Many of us had expected Fleur in the pimp slot this week, so she was a surprising choice to open the show with Strictly still on the other side. Her VT featured a family homecoming, and some twerking. Dressed in a red PVC dress with a bow over her cleavage, she danced more suggestively with her backing dancers than we can remember her having done before. The reaction in the Sofabet comments was mixed.
Lauren’s VT hit some by now familiar themes – princessy, parental reconciliation, big sister Fleur. She had some lovely Christmas staging, but was rather drowned out by the backing track and the overall effect was somewhat underwhelming. Louis said she struggled, Mel said she’d been consistent without having a moment – an expectations build up for the second round, for better or worse; Simon (after calling her Fleur) said she was good but not great, and Dermot asked about her nerves. “Stay just one more day”, Lauren’s lyrics had said; is that her fate?
Ben’s family came round to the X Factor house. We got another view of Nonna Rita – she’d also be interviewed by Dermot after the break, just before Andrea – and his mum looked tearful as he expressed a hope to be able to afford a house like that for them. He got a backdrop of golden icicles and dancing girls in a sleigh, and a three-judge standing ovation. Louis appealed for votes, Mel praised his confidence and called him a rock star; Cheryl gave him a glowing character witness, and Simon expressed his pride.
We were back to the Italian and food themes in Andrea’s VT, as he and the other finalists and Dermot went to a pizzeria and Andrea expressed hs homesickness and made pig noises before being presented with a pug to cuddle. On a plinth and dressed in grey, Andrea appearred to be surrounded by giant rolls of Andrex (borrowed from Carly Rose Sonenclar). Judge cutaways were positive, and Simon joined Mel in giving him a standing ovation before pulling the “I didn’t like it, I loved it” line – and then returning to the ‘donut deramp’ theme of associating Andrea with excessive eating by checking that he hadn’t consumed the pug.
Switched to the first slot for the second round of songs, as with last week when she hit the singoff for the first time, Lauren’s staging had “end of journey” written all over it as we saw childhood photos projected on the big screen – reminiscent of the distracting home video projection that saw Luke Friend hit the singoff last year, and also of the “let’s have a look at your best bits” reel trope that gets played for contestants who’ve just been voted off. Mel helpfully noted that this wasn’t the breakout performance she’d been waiting for, while Simon credited her with “a bit of a moment” but noted that she tends to hold back.
She was immediately memoryholed by Simon’s promise of a song most of the audience had never heard before, and an emotional family VT for Fleur. The VT had Simon making clear that the fault would be all his if it didn’t work. In the same costuming as week 2, Fleur’s staging was full of gold and she delivered a sassy, sexy performance which showed off what a great dancer and performer she is. There had been much speculation in the comments beforehand about how well an as-yet unreleased song would connect with ITV-watching Middle England, but the reaction in the room sounded huge; Mel called her a superstar, Cheryl said she was more like a star guest than a contestant, and Simon repeated that this was the moment she turned from a contestant into a star.
Fleur popped up once again in Andrea’s VT, which featured more bonding with Mel’s family and Italian-speaking over Skype. The high-concept staging featured broken glass doors and what looked like shards of glass on his shirt as he sang about being a wrecking ball. Louis called him the “people’s diva” again, Simon praised him for taking a risk that paid off, and Mel forthrightly asked people to vote – twice.
Ben’s VT started with him tearfully visiting a hospice and sounded the mum klaxon, continuing the theme of Ben wanting to win it to give her a better life. This was far from a pimp slot coronation, however, as the theme of Ben not winning Mel over continued. Ben’s overall treatment suggests to us that producers are still holding out hope of building enough momentum for Fleur to win, but will be happy enough to embrace Ben if need be. Whether Mel is won over next week should tell us a lot.
Overall, it felt to us that Lauren was squarely in the crosshairs tonight and Ben should be safe; the question is whether you believe that Fleur was the act who cleared the singoff by 800 votes last week and – if so – whether her barnstorming second performance was enough to get her above Andrea, who was treated relatively kindly once again. Our suspicion is that, either way, Lauren goes; while some in the comments have suggested that producers would fear Andrea gaining enough floating one-off final viewers to win, if we were producers we’d rather have him than Lauren in the final for reasons of putting on a show, and if they’ve already got him in the bottom two twice, they should be confident about stopping him from winning.
