We still don’t have official confirmation of whether it’s a single or double elimination this week. In week 1, we only found out for sure at the start of the Sunday results show. That was a contravention of the programme’s own rules, as Sofabet commenter EM pointed out at the time. Those rules state: “The elimination format, and any specific terms relating to that week’s elimination, will be announced in the applicable on-air interaction information before voting opens.”
Therefore, I’m expecting the situation to be made clear at the start of tonight’s show, as it has been for the past two weeks. We’ve been told that the acts will each perform two songs next week, and that usually happens when there are five acts left, but not always – 2011 was an exception. Similar programme length this week and next would make a double elimination this weekend seem more likely. Either way, the current uncertainty adds another layer of intrigue to a hotly-anticipated show. With the deadwood and unwanted gone, the remaining seven all have a decent reason to be there.
Let’s start with outright favourite and Plan A, Louisa. Our midweek review continued to question the sagacity of some aspects of her portrayal, but we don’t doubt that she remains the golden girl. We’re encouraged by her song choice this week, the Sofia Karlberg reworking of James Bay’s ‘Let It Go’, which feels more current, original and appropriate than her previous numbers. She may be allowed her big moment this week, with perhaps a VT reference to her ex-boyfriend in the Love and Heartbreak theme.
A bigger question mark surrounds tonight’s treatment of Lauren Murray, after her moment last week. Her back story (which has come to light in the newspapers this week), big personality and iTunes success all make it possible that producers will decide to give her a fair crack at the prize. But we still have nagging doubts based on the last-minute song change from ‘License To Kill’ last week.
Whilst we’re neutral on Mariah Carey’s ‘We Belong Together’ as a classic RnB song choice, here’s what we are looking out for in terms of signals: there’s plenty of genuine heartbreak in Lauren’s background – a sympathetic, detailed portrayal of that would be a green light; a return to the low-rent staging of week 1 would be an amber light; and if producers want to switch to red, they could use this week’s headlines to suggest in Lauren’s VT that her exit from the contestants’ shared house somehow suggests she doesn’t want to be in the competition.
The indication is that viewers will be encouraged to make an emotional connection with Che Chesterman tonight, based on this story of his grandfather’s death, building upon our recent introduction to his father. We were underwhelmed by his performance in the pimp slot last week, and social media stats suggested we weren’t the only ones. Nonetheless, producers have given him every help so far in the live shows, including namechecking him as a finalist at the end of last week’s VT.
At the same time, he has been sent down a Jahmene Douglas route of song choices from the start, and the Marvin Gaye reworking of The Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’ suggests there’s no change of direction – Jahmene’s “winner’s single” was ‘Let It Be’.
Mason Noise is the other boy standing, and fulfils a role as the only heart-throb remaining. He jumped clear of the danger zone last week, being the first this series to successfully achieve a sympathy bounce from singoff survival. More often than not, this only lasts a week, but there was a sense in his energetic performance of ‘Men In Black’ that they’ve found Mason’s best lane, and the recent Nick Jonas hit ‘Jealous’ promises to play to his strengths. He looked too short as a hot favourite for next elimination earlier in the week, and has drifted in price since.
His main challenger in that elimination market is Anton Stephans, who hopes to get a sympathy bounce this week after his singoff appearance last Sunday. He provides mentor Simon Cowell with his last hope of an act in the final, which he’s managed every time up till now. This week’s Xtra Factor skit reminded us that Anton also brings self-awareness, a big personality and comedy to the show. However, in a week with a few predictable song choices, his number ‘One Sweet Day’ feels like the most uninspiring of the lot.
That leaves us with the two groups. Like Che and Louisa, there has been nothing but positivity surrounding Fourth Impact, no matter what happens on stage. Last week was a good one for them: a professional performance and a possible sympathy vote based on Celina’s apparent dizzy spell. ‘Ain’t No Other Man’ promises more of the same, so long as it’s not the colour vomit / red-and-black combination with which it was staged for Amelia Lily.
Reggie n Bollie were moved into novelty/fun territory in last week’s performance of ‘Who Let The Dogs Out’, which felt like producers applying light pressure to the brakes after their superb week 2 effort. There’s nothing wrong with their song choice this week, a medley of ‘Dangerous Love’ and ‘Shut Up and Dance With Me’, although a Wagner-style ballad is not necessarily used to ease out the fun act – just ask Johnny Robinson and Rylan.
I’ll be watching this week’s treatment of the Ghanaian duo particularly closely, because we are nearing the moment when the less credible acts are jettisoned in the competition – Stevi Ritchie was put out in sixth last year, in a double elimination on the equivalent show with seven acts, losing by majority vote in the singoff despite beating Andrea Faustini in the phone vote. If it’s a double elimination this weekend, then producers might prefer getting Reggie n Bollie into the danger zone for a similar finish.
Questions galore, then. I can’t wait for tonight’s show to answer at least some of them. Let us know your continuing thoughts below.
I’m very excited about this week’s show. I desperately want Lauren to stay in. I’m worried about the song choice. I think it’s potentially easy to memory hole but if she nails it then it will work well for her. If she gets the bit at the end it will be hard for the judges to criticise the performance (although as we know that’s not the only way to hurt an act). As the article says, they can undermine her with staging and comments or misdirection if they want to.
