X Factor 2017: Semi-Final 2

In yesterday’s show, we said goodbye to Matt Linnen, who finished bottom of the vote after his rendition of ‘Gimme Shelter’. It was enough that he was put on second in the running order, with generally unhelpful staging, and a look of thunder on Sharon’s face as he performed.

Dermot said in-running there was only 2% between the bottom two. Consensus in the market and among our commenters was that The Cutkelvins were the ones scrapping for survival with Matt. That makes them strong elimination favourites to go tonight, though Dermot’s further announcement that it would be a double elimination was a surprise.

There were many theories put forward in our discussion thread. Had it been the plan all along? Is it Lloyd Macey’s illness that forced a rethink? Or was it to avoid someone else being in the final? It was certainly interesting that the reveal came once voting figures for last night’s show would have been known, but we can only deal in speculation.

The two highest profile acts of the series, Rak-Su and Grace, return to performing original material tonight. We know Rak-Su’s ‘I’m Feeling You’ from their room audition. Grace is singing ‘Wolves’ and hoping she’s not thrown to them. In the opposite direction, The Cutkelvins are going back to covers with dance classic ‘Show Me Love’. The tabloid stories about them this weekend continued in a less than flattering light.

That leaves Kevin Davy White whipping out his guitar again for ‘Voodoo Child’, while Lloyd Macey will be hoping he’s on the mend physically to give ‘Fix You’ his best shot. As always, let us know your thoughts below as the show progresses to revealing this year’s finalists. Will Dermot be banging the favoured battle bus once more? We can’t wait.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

173 comments to X Factor 2017: Semi-Final 2

  • India Marie

    Wikipedia has them sorted as

    Grace
    Lloyd
    Kevin
    TCK
    Rak-Su

    not sure if sorted by category or the running order. Tellystats isn’t around to corroborate, either

  • Danyal

    Lloyd Macey: 1
    Rak-Su: 2
    The Cutkelvins: 3
    Kevin Davy White: 4
    Grace Davies: 5
    according to tellystats

  • Rak-Su on 2nd… they’re the target 😉

    Or more likely they’re so far ahead of the field now that it doesn’t matter where they sign from

    • Danyal

      Hmm they were still giving Ben Haenow and Louisa good pimp slots in the RO when they were far ahead

    • Alan

      Giving Grace the pimp slot in the semi so they can give RakSu it in the final.

      Lloyd clearly the target then. Can hear Simon telling him “something’s missing tonight” or that he “didnt feel he connected with the song”. “Its not the illness though cos you were great last night”. Wonder if he knows it. Matt looked like he was very aware last night.

    • R

      They do look to be ahead of the rest at this point and have been building week on week, but they only need to be ahead of TCK and one other.
      Grace and Kevin could still finish above them tonight.

      To me the running order is set out this way so Lloyd can be memory holed in the death slot, followed by Rak-Su to assist the memory holing with an upbeat number. We probably won’t have an ad break between the two.
      TCK are third on because they are so far behind.
      Then Kevin & Grace on at the top end to ensure they reach the final.

  • Stoney

    At least the cuttys should miss the strictly overlap for once. Was exepcting them in the 1st 2 slots so cant grumble too much.

  • Tom

    Lloyd got to perform in front of thousands. No need to send him to the final, he has got what he wanted.

    Faint praise but call for votes by Louis and Sharon.

    Know it’s unlikely, but was Simon’s cough to distract?

  • Lenny

    Expecting the Cutkelvins to go tonight. Not sure if TPTB care too much if it’s Lloyd or Kevin to join them.

  • Alan

    No bus for Lloyd then. They must be confident they have his vote under control.

  • Stoney

    What the fuck are they doing during these comments. Deramp in disguise.

  • Alan

    Lol. Sharron. Vote for everyone tonight.

  • Rose L

    Agreed with Tom. There was a real sense of journey’s end for Lloyd there.

  • Sagand

    “Did you ever dream you’d be performing Coldplay? No”

    Anyone with that dream needs to dream bigger.