But then, we thought Lauren was going last week. Do let us know your take below.
Haven’t seen the show tonight was really worried looking at the odds after the first round. But seems uptown funk was a genius idea which has turned out to be performance of the series and is currently getting fleur over 50% of the votes on the digital spy home page. Could be the game changer?
Home run for the final if ever was one, I only saw edits but enough by a distance.
Can’t wait to see the repeat of this breakthrough performance everyone is raving about. Might not need a cover bet now. Fleur has got the perfect momentum leading into the final. If they want her to win she wins from here. Simple as that
Just watched it Speechless. The game changer
If they were going to get rid of Andrea, I think we’d have seen a bit more obvious targeting tonight. I think the Bottom 2 will indeed be Lauren and Andrea, but they’ll save Andrea.
I think the bottom 2 was put in place to safeguard Fleur, but I think the execution of that second performance was superb and they should have put that in the pimp slot.
The heavy reputation of “I think” in this comment makes it clear I don’t really have a clue what I’m talking about! Again, I’m the guy who bet on Fleur to be eliminated and win on the same night so what the hell do I know really?
*repetition
Putting Fleur on early this week means she can perform in the pimp slot next week without people talking (anymore) about favourtism.
Perhaps, but it seems a shame to see the performance of the series “wasted” in 2nd of 4 in the running order!
Fleur betfair favorite once again 🙂
Lauren right fave but I would be nervous to back her to go against Andrea. With Lauren they probably have a certain 3rd place while Andrea would be more unpredictable
I would say Ben is topping the votes but they would prefer he didnt win but giving him performances that look like a winner with a slight de ramp if you know what I mean. I still feel fleur hasn’t got a good enough voice or unique voice to win and pick up voters who wouldnt vote before the final. Lauren and andrea bottom two tommorow with Andrea going I would say.
In the case of an Andrea vs Lauren bottom two – I do think Lauren is very likely to go (for obvious reasons) but if she pulls out an emotional, powerful sing-off performance, she could be saved by Louis and Simon. Plus she’d be less of a threat to Fleur and Ben in the final – whereas Andrea definitely would be.
Will they sacrifice Andrea to open the final up for ben/fleur…I hope so!
Surely they won’t save Lauren tomorrow? Her second performance was totally ‘end of journey’
45 mins after the show ends… on UK iTunes its as follows…
#19 Fleur, Uptown funk…
#65 Ben, Please come home for Christmas
#72 Andrea, O Holy NIght
#79 Ben, Hallelujah…
#165 Andrea, Chandelier
#179, Andrea, Wrecking Ball
no Lauren…
This proves tonight’s choice was genius. From bottom of I tunes to top for Fleur
Lol. You an i-tunes convert again?
Not especially. I prefer to gage my thoughts on bookies odds. And fleur smashing the ds poll out the park. But while your here id love to hear your I tune thoughts lol
It’s a great week for Fleur. That was her breakout moment. On i-tunes, I’ve always stated the importance of being able to sell records; hence calling out Fleur last week. Paired with the other social mediums, it’s fair to say it’s a two horse race.
Having said that, Fleur’s comments were a bit STAR CRAZY, so was tonight about ensuring an Andrea/Lauren bottom two, or does the show still think middle England could vote Fleur its champion?
What’s important now is working out who benefits from the most vote transfer.
At this point, I prefer to remain open minded rather than follow the money, but I’m still leaning towards Ben.
Yeah that’s worked out super well for them. Might be a slightly false position due to the fact the original version of the song can’t be bought – the only way to “buy” the song is through Fleur’s performance. Still a very impressive effort.
Lauren looked out of her depth from start to finish. But Andrea was seen with Mel B’s kids, so must be at risk.
Agree it looks like ‘Fleur if we can, Ben if we can’t’ from here. Big reaction to Uptown Funk here as well. Where I don’t agree is that Fleur is in B2 danger – the sing-off is about making Another rival – presumably Andrea but let’s see – look tarnished.
