After a succession of audition episodes in which it felt to us like producers were just going through the motions, the attempt to make sense of this series was made even more difficult by a ridiculously rushed Six Chair Challenge. Acts were given little or no introduction, with very few reminders of first auditions, and virtually everyone was offered a seat, however temporarily.
Usually we go into judges’ houses having seen the acts three times – auditions, bootcamp and 6CC – and already with a pretty good sense of narrative around each act, and the likely pecking order. Not this year.
The series, and our comments section, briefly revived with a highly entertaining JHs episode for Simon Cowell’s girls category, where the music mogul arranged a whole room of luminaries for his wannabes, ending with Scarlett singing Diane Warren-penned ‘I Didn’t Know My Own Strength’ in front of Diane Warren. It may have been primarily about boosting Cowell’s ego by showing off the size of his Rolodex, but at least it was a new idea and fun to watch.
But with the other judges’ houses episodes, it was back to going through the motions again. It was disappointingly hard to discern much of TPTB’s usual amusingly playful psychological manipulation at this crucial stage of proceedings. Instead, it felt like mentors and their guests had been handed a random platitude generator.
As such, it feels like we would have precious little to go on if we were to indulge in the traditional pre-lives attempt to predict the finishing order. So we’re postponing for a week in the hope that we may be in for a 2011-style twist. It’s been mooted in the comments that producers might revisit the gimmick of having each mentor send home one from their category before starting the public vote only in the second week of lives. This makes sense to us for a few reasons:
- By our calculations, 16 acts over seven weeks of public votes would mean five double eliminations and a treble elimination if we’re to get to the traditional three-act final. By contrast, reducing the current 16 finalists to 12 this week would leave us with four double eliminations and one single, which feels more manageable.
- Peter Dickson closed Sunday’s show by booming that this week the acts will “sing live”, but not adding “for your votes”. As has been pointed out in the comments, ITV listings also don’t promise a vote.
- It would enable the clearing of some currently crowded niches, as noted below.
The first live show always shakes up expectations to some degree, but this year feels like far more of a crapshoot than usual. Here’s how we tentatively see each category at this stage.
Girls
Shan’s audition pimp slot, which propelled her to favouritism, felt the most like an alpha edit of any of the girls. Nothing happened at Simon’s LA pad to change that, though nor did this status feel as relentlessly hammered home as with some previous alpha girls, such as 2017’s Grace and 2015’s Louisa.
Bella’s distinctive personality also came in for plenty of praise, and she seems most likely to provide an “edgy” beta option. If there’s to be a 2011-style cull, Scarlett and Molly may be most likely to be battling to avoid it. Molly had a rather curt “yes” from Simon, and the makeovers at the end of Sunday’s episode showed her hair has been dyed a startling shade of grey. Fellow north-eastern 16-year-old Amelia Lily had her hair dyed pink before she was culled, albeit temporarily, in 2011. Perhaps it’s an omen.
Boys
Ant and Brendan have had most screen time, and both should benefit from strong regional support. Ant has his relationship with mentor Louis to create interest, and Brendan has probably been more praised than anyone so far for his vocals – somewhat surprsingly, as he isn’t obviously more commercially viable than the show’s long roll-call of previous male solo winners. You would think that both have a decent chance of reaching the business end of proceedings.
One demographic niche that looks crowded so far is the mid-20s-to-early-30s black male, with Dalton and Armstrong in this category, Olatunji in the overs and Misunderstood in the groups. Dalton was much the more impressive of the two boys at judges’ houses.
Groups
Misunderstood have had the best edit so far, and are favourites in the outright. But their judges’ houses edit also showed them saying people had been telling them for nine years to give up, and Robbie wondered aloud why it hadn’t happened for them, all of which presaged tabloid coverage of their previous tries on Simon Cowell shows. It’s arguably not the most obvious way to treat your Plan A.
A Star and Vibe Five could be anything really. Vibe Five feel like every boyband that has failed at X Factor, while it’s easy to imagine the show hoping A Star will do well – not least due to Cowell’s starring role in their creation – but history shows it can be an uphill struggle for young urban female acts to win public support. LMA Choir are currently looking like the most disposable act in the category.
Overs
In a weak-looking category, Janice will be trying to buck the trend of older black female acts who have often historically been among the first to leave, while the other three – Gio, Ola and Danny – are all fighting to occupy the crowded niche of older male entertainer.
Of the three, the show has so far invested most in the lachrymose Yorkshireman, while Ola appears to have the talent and likeability to potentially break out if he gets a chance to build up some momentum – his current odds of 40/1 could conceivably look big in a few weeks time, but he could also easily be culled if we’re in for a 2011 twist, or lost in the crowd if we’re in for a 16-act public vote.