Louisa’s song is great for the track they’ve got her on, the only question is how much John Lewis do the viewers want? I’d love to hear her singing something more gutsy instead of these insipid late night FM radio tunes (or even worse, Billie Jean). Give her Born This Way, stick her in black boots, black tights and a black corset, give her a massive henna tattoo of a dragon on her back and let her shake her fist at the audience. They’d love it.
So much depends on things other than contestants tonight that it is going to be hard to call.
Good luck everyone.
Good luck Lauren. Sing your heart out my darling.
I too will be watching RnB’s treatment in the show very closely. Until now, they have been fun, but not (for me at least) really a novelty act; they’re fun rather than funny. We have laughed with them, but not at them and the judges have repeatedly signalled their approval rather than their disapproval or any sort of ironic distancing from them that tends to accompany the presence of a real novelty act – the single thing that contradicts this take is Simon saying week 3 wasn’t as good as week 2 for them, which was basically true, even though it was also clearly a subtle deramp.
All this could change in one night, of course, and it’s these sort of changes I’ll be looking out for. Do we get a sense that the judges are distancing themselves from the “fun”? Do RnB fail to provide much fun tonight?
The iTunes previews are up for those interested.
Is RnB there? I can’t find it.
Nor can I for some reason, not even as a pre-order.
Maybe a last minute song change? Or maybe they didn’t get the rights to sell it.
Maybe RnB are going tonight, wonder where they will be in the running order.
how are they sounding? any suprizes?
I think Lauren is being deramped, her song is easily the most boring of the lot. But we’ll know more in a few hours!
My prediction for the running order:
Che
Lauren
R&B (or possibly FI)
Anton
FI (or possibly R&B)
Mason (or Louisa)
Louisa (or Mason)
Lauren down the memory hole.
I’d guess the running order as :
1. 4th Impact
Break
2. Lauren
3. Che
Break
4. Mason
5. RnB
Break
6. Anton
Break
7. Louisa
I agree that Lauren’s song sounds pretty dull, even in a short preview. Louisa sounds a bit harsh in that excerpt, which is taken from the bit where she usually gets shouty in her songs, towards the end. There are times when she gets to the shouty bit and I want to turn the TV down, her voice rarely sounds as good to me when she is belting the song out. Fourth Impact sound professional and just as they always do, in a song which seems made for them; Mason, however, is the big surprise, sounding really good, as does Che. I didn’t try Anton’s song – once will be quite enough. I’ll be watching with bated breath to see if the programme bears these impressions from the short preview out.
So I finally figured out how to listen to the previews.
Lauren sounds overproduced, almost auto-tuned but still lacklustre, lacking the groove that makes the song good. Lets hope she will deliver it live with a bang.
Louisa is the same snoozy-shouty john lewis as always. She would definitely be another ella henderson except shes hot(er). That should help her.
Che bores me soo much I cant listen to a whole song by him,
Mason noise seems ok.
4I are pro, but they still cant move me.
I love one sweet day so I biased with that.
No RnB sadly.
Current elimination odds.
Mason remains favourite but is drifting. Anton and FI are shortening. Lauren is drifting a little and Che is shortening a little.
Someone is leaving tonight.
Cheryl @CherylOfficial · 15m15 minutes ago
SO TONIGHT IS DIFFERENT !!! SOMEBODY WILL LEAVE AFTER 10MINUTES OF VOTING AT THE END OF THE SHOW!! WE NEED YOU MORE THAN EVER ❤️
Another going tomorrow presumably, so it’s a double.
Seems weird to do it this way all of a sudden.
They’ll have known about it for a while.
It’s only sudden to us. Keeps the interest up. They know the format’s stale and people mostly only watch because they’re too old for Dr Who. They want to keep people interested.
That was well planned, was wondering why three live guests were announced and thought flash vote might have been a reason. Under the bus will count tonight.. First act will be on Strictly crossover.
Indeed it does and the bet I just placed seconds before seeing this piece of news no longer makes any sense at all! Oh dear – just glad it was tiny money.
Who did you back?
Tptb obviously have a target and probably a back up in case they miss.
I thought Mason was worth having as outright winner at 66-1, given the song choice and the brief preview I heard – but I only bet hobby size. I did think if he did a good performance, it could keep him around this week and then he might slowly improve – I’d have preferred an each way bet but that’s no longer possible. But then I guess he might be the most likely to fall if the first elimination is going to be so early on in the voting, assuming that many people vote for their favourites, week in week out, and he is unlikely to be one of those, he is only likely to persuade people to vote for him which might not be quite so immediate. Hmmm.
Off topic:
Interesting post from Thiswillbefun on Digital Spy in a thread called Winners and Losers.
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2117866
Steve Brookstein had a number one album, with little promo, but was dropped as he wanted to write his second album. Cowell wanted him to do another cheap covers album.
His main rivals, G4, were given much more promo & treated as the “real winners”.