90 mins post end of show… Fleur is (finally) the iTunes leader… if iTunes were the decider… it’s a Andrea and Lauren B2… with Lauren going if deadlock…
#12, Fleur, Uptown Funk
#61, Ben Please come home for Xmas
#65 Ben Hallelujah
#68 Andrea O Holy Night
#155 Andrea Wrecking Ball
#163 Andrea Chandelier
#199 Lauren Stay another day
The reaction to Fleur’s Uptown Funk on forums, polls and social media is actually insane. Could she top the vote this week? (Cue her being in the bottom two)
Let’s watch the way the votes go. Fleur topping the vote will see her become the favourite across the board tomorrow which isn’t far away
The main thing we know is that no matter what happens the only act that they’re really interested in commercially is Fleur. To be fair they are probably right in this respect. But if that’s the case then the only possible reason for a sing off is in order to save Fleur should she end up bottom tomorrow – which in turn would confirm that she was the person who finished third last week. The issue seems to be that whilst they’re definitely flogging Fleur, the public aren’t necessarily buying.
Other than that it was a week of almost no change – they pretty much tried to maintain the status quo. I think we can assume that Ben topped the vote last week and that Andrea got a big bounce up to second. This week Ben got two safe demo pleasing songs which he performed well. Andrea got two songs similar to last week, which again he performed well. TPTB will be assuming that with Andrea coming down off a bounce and Ben more likely to pick up transfer votes from SK, that Ben should at least maintain his lead over Andrea. Lauren got two safe but bland songs with lacklustre staging and comments. It seemed aimed to suppress any bounce after last week.
In terms of the elimination, unless Fleur is bottom, I think they’ll play it safe and go to deadlock and send home the person with the lowest votes which makes it seem fair. In the unlikely event that Fleur is bottom they’ll clearly save her on the basis that they messed up with the song choice – it’s not her fault and she deserves to go through. It looks like Lauren going.
Going forward they clearly want Fleur to win, but I’m still not convinced that she can ultimately pick up the transfer votes that she’ll need to succeed. The demographics of the voters still seem to tilt the playing field in favour of Ben, but TPTB seem determined to try to tilt it the other way if they can. The question is how far are they prepared to go in favour of Fleur and against the other acts, and will it be enough.
Even if Fleur tops the vote this week (based on Uptown Funk), where do they go with her next week to win the show?
will she be the 1st finalist not to get a cheesy power ballad as her winners song?
I think the winners song will stop her from winning cause she hasn’t got a ballad voice whereas Ben singing hallelujah sounds like his winners song and pulled it off
thats way off the mark, the final is won way before the winners song gets sung on the second night
Given that Fleur most likely hasn’t beaten Ben at any point up to at least week 8 (including All About That Bass, which was a very recent release), and used an unreleased track (and her biggest pimp so far) this week to possibly top the vote for the first time, what type of songs would you like them to give her in the final?
It is hardly like they have given her duds in other weeks (I’d say she’s had the best song possible for her almost every week, and many are a similar style to Uptown Funk) and they haven’t worked. What stops the slide back down into 2nd or 3rd place?
If they had let Fleur b2 this week and held Uptown Funk back for next week I think she would have the show wrapped up. As it stands, I’m not sure.
She topped whitney week believe me
I see that as a negative for her if so, because it means the extra votes she received that week abandoned her last week (given the 800 votes from being b2) so would suggest that more likely happens next week with her extra voters this week.
Last week was an underwhelming week for fleur. The song choices were all wrong. She has gained all the floating votes this week. As I said previously the heavily loaded ballads are getting tedious to everyone and Fleur is shining as a result
I don’t get this belief that Fleur is somehow struggling in the voting?!
I’m pretty sure she was the person who survived by 800 votes or whatever it was last week. She may win the vote this week though.
I think so because it encourages people to vote. If it was Andrea or Ben I don’t think they would mention it
Watched tonights show with family teens to right up to a 91 year old, its amazing how different the views and how things like Fleur invading the other VTs are almost parody and joked about. Just a quotes from my evening
Ben – Oh isnt he nice looking. His choir look like pop idol rejects,please go home for christmas and monday his tone is so throaty awful. Poor bloke needs a break. OMG CRINGE CRYING SO DESPERATE, Shhh he hasnt got a home, He is no Alexandra on this, He’s better than her. Nice to know he’s nice, If he needs this so much he should have never gone on it, No its sweet to see emotion, Was he the one with the dead brother, NO QUICKINJUNGLE WAS, oh.
