Tonight’s clear target for elimination was Sam, not given any of the positivity afforded her main rivals, Saara and Ryan. Sharon actually introduced Saara by signposting for us, “She’s amazing tonight.” Her VT was pleasant enough, showing her meeting some of her British fans.
Saara, wearing a futuristic silver outfit, started on a small plinth encasing a glitterball. She came off it soon enough for a decent production with backing dancers and just the right amount of kookiness, after last week’s overkill. It ended with a four-judge standing ovation. Louis used the words, “star quality… Incredible”. Nicole felt that, “this is your week, Saara”. Simon piped up with, “about as close to perfection as we’ve had,” the implicit comparison being Saara’s other performances.
Sam Lavery was up next but Simon’s introduction that she was “amazing” and “from Newcastle” felt like it was the most positive aspect of her coverage tonight. Her VT showed her moving on from her disappointment at being in the bottom three last week, to having two friends come to visit her at the studios. “You have friends?!” Simon jokingly commented. The last line of the VT was “I want everyone to see I’m having fun when I’m performing.”
Which was unfortunate, as her rendition of a slowed-down ‘I Will Survive’ was no fun at all. Having also promised to show she was just 17 in her VT, her styling had her look middle-aged from the waist up. She stumbled on her very large platform shoes at one stage. No judges stood afterwards. Nicole claimed her favourite part of the performance was the stumble because “that’s when you came alive”. She agreed with Louis in criticising the song arrangement. Simon claimed it was the first time she controlled the song, but no one gave any motivation to vote.
Ryan’s VT started with his joy in avoiding the bottom three last week, and moved onto an intimate gig at a Camden pub. The message being Ryan has worked hard from doing this to getting onto the X Factor stage. Producers did a great job of hiding how poorly attended the gig was (I was there). Ryan’s staging was similar to last week’s. He came off a plinth, and there were plenty of dancers. Monochrome featured in the backdrop, and red which later turned to blue.
Nicole was the only one who stood at the end with a pointed “Yes!” Still, Louis said, “it’s like you’re a new person, that was your best performance yet.” Sharon changed her tune from last week’s critique by saying, “you looked happy, you looked upbeat, and you sold the song really well”. Dermot reiterated the point by asking Ryan, “Where does the energy and confidence come from?”
Incidentally, every act got their own segment between ad breaks apart from Sam and Ryan, meaning Sam was the only act tonight whose appearance wasn’t followed by an ad break. There’s a theory that performing just before an ad break is a slight advantage, as your performance lingers longer in the memory before being overtaken by the next one.
5 After Midnight’s VT was a heartwarming one, filling in some backstory about the least well known member of the trio, Nathan. He was returning to the dance school where he teaches, and was congratulated for his hard work and being, “such an inspiration to the kids”. Nathan then went on to meet his similarly hard-working Dad in a caff, a scene that reminded us of a Che Chesterman VT from last year.
For their performance, the boys started on sequinned stairs at the back with pink stars on the backdrop. It always feels like extra vocal assistance is required when they are singing solo, as in the early part of ‘Boogie Wonderland’. But the backing track kicked in when the mashup switched to ‘September’. The pink turned to gold, and it got a four-judge standing ovation. The audience reaction was huge and early judges comments could barely be heard over the din. Simon said, “now you’re showing your sense of personality” which tied in nicely with the VT. Louis mentioned the final and their “future career”, something Nicole had said a few weeks ago.
Matt’s VT started with him explaining his worry before being last called safe the previous weekend. However, it soon moved onto something much more positive about his hard-working parents. Matt went back to being a waiter again, and we were told at the end that he wants to win to change his life and his family’s life. It all felt very Haenow-esque.
He had a big production of ‘Best of My Love’, starting in the car park as Honey G had last week. Staging was gold with dancers on plinths. Vocally he wasn’t quite at his best, and only Nicole stood. Sharon said he was “growing”, with “more to come”, and he was “pushing himself”. Simon dampened the party by explaining, “the first half of the song didn’t work, because it didn’t feel like it was you… Second half was fantastic… I agree with Sharon, I still think there’s a lot more to come from you.”
Emily’s VT had her spending time with her best friend at an otherwise empty roller disco, which had shades of the infamous Sophie Habibis in the pub VT. Simon’s last line was, “The last three weeks have been incredible so we’ve just got to nail this. You know you’ve got a shot [of winning].” Unfortunately Emily’s vocal was underpowered from the very beginning (she had been ill the day before), and she was stuck on a huge platform at the back of the stage. We also got one cutaway to a bored set of judges, none of whom stood at the end of the performance. It felt like a deramp.