James Arthur did well until he was dropped. The show already had Ella Henderson lined up to be the star. Rumour has it that the massive amount of PR spent, buying up tv & radio slots, to into turn her into a star, means the album is unlikely to ever become profitable.
The same thing seems to be happening with Fleur East. Her current single is in several advertising campaigns.
Sam Bailey was dropped when she started wanting more say in the direction of her music.
Ben Haenow will be dropped soon enough. His promo relative to Fleur’s is derisory.
Matt Cardle was the biggest selling winner. He was dropped after wanting more say in his second album. His manager mentioned that the media seemed to blacklist him after he split with Syco.
This resonates with Steve Brookstein’s “we’ll bury you” comments from Max Clifford.
Olly Murs & JLS were pretty much given access to free mass advertising via TXF. Olly is even performing on the show again this weekend.
One Direction had the biggest investment any group has probably ever had to make them a thing. When they first hit America, drama students were paid to be “screaming Directioners” and make it look like they were really popular. These images were beamed across the world by the paid for media to get impressionable people to jump on board the hysteria, like the last minutes of a stock market bubble that no one wants to miss out on.
Little Mix have again been massively hyped. The American media weren’t interested in them until the Zayn/Perrie “relationship” happened. They had slots in shows such as Glee for their music.
Despite all this, it’s probably well to look at the real statistics. One Direction don’t sell as well as people think. Even I was surprised at how low some of their chart positions were.
If Wiki is correct, More than this only reached number 86, Midnight Memories 39, and You & I only 19.
Is it possible that, despite all the hype, many “fans” are really just celeb chasers who don’t buy the music?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Direction_discography
If I remember correctly the flash votes hurt younger acts, Sam Callahan gained a percent overnight every week. Last year we lost Only the Young and Jack Walton this way. So bye bye Mason?
Does anyone remember how important running order was for flash votes? Surely those performing 2nd / 3rd / 4th will be most likely to suffer.
Last year Jack went 4th out of 11 while Only the Young went 3rd out of 7.
It seems looking at it, it makes the pimp slot more powerful but doesn’t make being early worse compared to whole weekend voting.
If it hurts younger acts why the hell is Anton rapidly shortening?
I have to say I can’t see why a flash vote would particularly hurt younger acts. You might as well say that it doesn’t hurt the solo females since the only women affected by it were in Only The Young.
Wonder is he on first..
I think second and third are worse.
Anton is now favourite for elimination. FI and Che also shortening. Lauren, Mason, R&B and Louisa drifting.
We have very limited data on this, that is just guesswork. Younger voter are more likely to watch on catchup/ be doing other things on a Saturday night.
When they did the flash vote in 2013 the only act to gain overnight every time was Sam Callahan. Most of the time it didn’t make any difference.
One thing I am certain of they aren’t betting on Anton not bouncing.
The respective demo of viewers on catch up and live matters here- who is in their house watching tonight and who’s in the pub watching with a hangover tomorrow?
A risky game to play at this stage but I assume their main ones are safe enough like Louisa and Che and probably 4th Impact
I can only assume they’re very confident of nailing Mason tonight.
Although Anton’s odds have come in like something else!
If 4th Impact’s vote really is struggling I would expect to see them in the pimp slot tonight to make doubly sure of their safety.
On The XFactor Facebook page there’s an interview with Lauren in which she says the production/staging of her song was changed during the week from being ‘quite dramatic’ to ‘light and pastel’. Hmm….
…and she doesnt look 100% about it, does she?
Flash vote! Good luck all, let’s make some money.
Olly lol he’s useless on live TV
I suspect it was an intentional trip on words, as it led into the “I’m not announcing the elimination” joke
Che on first suggests they see him at least safe enough tonight and kick off the show strongly
I know he’s got a good voice but I find Che really boring. This is a dull start to the show. Wonder if he’s not as safe as they think he is? But gushing comments anyway.
Che is safe.
and sooo boring.
Che has plunged in the market as low as 8/1 and is now inside Lauren for elimination.
Anton 2nd and I predict Lauren 3rd for a whammy to Anton
The judges are really having to push that rather dull Ché performance quite hard.
Anton in the death slot. Weak vocal. I’ve just put money on that.
Yep, that could do for Anton. He’s being super-defensive. Altough bad comments could maybe motivate sympathy.
I thought that the comments might win him some sympathy until he responded so aggressively, it was really uncomfortable viewing.
Anton is gone whether it’s tonight or tomorrow let’s see but that was awful
Anton’s staging is horrific. He appears to be in a graveyard.
Oh dear Anton.
He isn’t going anywhere.
Panic stations because Anton is fighting back?
Time for Rita to try and redeem the situation.
Maybe going too hard in on Anton for tonight and push sympathy but defo bottom 3 overall
That was a hatchet job from the judges.
Wow they are going in for the kill on Anton. Could definitely see him safe tonight
Grimmy being slightly over harsh there? Although Anton’s reaction? Not sure how many favours it will have done him. attacking a man whilst he’s in tears?!
Either way, I’m emotions out, give me Reggje and Bollie already.
Anton doing his crying schmuck just makes me want him to go
Ok, that all got quite emotional. Could that save Anton?