  • Ah Simon and Louis’ coughing fit through Nicole’s critique – that’s a new one. Sharon went for a ‘vote for everyone’, Simon aimed for ‘you should be there’ though Louis did go for an explicit call out to vote ‘everyone at home’. I have no idea what Nicole said due to the coughing though if they were looking to deramp him I think her critique was the most damning, something about being up against artists?

    Dermot: Lloyd – there he goes.

    If they get their way? That wasn’t an out and out kill for sure.

  • Wkrs

    I see they brought on the glee club of the damned from Total Eclipse of the Heart for Lloyd

    https://youtu.be/fsgWUq0fdKk

  • Stoney

    colour vomit. Lloyd, with dad dancing lol

  • Rose L

    This is the second night of colour vomit for Rak-Su. I only watched last night’s show this afternoon and it seemed that Nicole was about to comment on the colours in a negative way, then drew back from the brink.

  • Tom

    I actually enjoyed this Rak-Su performance. Suprised they never got the pimp slot. Lloyd who?

    Was Nicole going rogue but changed her mind half way through?

  • Alan

    RakSu have killed it tonight. Game over.

  • Rose L

    Yet another food analogy, this time Rak-Su are pizza, everyone loves it.

  • Stoney

    Cuttys to get the strictly switch over slot. A 4 judge SO could really shake things up.

  • The staging for Rak Su felt a bit tacky, I remember a car being on stage for Union J’s Sweet Dreams and they ended up in the bottom two with that. And Colour Vomit ahoy.

    All three ‘neutral’ judges hit the complacency inducing “you’ll be in the final” comments and Nicole said it wasn’t their strongest performance. Interestingly, whilst Simon said it was important to get them there next week he didn’t explicitly call for votes. Also Dermot went with ‘Rak-what’ rather than ‘Rak Su’ at the end of it.

    Very odd – that definitely wasn’t a ramp and, with two going, they seem to be playing a bit fast and lose with them.

    • Alan

      They’re miles ahead and noone is going to be put off voting for them cos there’s a car on stage.

      • It was just an aside – I don’t think they’ll be the bottom two because of the car on stage. But colour vomit and compalcency inducing comments are known to be used they want out… as you say, maybe they are just miles ahead they’re now building an aura up of invincibility.

  • I always find it funny when a mum in her mid-30s likes a Rak-Su comment of mine on twitter…

    I always used to talk about MEMs like I wasn’t that generation… but I actually am (I could be described as MED)… God I feel old

    Anyway, is it game set match now?

  • Stoney

    How funny would it be if Raksu were miles ahead last night and the judges got complacent tonight throwing them on early during strictly and they crashed out. Would be my favourite ever reality tv moment.

    • But they didn’t hit all the ‘ramp’ moments – Nicole came out with some criticism, the three neutral judges all spoke as though it was a foregone conclusion that they’d be in the final and colour vomit was spread all over the stage. If they hadn’t been treated as Plan A from the off we’d be talking about them walking around with a target on their back.

      • Alan

        I wouldn’t. Colour vomit is only a thing on sofabet. It means nothing in the real world. Same as red and black.

        • But isn’t that the point? The audience at large doesn’t know that colour vomit is off-putting; they just find it off-putting sub-conciously.

          Look, I’m not saying Rak Su are going to go home – just it felt like the foot was taken off the accelerator for that performance.

          • George

            Like red & black it really depends on how it’s used. I didn’t find it that off putting in Rak-Su’s performance. It didn’t really take attention away from them.

          • Alan

            Agree with george. Context is everything. I don’t believe people always find colour vomit off-putting or that TPTB always use it to deramp acts. Its just some nonsense theory someone came up with on here. Same as red and black.

  • Rose L

    A bit late, I know, but I thought the Cutties’ performance yesterday was pretty good and I liked the song – some tuning issues but it was fun. The problem of being on first is that although they got good praise, everyone after them, bar Matt, got even better praise. It seemed good and fair at the time, but when you watch to the end, you realise it was actually faint praise in comparison with some of what came after. This means the judges look as if they are being fair and unbiased, but actually it is the same old nuking of acts – just in a very discreet way.

  • Stoney

    Sharon Nicole stay seated. Keeping the vote in check.