The judges comments reiterated this. Louis said, “It was a little bit of an anticlimax. It was disco and you didn’t move at all.” Nicole, like Louis, blamed Simon for these faults. Simon made reference to Emily’s ‘Creep’ performance from two weeks ago. Emily agreed with the critique. Next week will tell us if this is a sustained deramp, or setting her up for doing something uptempo and different.
Honey G displayed a fine line of self-deprecation in her VT, claiming that she didn’t hear the boos from the audience when she was called safe, “because I was too busy falling flat on my face” in her celebration. Otherwise, her VT showed her on the promotional circuit, talking of “global domination” and excited to play the O2 arena on the X Factor tour.
For her performance of the N-Trance version of ‘Stayin Alive’, she started backstage and threw in a few “when I say Honey, you say G” shout-outs at the start. We liked how the Studio 54 logo in big letters on the backdrop had been converted to Studio HG. It was a typically fun, big production.
Louis said, “I think you can make the final, I really do.” Nicole added, “I am scared of you because you’re getting better every week”, but went onto say something strange about banoffee pie. Simon explained, “You know what’s amazing about you…. You’re all about connecting with the audience at home… And you are winning.” Honey G reiterated this to Dermot, saying she wanted to go all the way to the final, and win it.
Sam got by far the worst treatment tonight, and is odds-on favourite to be eliminated tomorrow. Still, her main rivals Ryan and Saara were also given early slots, if much more positivity. What do you think about this evening’s show? Do let us know below.
Sam was the definite target. This week she is eliminated. A bit suspicious after a sudden movement in the elimination market. As I thought, Saraa’s performance was better than last weeks. The only reason I could really see Ryan not being in the sing off is is he is being saved for Emily V Ryan, which I doubt will happen.
Prediction:
This week, Sam will be eliminated with Ryan being the one saved from the B2
This is my 2nd post, my first one was not accepted for some reason.
5AM’s treatment was a repeat of week 2. Music, staging, performance, dancing, etc., all designed to get a strong studio audience reaction like it did in week 2. I’m sure the producers are confident of motivating people to vote. With that studio reaction you don’t need a pimp slot.
Have you notice they have backing singers and “musicians” on most of their performances.
There was so much gold on that stage tonight. I don’t think that level of treatment means they are a lost cause. It feels more long term support now but things could change.
When Simon said to Matt “the audience will only remember the second half” or words to that effect, it did seem like a sly way of ensuring the audience remembers the first half being “not as good”. Maybe I’m over analysing here but the throwback photo of Simon flexing his bicep seemed like a way of distracting the audience from the previous performance (Matt). Isn’t there a precedent for these random and unnecessary “moments” being strategically placed after an act tptb want to deramp/destroy? If Matt’s lead was in danger of being overtaken last week (assuming he polled top), the producers can’t be too keen to push him firmly ahead. But maybe I’m reading his entire treatment this week wrong. It didn’t strike me as Plan A treatment, especially after last week.
Strangely, Emily suffered this week too – dull song choice, dull production, took the fun out of disco, very far away camera shots… maybe she could’ve topped the vote last week?
5AM’s reception was extremely positive to say the least. Crazy thought but if 5AM polled strongly in last week’s vote (pimp slot, unanimous praise) and found themselves in the very close top 3, could the producers be tempted to push the group for the win? The realistic answer may be that they’re struggling in the vote and needed some momentum…
I’m very clearly still hung up on last week’s close vote. 😀 That has at least told us that it’s not necessarily a one horse race (i.e. Matt winning).
Emily will surely be getting very popular with the foot fetish demographic at this rate
I didn’t notice… she do another Emellie DeForrest this week?
Foot fetishes are a bit cheesy but if it gives her a leg up and they get a kick out of it that’s ok as long as they toe the line.
Best performances of the evening:
Saara – “No More Tears” finally allowed off the leash and burried the rest.
Birdy – “Wings” outstanding
Worst performances of the evening:
Emily – “Wishing on a Star” what on earth were they thinking
Laura Mvula – “Abide with me” I honestly think it might have been worse than Emily.
https://youtu.be/MoldM24I3pE
Still available at 40/1.
https://youtu.be/c_k58eUpNOg
Just re-watched Saara’s performance. Music up loud, great uptempo, beat/bass, vocal and performance. I don’t think she will won’t be in the bottom 2. The producers have her vote under control.
I’m back on Emily again, but I still can’t quite believe it. It’s got to be deliberate hasn’t it? No one could be stupid enough to possibly think that you could give Emily that song with that arrangement and think she could pull it off. The Rose Royce version depends entirely on a rich smooth creamy vocal. Emily just sounded weak timid and reedy. The musical arrangement simply swallowed her up.