Important question is audience reaction to Anton’s response to Nick. To me, it was a completely understandable defense of his integrity – but maybe some will see it as aggressive?
And 4th Impact to go next? Could they not be in trouble? The stakes have just been raised.
That was interesting. As ever with X Factor, how much was planned and how much was spontaneous?
My instinct says Anton wasn’t supposed to fight back then. Just have his lack of emotion challenged.
Fireworks, Anton took the bait. Did they go too far?
Oh my word, that is Anton assassinated there and then….
Backed Che before the show at 14/1. Anton to bounce even higher after that due to sympathy they were too hard on him. Pushing Che too much, he must be in trouble.
but why would they push Che though? is he really the kind of artist theyd want to win?
isnt his excessive praise because he is doing too well anyways?
Maybe Che is being pushed to the final. That way, when they take the foot off the accelerator, his vote will plunge & Louisa will walk to the win.
Managed to get some 20/1 on Che going… missed the 25/1
Putting him on in the SCD cross-over is bad for him as his core voters are watching that. Then showing he has a girlfriend, doesn’t particularly help him
I’m pretty sure there won’t be many teenage girls crying over three fact he has a girlfriend
Simon’s vomit inducing comments from last week still haven’t quite left my mind.
4I comments deffo a de-ramp. Are they perhaps doing too well in the votes?
it’s a Saturday night.. the teenage girls that think they may have a shot are home alone, wishing they had anyone lol
Not to mention that same demographic will have turned over and seen that from Anton – might encourage them to vote for him instead of Ché
Anton being well squeezed and drifting ??
Anton now at evens in some places.
Damn I wish I could be watching this.
Great pimping for 4I… But red and black?!
Sinister Red & Black or sexy red and black?
Which is worse?
More leaning towards sexy I’d say
Were they supposed to sing Lady Marmalade but changed it without informing the guys prepping the set?
Exactly what I thought!!! Moulin Rouge!!!!
Pimping for Fourth Impact? I thought it was a de-ramp!
this performance looks like 1999 to me. unimpressed.
Cheryls excuse just there was the worst ever lol
Is Cheryl bombing her own group? Defo. Professional yes you are Cheryl
Here we go time for Lauren. Slam them brakes on now please judges.
OI!!! Shut it! 😀
Podium. strike 1
OK, Nick Grimreaper… Why is he being a cunt?
He’s being paid a million dollars.
Wow, Cheryl is really earning her salary, trying to squeeze a tear from the Impactobots…
Fourth Impact: Simon slides the word ‘professional’ into his critique and says they lack individual identity – setting them up for a reveal next week or saying there’s a lack of connection again.
Rita uses ‘professional’ as well. Will it remind viewers that they’re a professional group?
Nick brings foodstuff (candyfloss and meat) into it… remember the Andrea deramp with doughnuts? Though it was nowhere near as explicit.
Staring backstage with mirrors behind… bit of red and black in the staging but not overwhelming…
Something of a deramp for me.
More of a “they did too well” deramp though, I think.
Just had a little punt on 4I to go. I enjoyed their performance, but don’t know if it will have connected. Red and black, and lukewarm judges comments.
I mean, you’d think the producers knew they were safe, but after what happened with Anton I couldn’t resist a little go. Not to mention, I’m not sure “we miss our family” is a good sob story to make people vote. Does that not say “Send us home please”?
Yes Lauren, this could be you. I.e. not winning…
And having twice the success of the winner?
Don’t shoot the messenger. I actually quite like her. But you cannot deny there was a bit of “you don’t have to win to have success” in the air…
You’re probably right. Apologies. I didn’t mean to be harsh. I’m at work and can’t see the show (although given the amount of time I’m spending reading sofabet someone is possibly not getting 100% of my attention).
Fleur East… Check. Warm and personable… Check. Good VT.
Fourth Impact to go.
Plinth alert
Nick Grimshaw stands for his favourite girl again.
For me a deramp but also intentions to get Lauren further.
Deramp tick 🙂
Wow Lauren was great tonight. I did think the first part was fair comments from Simon, but it was good to hear her doing something different and she looked great for a change. I can’t help but love her! Better than expected.
Nick seems a real genuine fan of Lauren, just said he bought her performance from last week on itunes.
Not sure if that was a deramp. Was Grimreaper off script?
Don’t think so. They want her in the final it seems quote clear but Simon played bad cop tonight. Wasn’t a huge deramp but enough to put some braked on huge momentum
Che now dropped to 14/1 to go.
Plinth. Boring song. Mega sob story potential not mentioned. Lukewarm comments from C+S. Hmmmmmm….
2 Judge Standing Ovation for Lauren (Nick and Rita). A lovely moment when she had to ask how to get down from the plinth!
She looks great.
Cheryl calls her ‘reliable’, says she could sing the phone book and states she’s a fantastic singer.
Simon didn’t think the first half of the song worked; second half was much better. He says he felt nerves and found the dancing distraction as they ‘dancing to the wrong song’. Not the best vocal.
Nick says she’s fearless. He has brought Lauren’s version of One Last Time. He loves her but hates her as she’s competition.