Fleur – NOT MARIAH, Shhh she will sell it like no-one. The kid in love actually did the best cover of this, Mel is saying she should have done it different she shouldnt have done it at all. OH BRUNO MARS’S NEW ONE, is this in beverly hills cop, NO OMG ITS BRAND NEW, Why do that then give her beyonce single ladies songs people know christ sakes,BRUNO MARS IS UNTOUCHABLE THIS IS A GAMBLE MAN Shh the backstage beginning is cringey a little, Not amazed by her voice but she is a popstar. Always so much backing track I cant hardly hear her,She barked all through that, She wants it too much for my liking, the stage school aura is strong. Who was in her video bit? Crying and family, they want her to win
Andrea – He’s going to Mariah away in a manger. Lol fleur is everywhere, Pugman has this in the bag, BOTTOM 2 THOUGH, Shhh wasnt James Arthurtson in the singoff. Love him seems like a sweet young man, Mel will cost him votes being a unleashed rottie, He overcooked the chorus of the wrecking ball, He’s a vocally wrecking ball, cant be beat in the singoff, if paul was, no he’s better and cute you just wanna hug him.
Lauren – She’s given up, He called her FLEUR LOL Cheryl should go full-tulisa normal wont steal your bloke change her life banging the desk why isnt she, her vts are always the worst without question they either make her look uninterested or like a prick, she comes across well on xtra factor. URGH WAY TO NOT SING ONE DIRECTION, Shhh she did well on that, URGH STEREO KICKS WOULD HAVE SMASHED THAT, they want her to cry dont do its already cringe enough, she is level-headed for 17, the comments for her 2nd song were the worst of the night by a mile, GOOD SHE TOOK SK’S PLACE, pack it in she had more votes, STUPID ESSEX VOTE.
Loved.
Talking of the ‘One Direction would have smashed that’ I got the feeling Lauren just got Stereo Kicks’ planned songs for this week. Both Stay Another Day and Story of My Life would have been perfect to show their vocals off (and please Mel).
Mind you, I thought that of Run and Just the Way You Are…
I also don’t buy the “Fleur is struggling” theory. I think she may have struggled in some weeks (maybe underwhelmed is the better word) but I think she did well in weeks 4, 6 and 7 but I honestly think for the first time she could top the vote this week. I know it’s not necessarily an indication but she’s leading the DS poll by over 50%!
The difference in treatment between Lauren and Fleur wasn’t remotely subtle this week – highly amusing, but even some average viewers who don’t look out for the stuff we do were texting me tonight going: “Oh come on”.
The quick summary for me is this – Fleur is Plan A and Ben is Plan B. The two of them are dependable and can put on a show in the final.
Lauren’s treatment wasn’t remotely subtle. Damning with faint praise, Simon forgetting her name, a terrible arrangement of Stay Another Day which was like throwing someone on a treadmill at full speed from the start, memory holed by that incredible Fleur performance directly after her. They think they can get her. If all else fails, Andrea can go instead. His treatment wasn’t ideal – shattered glass and the support of Mel B’s children, one of whom was primed to say: “He will win”. Hmm…
They’re pimping Fleur to the hilt. Should the public not take to it, then they can claim Ben as their chosen one without too much embarassment. If that doesn’t work, Andrea can be their feel-good sell a few Mother’s Day CDs character. All of them can sing, and Fleur doesn’t need to win for her to build a career after tonight’s performance.
I’d say Lauren’s going but there’s absolutely no value in that, so I’m out this week.
Where did the “Fleur only cleared the singoff by 800 votes” thing start, out of interest?
With TBTP via Dermot, Fleur home and hosed it seems.
It’s only a guess at this stage, nothing to say she was or wasn’t yet
It’s hard to imagine a bottom two that’s NOT Andrea and Lauren.
Waking up this morning to see fleur as the favourite across the board is like Xmas come early. She wins it from here No2 ways about it
It was interesting that they set up both Lauren and Fleur for their 2nd performances after average 1st ones (Laurens arrangement was terrible for Stay Another Day not her fault really)
Then put Lauren before Fleur and after a good performance from Lauren, but everything was low key, Mel saying Lauren needs a moment
Fleur follows on and gets the ovation, reception etc that she did. Was so obviously set up in that way and they knew how it would work after rehearsals.