I don’t think it’s down to her at all – they’re just giving her the wrong songs and the wrong arrangements.
Did I miss something or did Honey just repeat her week 1 performance to a different backing track.
Think you might have watched a different show tonight.
Emily overtakes Ryan as the second most hated performance on YouTube. This could give a sense of how disliked the performance by the public.
If Emily shockingly makes the drop to B2, Wishing on a Star should be added to the Death List. Current members: That’s Life, Venus
You can’t vote against people, you can only vote for them.
In terms of BOTTOM 2 safety.
GREEN:
Matt, 5AM, Honey G
AMBER:
Saara, Ryan, Emily
RED:
Sam
Surely Sam gets saved over Ryan in a sing off?
Is there still a story for Sam, or has she pretty much given the producers all they can work with.
Say it’s Sam and Ryan in the bottom two. They’ve got the option of keeping Ryan in there and having an Emily v Ryan bottom two in the future. Or they keep Sam. Who probably won’t win and doesn’t have a clear storyline.
(Basically, don’t assume it comes down to the singing)
Alternatively, with Emily having a massive deramp last night, Emily v Ryan in the bottom two? To be honest though, they threw Sam so comprehensively under the bus last night that does seem to be plan A.
I do wonder how much Operation Honey G is the priority – ie she’s the only one getting us press, so have three or four dispensable acts at the bottom to prop her up. Because it seems more difficult to work out than most years, and I suspect that’s partially because getting rid of a particular person hasn’t been the priority (most times).
I honestly don’t know where they’re going with this anymore. Matt looked like a nailed on winner – now he looks like someone who can barely be bothered to go through the motions with two completely lacklustre performances in a row. Last night was just plain bland. Do they really think these performances are good enough for a winner? As for performance there isn’t really any performance – for the second week in a row Ryan was actually far better than Matt in this respect IMHO.
Which brings me back to Emily again. To be serious about this Birdy was on the Festival of Remembrance last night with an acoustic version of Wings and it really was an outstanding beautifully judged performance. If that’s the route they want down they could do worse than watching that to see how it’s done. Otherwise I really do think it’s time to do something up tempo – we know she can do it.
Nothing new mate, Ben Hannoew did it every week too.
I still have a niggling feeling 5am are sneaking up the inside lane though
5AM sang really badly though Stoney. It was Boogie Wonderland. It’s wasn’t some Celine Dion screamer. They still made a bit of a Horlicks of it. They look slick and the productions are great but you can’t help thinking WTF when they sing without help. They’re not as bad as Rough Copy but still not actually good. It’s hard to win a singing competition when you can’t sing.
When i messaged my mum asking her what she thought of Matt she said he was good but struggled to match the 5am performance just before him.
My mum is usually a good judge on these shows and calls most of the winners by the midway point.
She isn’t saying they will win though she wants Honey G out desperately. I keep winding her up saying i think she’s gonna be there when we go to the final on the saturday night in December. Which is a real possibility now.
Fair enough. Maybe viewers won’t notice.
I’ve seen matts performance on you tube and i think everything was business as usual as i expected. They aren’t going to need to pimp the hell out every week like they did Louisa
It would ruin the show again if they did. That’s why I’m not convinced by Honey G. I don’t think it’s a sign of producer favour. I think it’s a sign she needs a lot of help to stay in.
I do think the studio audience reaction translates into a chuck of votes from the audience at home. I think 5AM have a broad appeal and not pigeon holed as the cute boy group, almost “cool and slick”, which can appeal to male voters. That VT played well with a broad appeal.
Be interesting if they get through how they move forward as they are limited vocally, but the producers are playing to their strengths, at the moment, and if they do have traction in the voting, will be interesting to see how they are treated. I watch for the choice of theme if it plays into their narrative. Like Motown, Disco really suited them this week.
I think Matt is being saved up, he hasn’t had his pimp slot yet and he does have the cute/nice boy appeal in the bag, even against Ryan, which feels more teen focus compared to Matt. I am sure we will see Matt’s gran again soon.
I wonder if cute boy bands have had their day. This is a more cynical age. Sweet Little Mix are dominatrices now.
Ok, I think the consensus pretty much used to be ‘when they drop the flash vote we know they want to get rid of Ryan’. However, I didn’t see much to support this last night; Ryan seems to be given more of a journey story arc- this could be to justify saving him over Sam tonight, although I don’t see him outsinging her. I feel that, combined with Emily’s de-ramping, they firmly have the ‘sweethearts sing off’ (TM) back in their focus for next week…
As for Matt, the impression I got is that they are introducing an element of light peril into his narrative. Let’s face it, teenage girls don’t normally go for the one with an easy ride that gets everything handed to him on a plate, much more exciting to support the underdog that has an air of rellion and danger around him. Hence why I have a feeling that in a flash vote, Ryan would have trounced Matt easily.
