not necessarily the same. I believe they would be ok with a Sam Bailey win, as this will round the 10 year arc off quite nicely (no overs winner since season 1) and will vindicate bringing Mrs O back. She will go on a Jane MacDonald / SuBo trajectory and sell a few albums before joining the Loose Women team.

    I cannot see much commercial success for Nicholas beyond a hastily clobbered-together mother’s day album, but that will definitely happen…

    With Leona being a bit of a slow sell these days, I can totally see Tamera lined up as a replacement, and I can easily believe reports that she had a whole team in place before the auditions were even filmed. A lot about her screams “placed in the competition as a launch pad” in the same way it was with Leona. With her past and personality, she will have to go on a massive redemption journey, though, hence her mishap this week to recall her auditions, and the judges setting her up for the stand-out performance moment that is probably planned for next week or the week after…

    There is also quite a decent amount gone into Rough Copy, none of which unfortunately towards finding a less ridiculous name. They are clearly meant to take over from JLS (who conveniently have been splitting up for the last 20 months it feels), so let’s see how their swagger will go down with the record buying public, keeping in mind that there are a few criminal convictions and visa issues still hiding in the closet…

  • annie

    The only thing Im wondering what does SamBailey have that NIkki Evans didnt a few years back. I wasnt actively watching back then, but looking at her performances she had at least a bit of originality in song choices(compared to what sam is getting) and maybe a more distinct tone to her voice…. and still, they couldn’t manage to get her in the final even though she was up against the likes Leon and SameDiff and Rhydian.
    I don’t really see anything pointing towards trying to make Sam at least a bit commercial. She does have a good voice but I don’t see any effort towards post show life being put into her song choices or styling or anything. Practically all her songs were already done on XFac, and are quite generic. Like no effort is put into making her anything more then an upscale cruiseship singer. From what she is doing now and the way she is treated the only thing I can see her do is a similar album to tesco marys mothers day cd. and I doubt they would want that with a winner.
    I think if they weren’t confident she can can fail to win, or can’t be stopped from winning, they would have tried to direct her to some more musical individuality and comerciality already. so while I think she destined for the final she will be nobbled at latest at the final step.

    • lolhart

      I didn’t watch that series avidly either, but unless I’m mistaken part of the problem was that Nikki wasn’t the clear alpha in her category. In fact, I think the show (and Louis) favoured Beverley until she hit bottom 2 the first time. Sam B has had quite a lot of momentum behind her from the beginning.

  • Heisenberg

    To help make the X Factor landscape as clear as possible leading into the weekend, here is some useful information:

    Week 7: Best of the X Factor
    http://goo.gl/OEkj2S

    Week 7: Sunday Results Show
    http://goo.gl/de6OwC

    Key points (some info from other sources):

    – Suggestions are that songs will be chosen from James Arthur, Little Mix, Joe McElderry, Alexandra Burke, Leona Lewis, Olly Murs and One Direction past performances OR material they have recorded since appearing in the X Factor.

    – Past contestants may feature as mentors in VTs.

    – Coincides with the release of the X Factor Greatest Hits CD – will song choices be influenced by track listings? (http://goo.gl/2VBI68).

    – On Sunday’s results show JLS will perform WITH the contestants in a group song. Harmful or helpful for Rough Copy and the Sunday vote?

    – – –

    Week 8: Jukebox
    http://goo.gl/agW9CR

    Week 8: Sunday Results Show
    http://goo.gl/SWcbbU

    Key points:

    – Acts will perform two songs each with one being chosen by the public.

  • Rad

    What is going on with the representation of judges and acts going on these emails for press contacts?:

    Nicole Sherzinger and Girls category to justin.jeffreys@itv.com

    Sharon Osbourne and Overs category to justin.jeffreys@itv.com

    Gary Barlow and the Groups category to rachel.hardy@thames.tv

    Louis Walsh and the Boys category to hannah.lamden@sycoentertainment.com

  • Still trying to get my head about what the hell happened last night/this weekend, so have watched the show again and here are my notes. I will try and focus on things not particularly mentioned already.