    Haha the audacity of Simon mocking the production he is responsible for.

    Major pimping of Kevin and Grace coming up just to bury Tck

  • Tom

    Calling for votes for TCK. Doubt it will be enough.

  • Rose L

    They keep banging on about the Cutkelvins being out-classed by everyone else – “you are the underdogs”. I don’t see it motivating votes, to be honest. The song was perhaps not “cutting edge” enough to get them through. I would say they have a target on their back tonight. Faint praise without it being awful enough to inspire sympathy.

  • James

    Reminder to vote for TCK and Lloyd.

  • Uzair

    The cutties know they r under fire even a call out for them by themselves. And their VT was horrible.
    Every act i back is out in the semi finals
    Lauren murray emily middlemas and now the cutkelvins.

  • Tom

    Good VT for Kevin. Telling us he is a serious musician again.

  • Tom

    Think Kevin could be in the final 2 after that. Unless Grace is amazing he will probably top the vote tonight and probably topped yesterday.

  • Kevin will put on a show – that’s why they’ve been pushing him week on week, because that was a show.

  • Rose L

    Finding it hard to believe someone just performed a Jimi Hendrix song on the X Factor and got such passionate praise…..Is there really a market for this sort of thing anymore or is it as Fudd says, all about putting on a show?

  • Wkrs

    The 90s called, they’d like their Cutkelvins back…I think that’s it.

    Early shout for pun options:

    Cut off
    Cut out
    Cut down
    Zero degrees Kelvin
    Cutty snark

  • Alan

    Kevin, Grace and RakSu is the most talented and relevant final line-up ever.

    • It’s a shame it has the lowest ratings of the lot – maybe they needed to switch direction sooner? Or maybe this direction means less viewers are enthused about the show.

      • George

        I think a decline of this sort was inevitable since 2011. Less viewers means less media coverage/chatter, and then even fewer viewers. It’s a vicious circle.

  • Martin

    I hate to buy into the shows propaganda but Kevin truly is outstanding, by this shows standards. To think, after his dreadful week one song and staging (sorry, no vancancies still makes me chuckle) could have had him out then.

    To their credit, the top 5 are all decent and could make the final. We haven’t been able to say that for a while.

    It seems the writing is on the wall for Cutkelvins. Lloyd is the obvious second candidate, anybody else would be a huge upset.

  • Dazzle

    I still can’t believe Kevin got past 10th place never mind at least being 5th, I would never have called that before the lives

  • Tom

    One of Grace’s songs playing in her VT.
    Lloyd in the VT.

  • James

    Probably discussed already, but has anyone noticed they already have their ‘branding’ sorted for everybody, should they win or get signed?

    Like the font and style for Grace’s name in her VT.

  • Does this mean Rak Su and Grace have ‘released’ the same number of originals in the live stages? Rak Su have had Mamcita, Dimelo and Mona Lisa; Grace has had Too Young, Hesitate and Wolves.

  • Best Grace performance for me… I liked that

    If she’d wrote that for Carrie Underwood I’d have it on repeat

  • Dazzle

    That would be a perfect winners single for Grace

  • Ben Cook

    Grace is back in the game. Very sympathetic VT, with a reminder of her audition song in the background, setting her up to sing it again next week. And best performance in the lives so far.

  • Martin

    Perfectly timed for Grace – great song, nice staging, good performance. Her vocals sound a little strained but I enjoyed the promise of hearing Roots again next week after we heard it at the auditions.

    Is it confirmed that we are having original winners singles, if it is indeed Grace and Rak Su? I’m Feelin You and Roots would be the obvious choices.

    • Isn’t Kevin a songwriter too or am I misremembering this from an earlier stage? They’ve certainly kept a lid on that with him if so.

      • Martin

        No you’re right, he has performed an original song at some point before the lives if I remember correctly.

        They haven’t let him perform his own material, but he is one of the only acts in the shows history to actually play an instrument each week, which is impressive.

    • Ben Cook

      I’ve a feeling we’ll get completely new songs for the winner’s singles – maybe co-written with somebody – now that I’m Feeling You was already done this week. Think it’d be a bit “oh not this one again” if they did it again in the final as their single.