Judging on this, I feel the desired final is Matt/5AM/Honey G, but Emily replacing either of the last two would probably be accepted.
As someone who stuck some money on Ryan to go as soon as the flash vote was gone I can’t help agreeing with that synopsis. There was very little sign they wanted him gone and the killing of Sam was so brutal she has to be the plan to go surely?
Beware assuming it’s teenage girls going for Matt, I think their mums will be just as likely behind him (as per almost every other winner ever it’s the mums wot won it)
Is it possible they were worried Honey G might be bottom 3, so removed the flash vote as soon as this became a danger?
Very.
It could be, but I’m not going to limit it to just Honey G. I feel it could be any of their preferred 4, and maybe especially 5AM who they are protecting.
Its possible the scottish may be switching horses and getting behind Ryan. Of course this would be bad news for Matt. But if he avoids bottom 2 tonight and Emily was to slip in you’d have to fancy him for the final
Hope you’re loading up on the 180/1 available on Betfair then!
No way I’m all in on matt. Not about to switch horses yet.
Clear to me that the show will be happy as long as Honey G avoids the bottom 2.
Hence the full on pimping for her, and at least 3 acts thrown under the bus and put on in the first 3 spots.
I think they’ll be happy whichever 2 of Sam/Ryan/Saara land in the bottom 2, with that same order of preference for who they’d ideally want in the bottom and who gets the boot. I.e. Preference is to have a Sam/Ryan bottom 2 with Sam going.
I reckon Sam goes against anyone, Ryan goes against anyone but Sam, and Saara only goes against Honey G or Matt. I think they’d chuck 5AM or Emily if they get the chance, it makes the honey monster final that little bit easier.
I was thinking last night that the Emily deramp was an attempt to get her and Ryan in the bottom two together this week but it makes more sense to look at it as softening her up for the bottom two next week. I have wondered for weeks now if they were both chosen for the live shows to have a love story theme – which would have to end in a lover’s sing-off for it to really follow a story arc.
The fact they are keeping Emily pigeon holed to the John Lewis lane – even though she’d like to break out of it – suggests to me they are not setting her up for the win or even a top three spot, though we will see next week if her treatment returns to supportive or deramps again.
Sam just seems higher up the probability list to go out tonight leaving Ryan in place for the sing off next week – which would then imply that Saara is safe for another two weeks at least.
Daniel it was Nathan not Jordan that was the focus of 5AM’s VT this week.
Thank you Woofie. Now corrected.
This is the problem a viewer has with 5am, ask a viewer their names and before this weekend they would have no clue.
Daniel, how many times you watched 5am clips probably a lot more than the average viewer. Still made the mistake of mixing up their names.
That said, fantastic VT for them and the way forward on how to get groups over in future. Focus on one member each week in the VT.
I don’t know why people think Saara was a target. The VT was helpful, the staging was great and the comments were 100% supportive. I can’t see her going b2.
Ryan got a bit of a bad time from Simon and Emily got a bad time from the other three. 5AM sang badly and Honey G did her usual schtick. i think one of the reasons Emily was tagged as boring and doing the same thing every week was to hide the fact that Honey G is boring and does the same thing every week. Will it work?
It could be a shock b2 this week. Emily or even Honey G could be down there imo. There were also comments about Emily doing something different next week. Hmmm. So she’s definitely coming back is she? Great. I’ll use my vote for someone else then.
I don’t think she was a target, but I do think they were keeping her vote nicely in check by opening the show with her. That said for anyone who switched over from Strictly the first thing they would’ve seen is Saara’s excellent performance, and that’s got to be useful.
I can’t see beyond Sam and Ryan for bottom 2. I think they’ll be some way below the rest.
This comparison of odds, twitter followers and youtube views is interesting.
http://www.oddschecker.com/insight/tv/20161111-x-factor-who-is-the-most-popular-contestant
As is Daniel’s article
http://www.oddschecker.com/tips/tv/x-factor/20161110-x-factor-lavery-to-be-abolished
Interesting Twitter figures; those numbers are REALLY low compared to even 2-3 years ago. A combination of two factors: Twitter isn’t as strong as it used to be, the show isn’t as strong as it used to be.
Twitter is a weak indicator of popularity nowadays, with respect to how followers translate to votes. Only the Young (now disbanded) and Jake from two years ago had tons more at this stage of the competition (and one of them is out by now).
Saara’s views are impressive too. It’s all from the youtube x factor channel so doesn’t include her other performances. I know people will claim that it’s all Finns but think for a minute – how many Brits in overseas X Factors do you watch? Not many.