What do you think of our speculations? Keep your thoughts coming below.
The producers are barking up the wrong tree with Bella. Overall sentiment to her is quite negative on social media at least – and her voice doesn’t appear to be anything special either.
Similarly with Brendan, his commentary was also rather negative with many suggesting he was a one-trick pony without much versatility. His price has actually drifted after JH.
No idea where, but it may be a year where a surprise frontrunner emerges (if the XF allows it, last year was controlled to the nth degree).
I agree with everything above.
I think ola may play a strangely pivotal role in this at the start, if misunderstood are not fake favs and actually plan A (which I dont think they are), they are fishing in similar vote pools. He is their missing member!
Doubt we’ll get a repeat of the 2011 twist exactly. Weve never had the exact sam twist.
2011 – each judge drops act
2012 – vote for 1amongst chosen 4 wildcard
2014 – judges choose wildcard for each other
2015 – wildcard chosen by producers
2017 – we vote in 4 wildcards
While some have been similar they all vary in some ways. Imo we could very well get a public vote but with the least votes act per category leaving. But at the same time with a twist like this they could want a surprised and a few upsets but again a week 1 could still give us some. This year rlly hasnt had too much clarity so we could be in for predictable results
I get the feeling we could certainly be getting a fairly large cull this weekend. I agree with others though that it may not necessarily be a direct repeat of the 2011 twist, not least because that got rather negative feedback at the time.
An idea I quite like (but I highly doubt they’ll do) is that each judge gets to save 1 of their own acts after the live performances. That leaves 12 to face the public vote. 6 go through, 6 go out. Dermot could even call them up in pairs for a slightly different results reveal, with one going through and one going home. They could possibly do a singoff between 6th and 7th in the vote on Sunday. That would mean a lot of the filler could be flushed out, leaving us with a much more manageable top 10 for the remaining 6 weeks. It wouldn’t have to be category balanced which gives the producers more flexibility, but because of the judge saves each judge would have at least 1 act in the top 10. Plus the saves would give them an opportunity to establish some Plan As going forwards.
I think they will have mix twist this week.
16 to 12, each judge cut one act per category OR they eliminated bottom two on Saturday flashvote and cut two more in Sing-off result. If they eliminated bottom 4 votes, one category can lost all acts in one week
12 to 10, 10 to 8, 8 to 6 they can have flash vote style like 2013
6 to 5
5 to 3 like last year semis
finale with 3 people
Blimey has X Factor been going on for several weeks? I genuinely hadn’t noticed. Either I’ve not been paying attention or this show is getting a fraction of the reach it did.
Doesn’t sound like it’s been a classic series so far. I reckon the 2011 cull was about taking no risks with 2 Shoes where a band-member was pregnant (similar approach later on with Miss Dynamix as well.) So I reckon they’d only go with this if there’s an act who simply had to be eliminated in week 1.
Good punting everyone.
Strange that there has been absolutely no word on how the live shows will work so far. Feels like they maybe don’t even know themselves yet. The voting terms page just says “Coming Soon…”
You wouldn’t even know the live shows started this weekend if you hadn’t watched on Sunday just gone.
The Sun says this morning sing-off is back
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/7519920/simon-cowell-x-factor-live-shows-shake-up/
Getting rid of 4 first week could work, but I think double eliminations every week could work too, and then a triple in the semi.
Thanks Ben….much better to go back to sing offs than the garbage of last year.Also make betting a bit easier 🙂
Not song list reveal yet. What is going on. Hope this isnt going to be a regular occurrence.
Anthony Russel 9/2 top boy looks a great price. Perhaps the bet of the series.
Apparently misunderstood on first tonight, with a 10 minute strictly crossover.
Fascinates me how people still think there is a strictly crossover. The viewing figures stay the same regardless.
I think there’s probably still a small crossover although given how long they usually take to get going on the first live show by the time Misunderstood actually perform (presuming they are on first) Strictly will probably be ending anyway.
In a nut shell the strictly viewers stopped watching x factor years ago. Since x factor dropped to 5 million the amount of crossover viewers would be minimal.
No, a considerable number of people still watch both. We’ve seen breakdowns of how the ratings go up when there is no clash. Yes, it is less of a deal than it used to be.