      I expect Rak-Su will do “Mamacita” for their best of the series song and Grace “Roots” obvs.

  • splendidtom

    Lloyd and Rak-Su were both quite ‘end of journey’, I would like Cutkalvins to make it through, but I stand by Rak-su, Grace, Kevin being the nailed on finalists regardless.

  • Stoney

    Everyone getting a mention from the judges except Cuttys and Lloyd. Looks like another direct hit coming up.

  • Well there we have it from the judges. Who should go through (excluding their own act/s)?

    Louis: Rak Su
    Sharon: Rak Su
    Nicole: Rak Su
    Simon: Kevin and Grace

    Maybe they were just confident about Rak Su’s vote with the complacency inducing comments.

  • Phil

    No mention for Lloyd or the Cutkelvins from the judges then.

    Also chuckled earlier when Simon congratulated Rak-Su for doing their own thing and not being puppets, like so many other acts they’ve had. Cut to Lloyd.

  • Tom

    TCK and Lloyd to go.

  • India Marie

    Not a big fan of Ed’s new work but I still enjoy his live performances

  • Save Order:
    Rak Su
    Grace
    Kevin

    The order they want them to finish next week?

  • Martin

    Like clockwork!

    Is this the first final without the boys category in?

  • Tom

    Who would’ve thought Kevin would be in the final back in week 1?

    Staying at the studios? Shows how much the show has fallen.

    Oh, VOTE RAK-SU front and center, lol.

  • James

    So these buses, did they even have ones ready for Lloyd and TCK?

  • mousel chu

    they dont leave anything alone do they – even the order of the buses mirrors that finishing order

  • Martin

    That Rak Su bus hahaha. At least we got a long shot of Kevin wandering on to his bus on his own as an afterthought.

    Actually quite looking forward to next weeks final. Enjoyed Dermot referencing Helsinki last year. Saarabet, never forget.

  • Sagand

    Do you think the final will have an overnight vote? Or just a quick vote for third place on Saturday and a quick vote for the winner on Sunday?

  • Steve

    I think that was the most lacklustre X factor live show ever. Sharon sat there with the death mask look, only coming to life when she had to comment. Simon was unpleasant to Nicole. Last night Louis was effectively bullied with the booing. It has become a nasty cynical show.

  • India Marie

    Congratulations to Lloyd who can finally rest after having laryngitis! Please tell me they won’t bring back the “group songs”

  • Tom

    Imo the show has been way to short this year, in one weekend we have lost half of the people left. 4 people left last week, that would take a month in usual years. If TPTB were desperate for a Rak-Su win, would they have shortened the shows to help Rak-Su?

  • Stoney

    Good luck to everyone next weekend. Im off to lick my wounds.

  • India Marie

    People complain about the show’s manipulation but the regime of light-touch nudging led American Idol, at one point, to several WGWG winners in a row. Only when the show became more heavy-handed (during the Nicki/Mariah year, they made the live show girls overwhelmingly good) did they break that curse.

    • Amy Abramowitz

      They might have broken the curse, but they killed the show.

      No subsequent winner (or finalist) did anything chartwise. The last winner who made any noticeable impact was the prior season’s winner, Phillip Phillips.

      • India Marie

        That span created the show’s first genuine flop winner, though, in Lee DeWyze. The subsequent revamp that brought in Steven Tyler, J-Lo, and Jimmy Iovine made the next two, Scotty McCreery and PP, modest successes. imho it wasn’t just the heavy-handedness that destroyed Idol since, it was also the wrecked dynamic caused by Nicki and Mariah’s bickering and the poor choice of female winner.

  • Steve

    WGWG? What’s that ? Thanks!

  • Tpfkar

    Has there been a single elimination that wasn’t favourite after the performances? Feels it’s been very clinical with no real upsets along the way to the final.

  • Tim B

    Assuming Kevin finishes third, where does everyone think the bulk of his votes will go? The male rapping group or the female vocalist?

    Vote transfer is what lost it for Saara Aalto last year, and I’m just wondering if something similar could happen again.

    • Tom

      Think Kevin’s votes will go to Grace. Just can’t see them going to Rak-Su.