Most of her non x factor videos have viewers in the tens of thousands. Frozen has over 2 million but that’s Frozen. It’s probably got over 2 million when it’s sung in Latin.
If she’s getting a lot of repeat views that means there are people out there who like her performances enough to want to see her again.
Some of Honey G’s views will come from videos and links in news site articles. They may not be fans of hers or even watch the show. They won’t have had to actively seek her out.
Also bear in mind that Emily was on XF two years ago so some of her twitter followers will be from then.
Also Fourth Impact had more views than their voting popularity suggested last year.
Saara’s views have always been impressive and she’s been bottom two 3 times in 5 weeks.
Honey G on the other hand is, to quote Simon Cowell “winning”.
No need to vote for her then.
Saara’s youtube views make no sense. The performances from last night Saara has 580,000 views where second place has 86,000 views (5AM). Now either Saara is seven times as popular than everyone else (which we know isn’t true as she been in the bottom three 3 out of 5 weeks), 10% of the nation of Finland are watching in 24 hours or someone is buying youtube views for her.
I think saaraś journey has been followed closely by eurovision sites and fans. that surely gives her those view counts.
and you can´t compare her being on XF Uk to a UK act being on a foreign tv show. Finland is a small country, so I am sure it is a sort of sensation there to to have a representative on an important stage such as XF Uk.
Honey g’s comments this week sounded like comments giving to the act they aren’t happy about winning in the final but have to praise them anyway like Ben haenow and Matt cardle
If they had a problem with Honey G they’d get her to tell us her milkshake brings all the boys to the yard and wiggle in a leotard. She’s not a problem as far as they’re concerned. They’re having a laugh (or in Nicole’s case possibly a stiff drink) after every performance.
Aren’t happy about winning? They’ve thrown the kitchen sink at her from day 1. Standing ovations for performances that would get people going back to their chalets in Pontins
They wouldn’t want her winning but your point is you think their conceding she’s going to win
I only watched the performances on youtube as I was out and about last night. Amazing how the VTs and judges comments are opposite to some of the subliminals this week.
Examples:
Emily – standing on top of the world against a STARry background (if she hadn’t been ill, would this have been a “moment”?)
Sam – gold outfit, gold backdrop (and if you listen to the youtube with the window minimised, she sang the best she has done on the live shows)
Saara – silver/metallic outfit (re: frosty) and for a while had a backdrop that looked like a cage
Ryan – plenty of red and black, the backdrop looked like a megaphone pumping out a warning signal and the show had the nuts to have him sing “play that funky music white boy” whilst standing between two black guitarists [activate guardianistas here].
Comments&VTs possibly have a little more influence on priming the public’s perception, I’m just noting the mis-alignment.
Ryan and Saara bottom 2 for me.
I noticed that with Ryan’s guitarists actually. On the the first chorus, they cut directly to a shot of one of his (black) guitarists on the line in question. not that I think it means a great deal but… this show!
I think Emily’s staging was superficially positive but it made her seem two feet fall and completely lost, which Nicole helpfully pointed out. She’s also had some really beautifully staged productions the last three weeks and this wasn’t up to that standard. Oh, and her vocal sucked. Pretty sure I could have done better.
The staging for Emily was beautiful this time, too. But it sounded like she was actually singing somewhere high above and far away as we could not hear her voice. A quiet signal from outer space, unreachable. “To reach the unreachable star, it is my quest to follow that star, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far.”
I thought it was ‘wide boy’
For a long time I thought the first line of “Going Back to my Roots” by Odyssey was “Sifting up my boobs”. Turns out it was “Zipping up my boots”.
Who knew?
In case you are unaware of it: http://www.kissthisguy.com/
There’s a #XFactorJukebox suggestion for them: “Songs with frequently misheard lyrics”.
For years I thought, in ‘Baby One More Time’, the lyric “Show me how you want it to be” was “Show me how you wanna do me”.
For years I thought, in ‘Baby One More Time’, the lyric “Show me how you want it to be” was “Show me how you wanna do me”.
Apt, given the song, video and performer.
I like that site.
Might as well face it you’re a dick with a glove is now my favourite misheard lyric.
I feel 5AM are doing well in the vote and the producers have switched to them instead of Matt but if they don’t work out they can switch back to him.
Tonight’s headline:
S Lavery abolished
Wham, Bam, Thank-you Sam
De-Saminated
Daniel’s used “Lavery Abolished” for that Oddschecker article you linked.
Given that there could potentially be a Honey G sing-off save on the horizon isnt there a case that the judges will do the decent thing tonight and go with the best vocals? I know the show is brazen sometimes but Im struggling to see how they could justify saving Ryan over Sam. He has been deadwood for weeks and is likely to be out-sung in a sing-off with Sam.