    – Abi was eliminated last week, could this have boosted the other two girls?
    – Perhaps The Sun leak wasn’t entirely truthful, in that maybe Sam C wasn’t third and Tamera wasn’t 6th. After all, it is the Daily Star, not The Sun which is reliable for leaks.
    -The public will vote for someone (Hannah) if several of the judges tell them to.
    – Likewise, the public will vote for people (Rough Copy, Tamera and Nicholas) if anyone from One Direction tells them to.
    – Sam B and Nicholas probably gobbled up around 60% of the vote this week, so the other 5 were clearly fighting for scraps.
    – The Nicholas pimp slot took the focus away from the other two boys.
    – The voting figures are obviously still very low, even with the donation to charity this week.
    – Performing first is better than performing second (it’s easy to forget this sometimes).
    – If an act is not being talked about on twitter, it doesn’t necessarily mean nobody has voted for them (just look at Christopher last year).
    – Sympathy bounces can happen more than once and can last for more than one week.
    – When Hannah is shown to be smiling and laughing, it has an infectious impact on the audience. The same applies to Rough Copy.
    – The first part of Luke’s VT showed the boys going ice skating, implying that they’re having fun and larking around rather than working hard.
    – Luke’s lighting was mostly all over the place and wasn’t focused on him until the end of the performance.
    – Being followed by Sam Bailey in the running order is extremely dangerous
    – The bit shown of Hannah in the recap wasnt particularly good.
    – Caroline Flack didn’t come to Hannah in her backstage interviews.
    – Hannah was on a plinth (although came down) and the dancers were mostly distracting, weren’t looking at her and weren’t co-ordinated with their styling.
    – Louis’s reaction to Hannah being called safe proved that he wasn’t expecting her to be.
    – People voted for Tamera despite fair criticism from the judges and the fact that they didn’t ask people to (although Niall from 1D did).
    – Sam Callahan was red and blacked but he had survived being red and blacked in other weeks.
    – He probably would’ve gone over Hannah in that B2 combo, despite me previously thinking that they would’ve deadlocked it to ditch her.

    Having considered all of the above, I’m still astonished that both Hannah AND Tamera escaped the bottom 2, in particular that they polled higher than Sam Callahan.

    Everyone I have spoken to seems to have made a loss on this weekend, but (ironically) I think it would’ve been easy for casual punters to have made money this week just by thinking “Sam Callahan is the worst singer, and he gave the weakest performance, so I’ll back him to be eliminated”.

    • Think its as simple as this, Sam B & Nick are taking all the vote up.

      Nick’s VT at the beginning was based around girls, this probably dampened Sam’s vote.

      Not negative enough comments for Sam C.

      Tamera forgetting the words most probably helped her. Some can debate this was deliberate, I wont go into that right now, it doesn’t matter to me.

      Difference for Hannah, she opened the show.. but during that she got audience participation when encouraging audience members to join in, I wonder how many viewers at home joined in at the same time and told themselves “I liked that”

      If Sam & Nick have previously been taking all the votes, perhaps Nick wasn’t taking as many, but this week being pimped meant he took more this has damaged other acts, and left everyone fighting for scraps, there was probably nothing in the bottom 4 acts, which for me this week was, Luke Friend/Sam C/Hannah/Rough Copy

  • R

    Still sticking to last week’s madcap theory which served me so well.
    https://sofabet.com/2013/11/11/x-factor-2013-week-5-staging-and-lighting-review/comment-page-1/#comment-33128

    The only change is that I now believe Nick beat Sam B at the weekend and she is receiving mild deramping.
    His demo covers more of the population than hers unless we see an all out England v Scotland battle. I don’t believe this will happen as TPTB highlighted his Scottish-ness in the early weeks (to get the scots on board) and have been a lot more tactful since.

  • Travis Baines

    Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, but will there be any analysis/discussion about I’m a Celeb betting on here?

    • Heisenberg

      Analysis/discussion: I heard rumours of a secret experiment which was devised in 1990 to create the consummate reality television show participant. Using methods of advanced genetic engineering and mutation breeding, Joey Essex was born.

      If you’re betting on the show then the only way is Essex, as they say.

      • Travis Baines

        I’m very pleased you said this as I backed him @ 7/4 after the line-up was announced. Was going to top up the juice today but he’s gone down to even money. Sad I missed the line for him to do the most bush tucker trials @ 4/1 though… 🙁

        • Travis, Heisenberg, thanks for the reminder – have just posted a new thread for anyone who’s up for discussing I’m A Celeb, also to serve as a fresh Strictly/other thread as the last one was getting long.

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