      • Alan

        Enough of Kevin’s votes went to RakSu in their last prize fight with Grace for RakSu to win. Can’t see final being any different. Although on paper I agree that I would think they’d be more likely to vote for Grace. In practice though it doesn’t seem to happen.

        • Tim B

          Hesitate was probably Grace’s weakest original song though (definitely in the live shows). She beat them when her song Too Young was stronger, and she’s already confirmed she’s doing Roots at some point next weekend, nicely set up in the VT tonight.

    • George

      Unlike Saara last year Rak-Su have won in a head-to-head. If they really want Rak-Su to win they will manage it (though I do think in a fair fight Grace would probably edge it). TPTB have been too on point this series to blow it in the final.

      • IF Rak-Su are ahead after the voting next Saturday night, and I do think they will be, it might depend on their margin of victory over Grace at that point. If it’s a Ben Haenow-type percentage (45%) or Louisa Johnson (44%), vote transfer will be largely irrelevant.

        But if it’s more like a Saara Aalto percentage (35%), then it’s game on for Grace. Potentially.

        • Sean

          There is also the idea of a “singer” with a ballad/emotional song(s) doing traditionally better in a final. There will be some first time voters and some that may not have voted since their favourite went out voting too. Are Rak Su gone too far ahead of Grace to win it?

          • Alan

            Grace beat Raksu in week 1 when she was given good treatment and a good slot. Three weeks later after continued pimping for Raksu and so-so treatment for her she lost to Raksu. TPTB will just continue in the same vein. Praise for Grace, ridiculous praise for RakSu.

            As a Grace backer I hope Im wrong but I just cant see it. The voters have followed TPTBs guidance every step of the way.

  • George

    By the way, with all the talk of this year being the year of originals, does anyone think they could revamp the show to make it a singer-songwriter competition? As a last throw of the dice.

  • Plinkiplonk

    They are already fishing in a tiny pool to get enough contestants; to stipulate you must write your own songs would make that even smaller and require even more manipulation – there are already reports that they had assistance with the song writing this year, this would need full-on ghost writing…

  • India Marie

    iTunes chart (Saturday, Sunday; old songs)

    Rak-Su (8, 4; 12-23-25-64)
    Grace (17, 6; 37-48-57-211)
    Kevin (24, 51; 125-150-155-250)
    Lloyd (59, 42; 118-128-253-257)
    TCK (120, . ; 334-1446-..)
    Matt (203, n/a; 273-517-1226-.)
    S&C (n/a, n/a; 864-…)

    all i can say is: XF missed the boat with the original material/iTunes combo. could have been done 5+/- years ago

  • 360

    I’m slightly intrigued as to whether Kevin could actually win. Presumably they’ll Candy and colour vomit him up, but even so, his vote has been surprisingly robust so far, and he’s running away with the DS ‘who do you want to win of the top 3’ poll.

    • David Cook

      Well Rak-su are leading the Tellymix poll. On the basis that they’re both usually wrong it looks like Grace has this in the bag.

    • Wizbit

      I’m certainly in the Kevin camp and believe he won’t be finishing third as most people seem to think. He was given nothing but praise at the weekend and was even bigged up by Ed Sheeran. He would be a worthy winner and give a bit of authenticity to a flagging brand. And should be get the full support of the show next weekend and go on to pull it out of the bag, the careers of Raksu and Grace could still be launched from second and third place. Of course, I’m biased having had a small each way bet at 66-1 after the first live show, but he’s brought his A-game every week, demonstrated he can actually put on a show rather than just sing a song and he’s incredibly likeable. He might be stitched up with a trip to the embassy, perhaps he’ll be stripped of his hat or his guitar, but i feel he’s gaining momentum all the time. Look at social media and people love him whereas there is a lot of split opinions over Grace, and I see Raksu as very mediocre and only a tiny bit better than the mess that were Rough Copy. Time will tell but at this stage I reckon Kev is being massively underrated.

      • Alan

        The same arguments were made for Saara last year. I don’t think they will throw Kevin under a bus but TPTB will know exactly what buttons to press to dampen his support.