Rita loved it… of course… says she smashed it.
Considering leaves falling didn’t do much for Seann a couple of weeks ago I’m not sure whether that was a nice touch from the producers. The rest of the staging was quite pleasant.
(Saying all this for Jessica Hamby’s benefit as I know she’ll be desperate to know how Lauren got on. :p)
Thank you Fudd.
You are very kind. And absolutely right. 😀
I don’t know why but I absolutely love her.
Lauren isn’t going this week but she better prepare for some hell in the upcoming weeks.
Lauren finally getting some decent styling.
Looking pretty hot. Mixed bag of comments tho. Must be doing fine in the votes I reckon.
So far seems clear Anton was target but they may not hit it as he could get a bigger sympathy vote.
Ok, well a lonely slot in the mid/later show has proved pretty nasty so far this series, note Seann and Anton. So maybe Mason is still the target.
I wish i could put a bet on Louisa getting a 4 way standing ovation tonight. Id put the house on it
That song may have done Lauren some favours. Im watching with some friends (we’re all 24/25) and it was a big hit in its day. Perfect for Lauren’s demo IMO, which I think is girls who post inspiration quote memes every other day on Facebook.
Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
Francis of Assisi
Set on a background of oretty much Lauren’s back drop. All demos are delighted.
MASSIVE distraction before Mason’s performance with tooing and froing between Caroline, Olly and Nick over the first two’s relationship, set up by a post advert ‘gag’. Reminded of last week when they created a distraction before introducing Anton.
Lauren in the dangerous slot 4, by the way.
Che was the act who performed before Anton.
Red and black and a shit vocal. Can I cash out on Anton please?
Well, Laurens vocal was actually brilliant, much better then expected, She held that song as best as she could.
BUT the mix was wrong, they took out the brilliant groove which builds up the first part of the song, thats why Simon was able to say it didnt work in the first half.
And her plinth was awfull,
Her dress could have been better too.
So basically everything that depended on production was a bit off and things that depended on her were brilliant.
She will survive the day but clearly the brakes are on…
Last week was a lucky slip.
Oh dear. Mason truly red and blacked and his dancers are showing way too much.
Ouch mason is toast. Rock bottom
Awful VT for Mason I thought, performance wasn’t great.
They made him look quite sleazy in that VT…
Mason was the target for tonight. Jeez how they bombed him
Simon basically says there’s a slight wall with Mason showing what he really thinks.
I have to admire his nerve. 😀
Fair criticism across the board from the judges. Barely any reaction from the audience to the critique.
Mason’s VT had an end of journey feel to it. Thought the red and black was negative and I seem to remember that previously overly sexy dancers don’t go down well on this programme (sorry – I can’t remember when). I think he’s in trouble.
Oh Jessica Hamby will be pleased with Reggie and Bollies outfits!
Yay. My boys are branded.
(Not in the S&M way I hope!!! 😮 )
I’ve switched horses. Small loss cashing out on Anton, but after that it’s clear who he target is. Bad VT, Red and Black, unhelpful comments and he’s being memory holed by Louisa up after the adverts.
Though up to now the act performing AFTER Louisa has been at risk rather than the one performing before (saying that, Max went last week).
And Reggie and Bollie will be performing after Louisa.
Though I agree the main target is to be Mason. With, at this point, Anton completing the bottom two tomorrow.
If Mason goes tonight then someone else will have to make up the b2 tomorrow. From what I’ve read that will be FI or Che.
Was Mason’s mouth bleeding there from all that biting his tongue? Looked as if that was the moment he realised he’s probably gone tonight. The penny dropped at Simon’s comment.
They did some number on Mason, red and black, dancers etc. Will they get their target?
Two big pimps coming up..
I also thought big deramp 4I earlier, styling terrible etc. They have taken the fun cuteness out of them.
I’ve shifted over to mason next to go. 11/8 printing money
That looked a pretty clean bullet on Mason to me.
RNB last is the desperation to keep them from dead last for me
R&B in the pimp slot! Why?
Wonder what the thinking was behind this mother of all plinths ???
Compare with Lauren’s innit. Bigger cos she’s a bigger star. Even her plinth goes up to 11.
Green on Anton now BUT moving to Mason been in bottom 2 b4
Louisa looks like she’s standing on a cloud, above us mere mortals. The choir is standing on the stairs dressed in white, pushing a ‘heavenly’ performance.
Four judge standing ovation.
Pimp. Pimp. Pimp.
Louisa just won the competition
Louisa won it before it even started
Wow, Louisa’s staging. Was she singing from heaven?!
So I guess this solves once and for all our question re alpha girl 😀
😀
There we are. Simon using the M word. Textbook.
but it wasnt such a moment, really.
and she isnt sweet at all, she comes across as cold.
He called Louisa “muthafucka”?
Does he know she’s only seventeen?
We just need Tulisa there to bang the tables for the winner
Ridiculous pimping. They literally shifted the whole focus of the show for her.
I think they might have got what they wanted with that performance. It seemed like a moment to me.