Worth a punt at 3.8 on Betfair I reckon with Sam odds-on.
Have you heard Sam’s vocals recently? ;-). It’s no guarantee that she necessarily out sings Ryan imo, and they may well have given Ryan a song he’s very comfortable with.
Historically acts – both favoured and otherwise – seem to get songs they’re fairly comfortable with in the sing-off. I think there’s no doubt that in such a situation Sam will outsing Ryan on some sing-off ballad, but I don’t think it’ll make a shred of difference. Even if it’s just for one more week, they’ve found that Ryan can put on an entertaining show for them, and so he has more use to the producers than Sam.
Vocals aside, if you consider their respective arcs/narrative, Sam’s is very much complete. She has nothing to offer the show even if they agreed to keep her for another week, whereas the Ryan/Emily dynamic still has more gas in the tank.
I would agree with making Ryan a saver, but Sam should be the main play given the size of the bus they hit her with last night.
Ryan’s performances the last two weeks have been enjoyable too. Last week they used Sharon and this week they used Simon to dampen him but he’s surely on an upward arc at the moment. He might not even be there. It might be Emily.
Sing off success isn’t about how well you can sing or perform.
Katie Waissel sat down on the stage, said sod it and refused to sing another note. She still got through and the other act was eliminated.
Yep. The act going home will have been decided at the start of the show. Unless there is changes in the bottom 2 on the Sunday night show which i believe would be extremely rare. There is no way they spontaneously make a call there and then on the sing off performance, even though they occasionally lead us to believe they do.
This might be worth another look after the series. I wonder if they know there are 3 acts near the bottom and one of these who’s preferred, that they push them at the start of the results show while the vote’s open.
Actually using the partial results to influence the final results. We have guessed in the past they might do this on Saturday e.g. Switching performance orders for second songs based on early votes, but they would have much more time to do this for the results show.
Not strictly true. Katie did continue singing. 😉
It’s funny watching re-watching Saara’s VT. Sharon tells her people in the UK vote for people from their home towns. She’s then shown appealing for votes in Scotland and Newcastle.
Also interesting that in her performance there was not a single close up of her face. No wonder some people think she’s a bit distant.
Matt and 5am beginning to look like shoe ins for the final. I wonder if emily’s scottish vote could oust honey G for the final spot. Dosen’t simon want an act in the final this year after not having one last year?
i cant´t decide if B2 tonight will be ryan and emily or sam & saara.could make a case for both.
emily was so boring i didn˙ t even finish watching her video (YT).
If she goes can the headline be SLavery Abolished??
Sam pulled
Don’t play it again Sam
Diss Go night for Sam
I’m saying it’s going to be Ryan vs Sam, but I reckon that Ryan v Emily could be a real possibility this week.
Emily’s elimination odds have fallen to best priced 40/1. At Coral she’s 16/1.
Ryan and Sam. Ryan to go. Sam was thrown under the bus but I still think they might get rid of Ryan if the chance arises. His continued presence on the show is a bit of a joke.
i am pretty sure he will be kept around for a ryan vs. emily showdown. tv gold.
now that it´s only B2 i think the bounce will keep sam (maybe even saara?) out of danger even if the bus slided across her like whaaammm.
I think they are boxed in that Emily will have to do something upbeat next week. If Ryan goes they would want a VT about how upset she is about that. It would be quite jarring to put the two together.
Bottom two : Sam & Ryan
Eliminated : Sam on deadlock.
I am still wondering why they got rid of the flash vote for tonight – any thoughts? Is it because they fear Sam may be saved again like last week? Has Ryan suddenly got more momentum (then why not dampen him more?), or are any of the favourites too close to B3 and they want to avoid tainting them ?
I think the most likely b2 is Sam and Ryan but Emily was very dull and her VT (one friend in an empty roller disco) and judges comments were unhelpful. I doubt her response to the judges’ comments made much difference to voters.
I don’t think it was an all out attack. I thought it was priming her for an upbeat song next week and also giving some help to Honey G who came after her.
Emily should have a bit of an Emily fan base by now who will have voted for her anyway and I think the most likely b2 is Sam and Ryan but if there’s going to be a shock tonight then I think it will be Emily b2 instead of Ryan.
In either of those scenarios I think Sam goes. Tbh I think Sam goes whoever is down there.
Emily is the sort of act who, in the past, has taken a few weeks to get rid of. Plus her regional base should see her safe. I don’t see her b2 after last night (although based on performance alone she’d be out, she was piss poor). I think her treatment last night was more to tee her up for something special going forward.
As for bottom two – i do think it will be Saara vs Sam. Sams treatment last night suggests that she goes against anybody.