        RakSu
        Grace
        Kevin

        That’s the order for me. Probably about 3-1 on though if not shorter.

        • Wizbit

          Fair point. But perhaps they don’t want to dampen his support. We saw all the signs last year throughout the series that Saara would not be wanted as a winner. I can’t recall anything like that for Kevin other than that ridiculous comment about his out-of-tune guitar. Other than that it’s all been particularly positive.

          • Ben Cook

            Kevin will not sell records. He is more of a The Voice kind of winner.

          • Wizbit

            I agree. But no winner of the show has sold huge numbers of records for years. So why not push a real artist to the win, let him have an album but invest in Raksu and Grace?Everyone’s a winner then and the final has a feelgood vibe to it that might just bring some viewers back next year.

          • Because one of the main critisims of the show is that the winners never do anything

            Kevin winning would not bring viewers back as it would likely be viewed as more of the same, guy wins… does nothing

            at least if Rak-Su or Grace win there is a greater chance of them being able to say the show can still find people who will make hit records.

            Also what is a ‘real’ artist?

            would you not call Stormzy a ‘real’ artist, for example?

            Art can come in many forms, one mans Tracey Emin is another mans Picasso, are you saying one of them isn’t ‘real’

          • Wizbit

            I’m just saying Kevin comes across as more credible than Raksu. Perhaps it’s because he plays an instrument and Raksu jump around a lot singing about fajitas. Or perhaps I’m just getting old and don’t get the youngsters with their new-fangled music. We’ll see. Either way, Kev has been building up a head of steam and has done far better than pretty much everybody on here called.

          • India Marie

            The show brandished its new “original” image and the winner becomes this dude whose USP is playing the electric guitar. A bit like appointing David Moyes as Manchester United boss.

            I think he was given a lot of room this weekend because TPTB were able to knock him down the week before, after two straight trips to the prize fight. Compare that to their treatment of Grace, positive yet tentative because she’s an actual threat to Project: Rak-Su

          • It sells, it always has, nothing newfangled about it

            15 years ago The Ketchup Song was number 1 all over Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ketchup_Song_(Aserej%C3%A9)

            The Food Song reache number two in the UK charts a year later.

            I’m sure you’re not that old to not rememeber liking those songs… going even further back there was The Macarena (ultimate cheese party anthem)

            depending on what day Grace was planning on singing Roots, I think Kevin may be able to pip her to 2nd

            if Grace sings Roots (a song I hate) on the Sunday, then it’s game on imo… as people seemed to like it. I don’t really get it, I know Blackburn is a dive but it’s hardly a struggle. When I think of a song called roots, i think about the struggle of black people, not a middle class girl from tut North

  • Alan

    On the subject of RakSu I don’t really get all the negative comparisons to previous groups. They’re head and shoulders better than anything there’s been before including Little Mix and JLS.

  • India Marie

    Kevin’s homecoming starts in London and not in Paris where The Voice rejected him

  • Piresistable

    Just caught up with last night’s show. Horribly predictable (unless you were betting at short odds on the outcome!).

    I’m surprised no mention has been made on here of the comparison Nicole drew between Grace’s song and Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” and One Republic’s “Counting Stars”. That sounded to me like TPTB wanted to put into the viewers’ thoughts that Grace was nicking her songs.

    • India Marie

      I heard the Counting Stars vibe during the performance, the animal in the background is also akin to OneRepublic’s album cover for Native. Surprised Nicole even pointed it out.

      I thought it was a nod at how current-ish but slightly derivative she is. Compared to the “groundbreaking” Rak-Su

      • Piresistable

        It sounded to me like it was one of those comments that on the face of it sounded helpful (as you say, current), but was made to plant a seed of doubt about her originality.

        • Alan

          The same thing crossed my mind but I thought it was probably just clumsy. If they wanted to pour a little cold water on Grace why not just criticise the staging or something like that? I don’t think they would undermine everything they have told us about Grace’s originality just for the sake of a minor deramp.

  • In 2012, James Arthur had the pimp slot in the semi and then won the final.
    In 2013, Sam Bailey had the pimp slot in the semi and then won the final.
    In 2014, Ben Haenow had the pimp slot in the semi and then won the final.
    In 2015, Louisa Johnson had the pimp slot in the semi and then won the final.