Game set and match Miss louisa johnson
Those still doubting it just have a problem with Louisa for whatever reason. TPTB saved up fir that moment as they had enough in locker and I still think bigger pimping to come next week
Lol those doubting her have simply backed the wrong horse.
Dear me – Cheryl says she connects to the song. Both her and Nick push the ‘just 17’ angle; Nick’s comment was brilliant, starting off by saying the best bit isn’t about her being 17, then reminds the audience that she’s 17 a couple more times.
Simon touches on how humble she is, which Louisa also pushes in her interview with Olly by saying how thankful she is to be there. Simon also states that was a ‘moment’ like Leona and… Fleur.
One out two ain’t bad, I guess.
It almost makes me want her to fail!
Oh dear I feel like I have eaten too many sweets, feeling quite nauseous after the comments about Louisa. Taken Mason now for first out. Sadly
Is that the first Red and Black vs Colour Vomit mashup?
There’s a quadranuking article on Betsfactor which shows a performance (I think it is Tamera’s exit) which has red / black, fire, colour vomit, everything. The didn’t throw her under the bus. They picked up the bus and threw it at her.
There’s a really messy beat to the backing track for Reggie & Bollie. It seriously isn’t needed – it just distracts.
Lot of gold and three judges are dancing away (sans Simon).
Blimey. they’re bringing the whole carnival out!
Do y’all think the public will buy it?
For Louisa?
They’ve given her the best chance for the public to buy it, let’s put it that way.
Yes. Louisa.
I shall be fascinated to see it tomorrow. It seems very early to do something so big though. There are still 3 shows left. Are they going to do this every week till then end? People will start shouting “Fix”.
I love that Lauren got a plinth and then Louisa got a bigger plinth. They can get away with that sort of thing once but twice more and then the final? If they’re not careful there will be an anti-Louisa campaign.
Tonight was the perfect moment especially as the main rivals were mediocre for their standards. They gave Louisa medium to early running slots out of confidence and tonight wad the perfect moment to ‘push’ her forward. Louisa will top the votes this week if not already I am sure
The confidence you’re talking about could be the confidence that Max / Monica / Keira et al would do poorly. Clearly they have saved this moment up. I would just remind you of one word, however. Fleur. It’s not over yet.
But there definitely is no Ben this year closest to that is Lauren I would guess. Only danger
The precise reason simon lynch wasn’t put through
I still not convinced on Louisa, no real real goosebump moment yet, they have tried but still lacks the really nailed on performance.
These RnB are hard to quantify, but they hit the happy zone.
Anyone notice the word WINNER there?!
I was just about about to point that out. You beat me to it. It actually said “Your love is the winner”, but all you could see was the word “Winner”.
This pimp slot designed to keep RNB in tonight and it worked.
Finals shout out for RnB. Doubt it I think this was a huge push to get then through tonight
I don’t get why they are trying SO VERY HARD to make R’n’B happen. I don’t mind them, but surely they have no musical ability, just a knack to perform upbeat FUNFUNFUN songs ?
They have a knack to perform upbeat FUNFUNFUN songs. That’s why they’re putting a lot behind them. They want to get them as far as they can but not win IMO.
Between this week and last week they’re really stuck on their alpha group aren’t they?
There is a gap in the market for them. I’m sure they could have a few novelty hits. And if they can somehow get them to the final they will be no threat to the chosen one
In a year where they want a young female to win they need weak competition in the final.
RnB in no danger this weekend as far as I can see….fun, not funny and such a huge vote from the judges. This is as far from the usual novelty act as you can find. I wonder whether they are now overtaking FI as favourite group.
Louisa 8/13 now
But hey, that was insane pimping for RNB. After that, I think it would be hard for them to NOT get to the final.
I think it’s merely to keep them above danger zone. It’s easy for TPTB to drop them when they want. If RnB were flying high they would never give them the chance for that performance from pimp slot.
Lumped on Mason to go
I don’t think they showed the best part of Che’s performance in the recap there. Even Mason stood out more IMO.
Prediction
Automatically eliminated: Mason
Bottom two tomorrow: Che v Anton
Which to be fair isn’t bad if they want to bounce Che to the semis at least
Well done Olly for not saying “and Mason will be going home.” See, he CAN learn if he tries…
well, If he didnt got last week I am not sure he will go tonight, Mason that is.
Anton is quiet possible. It was cringe.
And tomorrow will be 4Imp vs Mason.
Seing this now, with the guest performer and the re-instated flash vote, makes me wonder if that was also planned for the first week ? Maybe when they saw how it worked out they changed their mind at the last minute, hence the late announcement of the double elimination ?
Yes, I’m pretty sure that was the plan but they changed their mind at the last minute for whatever reason. Otherwise why the weird tacked on performance from Ben Haenow?
This would mean that they had doubts before the Saturday show started because they failed to announce anything about a double elimination or a flash vote then.
Yes, I would suspect somebody with a shit song performed better than hoped for in dress rehearsals…
Yep, they must’ve got spooked that an alpha might go, esp. b/c their faves are female acts and that makes them more vulnerable.
I think TPTB might take some new staging tactics from Rudimental/Ed Sheeran there and blot out unwanted acts with oceans of confetti!