I do wonder if Honey G might be a shock bottom 2. She is on a DS poll the most disliked contestand remaining in. Ryan is second and Matt third in that same poll.
That would require her going below Ryan, but Ryan is on a redemption arc.
I think Sam is a dead cert for bottom 2 and would go against anyone. If Ryan falls bottom 2 I have wondered briefly if any of the judges would play the “it would negatively affect Emily, too, if I got rid of Ryan, and that’s just not fair, so I’m saving Ryan” card. It would be in poor taste and contraversial, which is why I can see it being something one of the judges would do. Either Simon or Sharon could conceivably use that line; Simon in defense of Emily, Sharon because she’s been playing emotional/kooky this year.
I wondered about Honey G too but I don’t think that moment has come yet. Unpopularity is not a very helpful measure because you can’t vote against people.
If you were trying to get rid of Sam, and you’d just announced it was really close in the bottom three, why would you show a VT with Louis going “I think she’s in trouble”?
I’m intrigued.
The only thing I can think of is Ryan or Emily are third from bottom with the other in the bottom two so they’re trying to bounce Sam above both of them.
Or I might be over-focusing on this Emily v Ryan sing off that they’re surely gearing for at some point?They’ve closed the lines earlier than they needed to so they must have the bottom two they want.
That seems possible with these three left now
Fascinating voting tidbit there. Top 2 never been top 2 before? Honey G/5AM/Saara?
Dermot: “The two acts at the top have never been top before.”
5 After Midnight and Honey G?
Could be Saara too
I don’t think either of these will happen, but the odds on Honey G and Emily are just a little too high for me given the poor tabloid treatment for the first, and the horrendous treatment for Emily. Logically it should still be Sam v Ryan with Sam going, but the odds are too low for those of us who play with low stakes. Good luck everybody.
Honey G and 5am have gone top 2 in my view.
Iirc Dermott said that the lead changed several times (during the period of voting) and that two of the acts who were in the lead (at some point – although it changed several times) and never been in the lead before.
Doesn’t help imo.
I interpreted it to be that the lead was changing *between the top two* and that neither had been top two before.
Maybe I’ll have to rewatch!
It was deliberately ambiguous and delivered in tones of portent to suggest that it was important. It is not helpful information. It’s only purpose was to encourage speculation. If I was you I wouldn’t waste my time.
It nonetheless suggests that Matt is not running away with it yet as I had suspected.
Not really. Saara sang first and the vote was open from the beginning of the show. It is perfectly likely that for a short time at least she was top of the poll. She might only have been top of the poll until 5am and never regained the lead. She might only have lasted until Ryan and he might be the other person who has never had the lead before.
What if the lead went Saara, Ryan, Matt, 5am. It changed several times and two of the people never had the lead before.
They want to give the impression of a close competition whether it is or not. That keeps the interest. Clearly it worked.
George and Fudd are wording Dermots comments differently and the differences are huge.
Did he say the top 2 have never been in the top 2 before
Or the top 2 combo has never been that before ?
He said two acts have been swapping at the top and neither have been top before.
Doesn’t matter. It doesn’t give any insight and wasn’t intended to. The purpose of the statement was to encourage speculation. Any conclusions that people come to will be based on confirmation bias.
Just wound back – he said ‘the two who have been at the top have never been top before.’
I missed it, but you’re quite right to ask that question.
I think Saara may have topped the vote this week then. She did everything that the audience have been asking of contestants for years now – actually take the theme and run with it as is rather than ‘putting your own twist’ on something.
Worst sing-off ever.
I suspect the main reason for the delay is demonstrated by the fact “Ryan and Emily” are now trending. And probably because Emily is third bottom. I did have a punt on the slight likelihood Emily might be bottom two though…
This is quite clever and still annoyingly dishonest. By leaving it so long, they are effectively suggesting that Ryan, Emily and Sam are the bottom 3, which is blatantly wrong, as theoretically any one of them could have topped the vote. But it results in the desired lover’s drama…
Yes, if you weren’t paying attention last night, or just switched on tonight, it would be easy to mistake what’s coming up as the result of a flash vote.
What stands out for me is they could have feasibly left the vote open for a good 20 minutes longer than they did. They closed it when they did… because they got the result they wanted and it was so close they didn’t want to risk losing it?
Shoot me down if I’m wrong but I don’t believe Emily is bottom 2. The love story head to head Ryan v Emily showdown is what they will have craved all series but not this week……
It just brought hype for Ryan v Emily to the show.
So… on the basis they still want Ryan v Emily at some point they’ll save him here?
Maybe not – perhaps tonight was the closest they could get it to being Emily v Ryan. That is by faking it.
i agree.