    In 2016, Saara Aalto had the pimp slot in the semi and it sort of felt like they wanted her to win the final.

    In 2017, Grace Davies had the pimp slot in the semi…is this a sign that they might be pushing her to win the final? as I’ve mentioned before, perhaps Grace’s winner’s single is more suitable as a charity record for December, or something like that.

    Rak-Su were on second, which is very odd running order position for the semi if they are indeed The Chosen Ones. Maybe they are just miles ahead in the voting regardless…

    • Nick

      ….also Simon said last night Grace’s performance was like a winner returning 😉
      But yes I think Rak are ahead on votes atm, unfortunately for us Grace backers.
      Roots is a “beautiful, beautiful song”…as Simon said . Its her joker in the pack for the final.

  • Anglia Chu

    I just learned that CNCO, guest performers in the XF final and collaborators with Little Mix in Reggaeton Lento, won in a Simon Cowell talent show.

    • Amy Abramowitz

      Was that not a widely known fact? Why else would they work with LM, if not to push them in the UK?

      Fun fact: simon’s Co-producer on the Latin boyband show was Ricky Martin.

  • Tom

    Perhaps Kevin’s week 4 treatment was to see how strong his vote was? If it wasn’t strong enough, he would go. If it was strong enough, then they would pimp him. It was strong enough.
    I still think Kevin will be third but I think he topped the vote both nights. It won’t take a lot to get him over Grace.

  • Tim B

    So…anyone want to take a guess at the duet partners?

    Kevin and Nicole?

  • Yolanda Cabrera

    Switched on my radio this morning.

    Commercial radio in Gibraltar. They started talking about how everyone should vote for Grace. They didn’t give any context or any reason, just that people should vote for Grace. Weird.

    Not saying it means anything, and even if the votes counted, the 3 or 4 thousand that came from here would be insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

    But gib is voting for Grace… Apparently.

    • Tim B

      Gilbraltar isn’t allowed to vote on The X Factor. You can try, but it doesn’t work.

    • JScouser2002

      Strange one this, I also live in Gibraltar. I haven’t heard anything of the sort.

      However what I do know is if anyone in Gibraltar opens the X Factor app, they get a notification when they click on vote saying “this app is for UK only.”

      So strange anyone would go on radio saying that, since we assume they would have tried to vote for Grace already and got same message.

  • Sean

    Buses: so they had the Rak Su bus on show, whose bus was first in line/was on show last year?

    I don’t think the producers want Kevin winning? I think they wouldn’t mind Grace winning but may prefer Rak Su. Though Saara was the fave going into the final last year while Matt was about 2/1 then it quickly reversed and Matt won.

    Grace’s weapon will be roots, duet partners will also be another booster depending on the pairing. Not sure if Rak Su have another original or what they could use as winners song?

    • Yolanda Cabrera

      Like I say, yeah weird. Most people do have UK VPNs around here so it’s easy enough to vote if you want to (of course I’ve franked my bets with a casual 5 votes here and there). I just thought it was weird as theyve never even mentioned Xfactor before and suddenly today they’re asking for people to vote for Grace.

      GBC probably has an audience of 3-4k so it’s not an audience that could have any influence. But if several other independent radio stations called upon its listeners..

    • Yolanda Cabrera

      Rak Su have Dimelo

      This was the song that turned them from challengers to front runners, and will be much more of a trigger than Grace’s Roots from her audition.

      Oh… You got my heart beating rapido…

  • Sagand

    I wonder if the lesson TPTB have taken from Saara is that a foreigner can’t win in a final when the casual audience is more likely to watch and vote. Would that explain why they have pushed Kevin so strongly with the aim of him finishing second to Rak Su. If they keep the format the same as last year the ‘song of the series’ will only be between the top two so they wouldn’t have to worry about a surge of votes for the Roots reprise. This might be the best path to get the winner they want (even if it isn’t the best narrative ending for the show that been far more about Grace and Rak Su than Kevin.)

Leave a Reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>