I agree it looks like with the (mostly) positive treatment for Andrea for a second week running they’re now happy to see him in the final, and confident that he won’t win.
I reckon Ben has been topping the vote in recent weeks and I agree they’ll be OK with that but would prefer Fleur. Fleur surely topped the vote this week and now they’ll go all out to get her to win next week. I expect she’ll perform Uptown Funk again with an even bigger production.
And a performance alongside bruno mars I guess
Choosing a song that hasn’t been released yet is genius. It gives viewers a song to latch on to while the vastly superior original song is not yet available.
Exactly and I saw it as this way for Fleur. As the original has not been heard by many there is less for viewers to compare too. Instead just gotta listen to judges eulogising about it and make up their mind
I’m not sure about that cause viewers like mum knew Ben was singing hallelujah that’s one of her favourite songs so she voted twice then voted 3 more times after he sang . She didn’t like fleur because she didn’t know the song
My theory on the choice of Uptown Funk was so it looked more like a Sunday night performance than a Saturday night one. It looked like an artist showcasing a new release. Subliminally this plants the idea in one’s head that Fleur is already a major star.
Fleur is evens and odds-on across the board today. Regained her status of being favourite. It’s also worth noting that Ben never had adds this short when he was favourite last week. I’d be surprised if she didn’t top the vote this week.
The main reason for Lauren to go would be the vote transfer to Fleur. That said does still confuse me why they didn’t just eliminate her last weekend
Lauren’s sing-off was so good that it’d look completely pre-planned if they’d have ditched her off afterwards. I think both SK and Lauren were expendable, but she completely blew them off stage.
Do you really think Lauren’s fans would transfer their votes to Fleur? I’d have thought Andrea would be the beneficiary, they’re the two best actual singers by a long way. And vice versa if by some miracle Lauren stays and Andrea goes.
Agree Tabitha – vote transference is mostly a myth. It happens but there’s nothing to suggest it swings anything in a major way
Vote transfer goes to the best performance. Simple
Yeah, Lauren’s a goner. It wasn’t done in a particularly brutal way but it definitely had “end of journey” stamped on it. She’s got a future doing musicals and stuff, I’m sure.
Re: Fleur, I haven’t seen this type of online reaction since ‘Don’t Let Go’ by Little Mix, which was of course their game changer. I don’t know if Fleur will win (I think for SyCo Ben is actually a safer option), but she’ll breeze to the final.
Just a few random thoughts:
– I am now more than ever convinced last week was a last minute change of plan, because both of Lauren’s songs seemed to be in the wrong key for her but sounded suspiciously like the perfect choice for Stereo Kicks.
– they finally managed to get Fleur to have her ‘moment’, but the problem is that they cannot really have her repeat the song next week as her favourite song, can they ? Or make her duet on it with Bruno Mars ?
– Are Sam Smith and Ed Seeran relly confirmed as duet partners ? They must be feverishly trying to secure some big name for Fleur, but with a vocal that will not show her up… maybe Nicki Minaj ? I can see Ed working with Ben, but Sam and Andrea ? Or Sam and Lauren ? Not so much…
– would be interesting to know if the winner’s single was chosen, and if it’s the same one regardless of who wins. Hard to imagine a song that would work for all of them, so this will be a major clue as to who’s supposed to win.
They’ve done it before on the USA version. Fifth Harmony similarly had a breakthrough in the semis with ‘Anything Could Happen’ that pushed them through to the final against all odds, which they then repeated in the final (with a slightly different arrangement).
So its possible, probably very likely.
JLS did “I’m Already There” in the semi and final. Probably other examples too. With the bigger stage they can just make it an even bigger performance.
They all have different winner’s singles again this year.
Theyd be mad not to take advantage of the the success of last night’s performance
In light of that great Uptown Funk performance and shortening of odds I have decided to balance my books so that I will not make a loss on Fleur should she win. I fear that on the big stage of Wembly where there will be huge production Fleur will kill it and take the crown on the final nights. My Ben profits have been decreased by a third to achieve this. At the moment I still think Ben will win it because I believe he has the greater all round popularity.
If Sam Smith is confirmed as a duet partner it’s obvious to see why Andrea would be a better finalist than Lauren
So when Andrea is finally eliminated next Saturday night (or even tonight), where does his vote transfer go? I imagine they’ll be resetting everyone’s free votes after the 3rd place has been announced. Also the YouGov poll is going to be fascinating this year.