They managed to smoke paul akister out last year, wonder if they’ll choke Anton out on confetti if they need to
Pretty clear the target tonight was Mason and with the chance Anton has of sympathy votes, I see no reason for them to miss. I am on for easily my biggest bet of the series so far. Fancy Anton and 4I (or possibly Che) as the bottom two tomorrow.
Bloody hell, that made Graham Norton’s booth in Copenhagen seem tame.
Mason to go, money down,, good luck all.
Mason rock bottom of the Facebook likes this week. Che second from bottom. Louisa in the lead but they’re all on the low side.
All feels a bit flat this week.
Seemed like a deramp/hold week for all bar the last 2
Rudimentary there showing X Factor how to really do colour vomit 🙂
I’m either on for my biggest win or biggest loss of the season. Good luck all.
Jessica Hamby – Lauren’s safe!
😀
Thanks Fudd!!!! You’re a gent.
Flash Vote Save Order:
Lauren
Che
Louisa
Reggie and Bollie
Fourth Impact and Anton left on stage.
Eliminated: Mason.
“That does not mean you are the bottom 3” – bit funny if FI and Anton are B2 tomorrow!
It’s raining money… HALLELUJAH!
Successful night team sofa bet. Well done all
What was that ??? Why take it down to three acts to announce the loser ? That can also be some subliminal message there…
But goal achieved, well done TPTB. And a real tosser VT edit to leave on, ha ha…
Yep, best night of the series for me and I think a lot of us. Great stuff.
I managed to lay off my first bet on Mason by having him as first elimination – moral of the story, wait and see what it looks like on the actual show!
Get in there bet mason at 7-4 layed at evs took 20 secs made 400 no lose gambling lay lay lay anton going tomorrow hes going no where 4th impact is my gut feeling
Unsure about tomorrow. Anton is a possibility but 4I could be under the bus there too. Gonna watch it again tomorrow…
Well done Sofabet, we are better together when it comes to really getting one across the line. Good result.
Tomorrow is hard to know. Are votes zeroed or do they continue? not sure what Ollie or Caroline rambled on about that not so minor detail.
They continue.
Would be very surprised to see 4th Impact go tomorrow. Surely they get saved over pretty much anyone except Louisa. Look like the most commercial act to me.
It sounds like there is only one act that they are interested in this year.
For obvious reasons. Show has a recent history of terrible winners for thrm. They really need a star this year and Louisa is the most talented for a long time. Some here don’t feel her journey but performance and vocally she is tremendous. Whether she’s not certain people taste is up to them but as stoney said, probably because they have backed a different horse
I’m not a fan, and it’s not because I didn’t back her. I didn’t back her because I don’t like her – or at least I don’t like her as a performer or a personality.
I flagged Louisa up right at the start even before thd series first post on here. The dogs in the know were barking but I was not totally convinced. I am still doubtful but Louisa is decent, a vote getter on X Factor is a different story and situation. As good a vote getter as Lauren was last year? I very much doubt it and that is my very honest unbiased opinion. That has kept me from going for it even at early prices. I had a nibble to get book going.
They are pimping to high heaven tonight and have been, anyhing close is getting derampted. Theh might pull it off but still some lingering doubts.
New game in town lasg week tonight is deramp 4I
Remember TPTB can get it wrong, bottom two tomorrow will reveal a bit more.
First set of votes count towards the total. It was a freeze, not a reset.
If Anton is in bottom 2 tomorrow, does anyone realistically see any way he survives? He’s very short at 4/7.
Anton’s performance was awful and the debacle with Nick was uncomfortable. Anton looked unstable and about as far as you could get from being a winner. I think there will be some sympathy for him but also some people will feel that his reaction was over the top and inappropriate.
Can they headline be Make No Noise? 😀
I predict that Che will now be protected at any cost. Simon losing all his acts would be OK as he still has a presence on the panel (and he clearly has the weakest category so it’d be understandable). Nick losing all his would be a disaster for the show, and completely undermine the gamble they took in hiring him. Anton and 4th Impact the next 2 acts out, for sure.
As an aside, I think Nick has been brilliant so far. If he’s told what to say, he makes it sound believable. If he genuinely speaks his mind, what he says tends to be correct. The only time he suffers is when he clearly has to vote against his wishes after the sing offs. No way would he have really chosen Anton over Monica, ESPECIALLY after his comments this week to Anton.
Louisa must be struggling in tbe publuc vote they are pushing her so much its getting uncomfortable like last year with fleur itsso obvious who they want to win but like last year i think theyll have to settle for 2nd best 1. _2 on is posably the worst bet ive ever seen on xfactor if youve bet her at decent odds lay lay lay and count yer cash with a smile on your face
Yeah she’s struggling so much until tonight she has been given early slots in all the double elimination weeks.
It sounds like it was a dreadful show. Che, Anton, FI and Mason all sound like they were just not very good. This show is eating itself. Soon no-one is going to want to watch it. it goes on for nearly two hours to hear 15 minutes of music and a load of argy-bargy. You sit through all that to see Louisa on a cloud and smile at Reggie & Bollie.