Ratings Fudd, not everything on the show is down to fixing the order
As Emily is called safe I am guessing she is in the “top 2” who have never been top before and Matt has lost his lead this week.
I don’t think this is the week that she overtook! She was awful.
Yes, really dishonest – if you can’t make it, fake it
They cannot send Sam home on the strength of the sing-off as she was clearly a lot better than Ryan
Really? I thought she murdered it. Ryan was slightly better for me though neither were any good really.
I guess we all here things differently because I thought that was one of her better performances, although nowhere near perfect – but then, I love the song so perhaps I have some bias.. While I thought Ryan was dull and not quite on the notes as he sang. When the judges stood for him, my reaction was “wtf”? Then it just confirmed it that all this talk of Sam going is true. So they will just make out that Ryan’s sing-off was better than Sam’s when really there wasn’t much between it, but I would say Sam took it by a tiny margin.
The first couple of notes Ryan sang sounded like he was egg bound.
I thought Ryan was alright in the sing-off. A lot better than any of his other performances anyway. I certainly don’t think Sam was any better than him, but I’ve always found her voice a chore to listen to. It’s just a bit grating and LOUD, and out of tune a lot of the time. As a person she seems nice enough, and yeah she got stitched up like so many X Factor contestants before and of course after her, but musically she wasn’t for me.
They both were not great
My predictions of last night’s vote:
5am, Saara, Matt, Emily, Honey G, Ryan, Sam
Simon made it pretty clear that he’d rather have saved Ryan. OUCH for Sam. That was cruel.
Weird – Sharon sounded as if she was going to send Ryan home “he’d been in the bottom three so many times” – then she says Sam. Obviously told to take it to deadlock and get rid of her.
All to create additional drama. Unnecessarily cruel.
To be fair to production I think that was Sharon completely screwing up her script rather than them planning to draw it out to that extent.
I don’t believe that for a second. Sharon’s ditsy act only comes out when the production company want it.
I agree with Fudd here, Sharon screwed up her script; maybe she even thought of going rogue. It made no sense for her to make the comment she did and then blurt out the name Sam. Maybe a producer in her ear told her not to be so daft!
I think she was thinking about going rogue and then just decided to fall in line and do deadlock like she’d been told. Ryan is so mediocre and this is just not the week I needed to see a woman with lots of potential go against him.
Sharon managed to make a bigger pigs ear of that than Louis normally does.
“The act I am sending home, and this is only because he’s been in the bottom three so often is… Sam!”
And to absolutely no-one’s surprise…
Sharon nearly said the wrong name there though! Producer in her ear?!
My guess is she forgot the act’s exact name and panicked briefly that Sam was the boy.
The easiest thing to do would of course have been to say ‘I’m taking it to deadlock’ and leave it at that.
Dermot pushes for a name in that scenario though. He tends to insist on the judges saying who they’re sending home.
wow. that was cruel.
Yep 🙁
Mmm look at the line up waiting for the jukebox
Managed to get a stream up on my phone for the results. Sam had the look of Gifty. Looked well and trully peed off. Seems they could well be checking into this site now. Never seen so many fuming contestants in 1 series
She wasn’t pissed Stoney she’s fine. Very gracious, especially on Xtra Factor just now.
Probably relieved
Movies – honey g – straight out ta Compton. Lol
8 Mile.
Men In Black 2
Fair play – they drew out an inevitable result really well.
Honey G revealing she already has a song picked for a theme only just revealed for a show she’s only just been confirmed on… If they’re not careful people will think it’s fixed 😉
Ex Sam Time
Sounded like they dumped the crowd audio pretty quickly on Honey G at the end to drown out the boos
The most wide open xfactor ever this is any ones apart from ryan matt terry odds on do me a favour the show wont want a male solo winner
I remember you saying exactly the same thing about Louisa last year
That mustve been the worst sing off ever. I wasnt optimistic but thought I had a small chance of them saving Sam cos Ryan’s sing off was terrible. Laughably bad. Knew it was all over when all 4 judges stood and Simon said Ryan was “good”. Clearly trying to lend some credibility to the inevitable save.
It felt like the whole world knew the bottom 2, the fact it was going to Deadlock and that Sam was going home. So contrived. Especially when Sharon milked it and made out she was in two minds. Terrible actress. Sam looked like she knew it was coming too.
Honey G is now best priced 11/2. The world has gone mad.
Simon twisting the knife in the critique he gave to Sam does suggest that she might not have been his pet project as some of us thought for a while.
More likely now she was the intended gamma who ended up polling higher than Gifty, perhaps.
Evens on Matt looks a fantastic bet right now. They will get behind him fully at the business end. And assasinate the competition