Anyone still think Andrea can go tonight? I feel I may have lost a lot of money. They seemed all-out to get Lauren tonight. They certainly didn’t work with the bounce.
I feel the same but you never know. All depends what happens in the sing off. I still have to hope they would rather lose andrea before the final.
I think the possibility of Sam Smith duetting with Andrea in the final made up their mind, if indeed this is true.
And can they REALLY send Princess Cheryl to the final without an act?
Surely they considered that before giving her a very mediocre girls category!
Cheryl’s been such a letdown this year. I bet they won’t even ask her back next year.
Does X Factor still do the homecoming for each contestant in the final? Surely it’d be awkward when it comes to Andrea’s VT…
Good point if he’s in the bottom two tonight send him home and they won’t need to worry
They’ll just send him to the local pizzeria… or bakery where the baker can supply him with a batch of donuts.
Homecomings are organised well in advance for at least all semi-finalists so if they are doing them this year Andrea’s will all ready in hand
They can just do a small gathering back home in Italy. They’ve already shown that he has a little bit of local support in Italy.
Or have a gathering at the Italian embassy. Fly in his immediate family and invite everyone in London whose name ends with a vowel.
Hahaha, brilliant!
Read today that ‘deadlock’ will be axed for next year. Could be interesting to see what they come up with
That might explain why Mel was allowed to be so vocal on Louis ‘chickening out’ with Paul’s elimination; she also asked Simon whether he ‘chickened out’ on Lauren v Stereo Kicks last week.
Maybe they’ll appoint an ‘independent adjudicator’ to make the final sing off decision. Or Simon will become the adjudicator. If that’s the case, I wonder whether they’ll cut the show to three categories like series 1-3 or have a five person panel? Unless he decides to go back to a three person panel – Simon, Mel and Louis work well together and Cheryl’s been slightly surplus to requirements this series.
Alternatively, of course, they might do something completely different!
Smoke and mirrors. The person that goes will still be the one they want, with as little public interference as possible.
Hence I didn’t say they would ditch the sing off entirely. 😀
Though it’d make it more interesting for the production team if they did. They’d have to be very sharp on the trigger.
I loved Cheryl’s character witness for Ben. From an event thru went to “a few weeks ago”. Obviously saved it up for the big occasion!
I’d go back to a three person panel. It means either the neutral mentor gets to make the decision, or the mentor who has both acts in the singoff make the call.
Quick half baked theory here but does anybody else reckon that they may be setting up a Tesco Mary job tonight? Why else has the singoff remained this late in the day? A “shock” Lauren over Andrea save would be fantastic publicity and given the deadlock story run in The Sunday Mirror it just all seems slightly convenient.
I do accept though they’ve been honest about it this year unlike he Tesco Mary situation where it was very much an “emergency” singoff to shoehorn Cher into the final.
Such a buzz about last night’s Fleur performance – top 3 on iTunes and Twitter going crazy – more so than Little Mix’s Don’t Let Go. Just watched back and is a great performance although voice not great (recognise that she is dancing so voice affected). No way that was switched on Friday either – no way. The other three given drab songs to make it stand out even more. Ben’s tears were ones of a beaten man who had realised he’d been stitched up with Hallelujah while his main rival stole the show and likely the series – check out the rolling of his eyes when Mel delivers her verbal blow – a man who had had enough.
Fleur’s a star already so question is do TPTB need her to win? They could get way more mileage out of a Ben victory and him doing the Xmas single with Fleur finishing second but still going on to have a great career. That said, genie may be out of the bottle now and she ends up winning by a good few furlongs. She may be so far ahead they can afford to play with a straight bar next weekend.
With a straight bat, rather. They’ve been using a bar to whack everyone bar Fleur throughout the lives.
Surprised this has’nt been posted yet
http://tinypic.com/r/1218x9h/8
I don’t think Fleur did as well as any of y’all say, I wouldn’t be shocked at all for her to be B2. The vocals were clearly exposed and while there was star potential the performance doesn’t strike me as one appealing to Middle England.
I doubt you have placed any money on this happening today. If you have you have more money than sense
I’m not one for betting, and don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t bet on this if I was, I just have a gut feeling.