And seriously, who wants to be told what to think about music by that lot, particularly Cheryl Cole.
Make the most of it while you can everyone. I doubt the contract will be renewed so next year (and possibly this year) will be the last.
Seems to be a lot of confirmation bias an pocket talk going on…
People saying Louisa can’t win, the girl should have been odds-on from week one..
There’s no Heanow/Cardle/Leon Jackson type to hoover up large parts of the vote… They didn’t want Josh/Ben/Simon on the show because they only want Louisa to win.
They know Che isn’t going to win this show… look at him… then look at Belgium’s Eurovision entry, the go compare adverts, compare him to Heanow etc… He is an overweight bloke, he’s not attractive, he’s not even useful around the house (ie putting together Ikea stuff), women/girls don’t look at him and think yeah that’s what I want. He’s like comic book guy from The Simpsons..
Simple question.. if Louisa doesn’t win then who does and why?
A great question, and there is no answer. Everyone else has been deramped or just plain nuked. My only query is why such a big pimp when there are 3 more shows to go. Won’t they have to do this every week from now on? If they don’t it will look like she’s lost momentum. Can they get away with it without the favouritism becoming obvious?
There’s so few contestants left that, favouritism isn’t really a factor for me now.
In reality we have two shows left, if she’s not winning by the time the final comes around then I’d assume they’ll roll Adele out instead of Leona.
On the pimping side… I think they’re setting her up to top that next week… when she actually gets the pimp slot, unless they use her to get rid of 4th Impact…
Lets be honest she probably deserves a moment like that and the show needed it… There’s always one performance each year that goes down as something special..
Her performance today is up there with:
Cher Lloyd – Shakespears Sister
Ben Heanow and Ed Sheeran
James Arthur – Hometown Glory
Their perfect final may be Louisa, Reggie and Bollie, Che… means that Nick is represented, they have a fun feel good act and the new judge gets the winner they want.
They need to be careful of the bounce if/when 4th impact and Lauren drop into the bottom two
Well deserved is moot. They decided they wanted to give it to her. Tptb could have invested more effort in a lot of contestants but instead have deramped them and limited them to create the illusion that Louisa is supremely talented. In my opinion she isn’t, but that is the story that we are being sold.
I asked further up in the thread if the public would buy it. Your answer seems to be yes, because the only other things on sale have are spoiled.
Fair enough. It’s a betting site at the end of the day. I haven’t seen the show but from everyone else’s posts it sounds like you’re probably right.
I thought the same about a 15/16 year old Adele doing Kareoke in my local many years ago.
Not saying Louisa is at that level, but vocally I think she’s the best they’ve had since Leona in the female category..
But I totally agree with you in that she’s the only thing on offer, the thing is they’ve hidden it well this year to the untrained eye.
They’ve had other acts, Che and Lauren, who they haven’t gone out of their way to deramp, but have always done enough to keep them at arms length. I don’t think anyone can say Che and Lauren have been treated unfairly. The two that stand out as being unfairly treated based on their actual talent are Kiera and Josh
So you’re suggesting that the previous weeks for Louisa haven’t been massive ramps and that all the other acts have up until now had comparable treatment?
I think you’re the one with confirmation bias.
I’ve just listened to Lauren’s performance. There was no bass line in the first verse. That bass line is there in the original. The first verse is the verse that Simon said didn’t quite work. His criticism was valid. It didn’t work, because it was designed that way. That is not fair treatment.
Louisa looks better than everyone else because the show has been designed to make her look that way, not because she actually is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0MK7qz13bU
I’m agreeing with you that everybody has had worse treatment.
From my own personal point of view I like the sound of her voice.
However when I saw her in her first audition I was tweeting about how she couldn’t win the show because of what happened to the likes of Ella and Janet.
By the time Judges house had finished, there were only three people left on my list… Louisa, Seann and Kiera… at the end of the first show I regretted placing small cover bets on Seann and Kiera as I knew they weren’t going to win. I then looked through all the contestants again to see if I should be covering myself and just could find a person who would get comparable treatment to Louisa or who was universally popular.
Louisa has been treated better, but I also believe she is the best in the show, from the final 13. If they treated everyone the same, who would win the show? At a guess I would say Lauren or Louisa… but of those two who is the more talented entertainer, not just singer?
Oh Lauren, by a mile. She’s warm, funny, intelligent, self deprecating, unselfconscious, natural – she’s got the package.
And did I mention sweet, charming, empathetic and engaging?
You made sound gambling decisions though.
She is all that, but last night made it clear that she wont be allowed to perpetuate her momentum.
The only good in that performance was the part that depended on her only: the singing. Even Mariah shouted her way through this song in her best years yet Lauren didnt really struggle.
Everything else was up to producers and they ensured she wont overshadow anyone: her backing track/music production wasnt the best, her whole staging showed they didnt put much effort into it, she was up on that awfull plint which restricted her movement that would have suited the song.
Nick and Rita seem to be genuine fans of her yet as someine noted last week Cheryl and Simon Exec Producers arent that much.
She is slowly being eased towards the exit.