I think Ben is in danger. But as phill said everyone’s going crazy over her. Astronomical youtube views, charting at no.3 in I tunes chart (highest of anyone this series) over 50 % of DS poll. Heavy odds on to win at bookies across the board. She will have comfortably topped the voting last night.
I think she’s either 2nd or 3rd. Either way, there is no way in hell they will let go of her, and she will be going into the final with momentum, on a huge stage which is a gift to acts who are more about the ‘performance’ aspect of things.
Everyone I know talks about her. No way bottom 2, not a chance. Zilch.
If she IS B2 I am going all in on whoever she is against.
IF fleur was bottom 2 her opponent would bea top priced 1/10 for elimination
Clearly. I’m expecting Lauren to go against anyone, and the B2 being Lauren vs Andrea (likely) or Fleur (not quite as likely but great value considering my view on yesterdays performance).
I feel that as soon as I come out against Fleur she will be revealed as having convincingly won this week. Watch this space.
Fleur is absolutely going to win the vote this week. Shall I tell you when Youtube views and iTunes sales are important? When you’re 3rd on the iTunes chart. When your Youtube views go from comfortable lowest last week to 2.5 times the competition this week.
The question now is whether the show can get the job done – because I still think Ben will win if they don’t do next week right.
I have the upmost confidence in them after last night. They have done it far quicker thani could have imagined. I thought they would have to pip ben at the post. But its fleurs to lose from here
I think they’ve done it far quicker than even they imagined – the bottom 2 was almost certainly put in place to protect Fleur if she came bottom of the vote. That ain’t happening.
As expected so far. Fleur and Ben through. Andrea v Lauren bottom two.
So Lauren vs Andrea. Fingers crossed she can pull it out of the bag and they have a shock here…
As predicted. Good luck everyone.
Now to sit through the whole sing-off wanting to bet on Andrea to go but not having the conviction. Probably for the best.
Lol absolutely no surprises there. Anti fleur backers be afraid. Be very afraid. Sam bailey does as she’s told and pimps Fleur lol
I think it’s definitely curtains for Lauren. A small part of me thinks Andrea could be given the boot but I think Simon isn’t threatened by his popularity anymore. Although it depends on how much Andrea bounced last week. If he bounced a lot, he could bounce just as high in the final. The result tonight will be telling of his polling last week at least.
Coral/WH 2/9 on Lauren, B365 5s on Andrea…small arb available
My accuracy, you see.
Lauren signs There You’ll Be.
Odds on Andrea singing For One Night Only…?
* Sings even
This is awful from Andrea.
Cracked mirror background. Bad luck Andrea?
This is awful.
Subliminal fans will be jumping on Andrea
Has to be Lauren to go. She’d be fishing in Fleur’s voting pools
This just reminded me how much I prefer Lauren’s voice to Andrea’s!
Anyway, didn’t bet on Andrea’s elimination, so let’s just see.
The odds were right I think Andrea would have stayed on deadlock anyway
Textbook. Andrea is a better performer than Lauren so will be the better choice for Wembley. They can obviously control his vote.
Yeah, Andrea would have almost certainly stayed on deadlock, so they don’t even bother with that.
Hahahaha – “VOTE FLEUR” in six foot letters on side if bus at the end. Criminal. Perhaps she didn’t too vote or was at least very close?
Hahaha somehow I don’t think that was a coincidence!!!
As expected Lauren left. I may have been a bit hasty backing Ben pre show this week after Fleur’s performance on Saturday. Will be interesting to see who picks up those Lauren votes. You would assume not Ben. Only thing for sure will be Andrea picking up the bronze medal.
God, that was utterly bizarre. Couldn’t help but laugh that Fleur’s bus was the only one we actually saw properly.
Blatant bias for Fleur with that bus on show – I couldn’t quite see if the other two buses actually had anything written on them. I think they’re pretty confident of getting her over the line.
The closing shot of the coach driving off is everything you need to know about what the producers want. Vote Fleur East! Vote Fleur East! No shots of Ben or Andreas coaches.
Deliberate lasting image of just one battle bus and the branding on the side……..vote fleur east.
VOTE FLEUR EAST ingrained in millions of people’s minds.
And the way Dermot taps the “VOTE FLEUR” sign as it drives off. Someone call the police!