GIRLS
Bella Penfold – Beneath Your Beautiful – Labrinth and Emeli Sande (w/ original rap)
Molly Scott – Fake Love – BTS
Scarlett Lee – Natural Woman – Aretha Franklin
Shan Ako – Imagine – John Lennon
GROUPS
Acacia & Aaliyah – Finesse – Bruno Mars
LMA Choir – Circle of Life – Lion King
Misunderstood – Chewing Gum – Original
United Vibe – Slow Hands – Niall Horan
OVERS
Danny Tetley – Hero – Mariah Carey
Giovanni Spano – Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting – Elton John
Janice Robinson – Clarity – Zedd ft Foxes
Olatunji Yearwood – Jiggle It – Original
BOYS
Anthony Russell – Issues – Julia Michaels
Armstrong Martins – Story of My Life – One Direction (w/ original rap)
Brendan Murray – Break Free – Ariana Grande
Dalton Harris – Life of Mars – David Bowie
Song choices aren’t that great. Molly singing her judges house song again? And Anthony reprising last yrs audition song. According to tellmix there will be a public vote but no confirmation of how just yey
I wonder if Molly’s song is a late change, hence she’s reverting to her Judge’s Houses song? If the running order is right, having Misunderstood opening the show with an original is an interesting one – especially as I presume that’s an uptempo number and there seem to be quite a few slow numbers in the mix which could make the show drag a bit.
Again this is based on the rumoured running order but Janice going third between Shan and Brendan, two acts which have been treated well so far, rings alarm bells for me and I wouldn’t call Clarity a great choice for her.
I thought the opposite tbh. her being in an early slots with all the current alphas could be a good sign. shes grouped with misunderstood shan and brendan that must be a good sign. consider her week 1 pimp in the auditions they might want her as a an aplha. surely shed poll bttr than giovanni atleast. i do agree shes not gonna be a strong poller but her being grouped with these acts could be a positive.
janice has shown she could be a more uptempo act so clarity could do well for her like dani im in x factor australia
if we look at the last 16 we had. in 2014 both stephanie and overload had early slots with electrica later on. 2016s brotavio also had a 9th spot out of 11 so giovannis late slot will most likely end up with the first elimination. i could also see LMA choir in danger. i cant call the third. janice, bella and armstrong possibly even maybe dalton
Going through by category:
Fake Love isn’t in English so how on earth is Molly going to sing that?? Feels like it might be an attempted burial of her in an attempt to get Bella to fly, or else just testing the waters.
For groups United Vibe have the short straw I’d say. A romantic and quite sexy song to be sung by a group is always a bit awkward, and they’ve had a name change too. The choir are being given a week’s grace with that family-friendly pick and maybe a chance to test their vote.
Giovanni, who I don’t even remember, I would say has the dud pick from the overs.
Boys, hard to tell, all fairly safe. I feel like Life on Mars has been a poison chalice on the show in the past though, a rap is also a bit of a red flag. Break Free also sounds like the kind of pick to put him in a box, having heard that song it feels like a girl’s song/almost gay anthem. Is he going to be more a Johnny Robinson than a Jahmene?
In any case, ringfenced for safety:
Shan
Misunderstood
Anthony
All others, bit of a free for all with some given more help and chance than others for this first show.
There is an English version of Fake Love, which she already sang at Judges Houses
Does anyone know how many acts are going this weekend? Is it one from each category or just two overall?
Who do people think will leave if it’s one from each category or if 2 overall leaving?
Hi all, you have done a good job to lay out the scene Daniel.
It is difficult to know how all this will pan out and to even consider how it might even for Sofabet regulars but there will be winners and losers so money to be made hopefully.
The focus tonight I reckon will be on the judges for first live shows so it will be interesting to see if the script used.
Will be watching tonight and observing what happens and as always good luck to all here on Sofabet.
Coffin slot. Red & black. Original song.
Got a feeling it could be a “build misunderstood to victory” series this year.
Already referenced being the bookies favourite & future pop stars – it’s like we should all think they’re great haha
God… Anthony Russell really isn’t great. You can write him off immediately
I’ve no idea what he’s doing there. He seems like a lovely guy, but he screams mediocrity.
Voting terms
Each week, at the discretion of the Promoter or the Programme’s producer:
the act with the lowest number of votes will be eliminated from the competition; and the two (2) or more acts with the next lowest number of votes will sing-off and face the judges to decide which of the two acts goes through to the subsequent week’s competition; and If there is “deadlock” on the show where the judges are tied on an elimination vote then the result will be determined by the public vote for the tied contestant(s) for that weekend. If the vote results in a further tie, the judges will decide on the result and their decision is final. In each case, 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.
At their discretion the Programme producers may hold an in-App lifeline vote or other in-App interactivity where they wish to use a further vote result to determine who may take part in a sing-off. Such additional voting may involve three (3) or more acts with the lowest number of votes in the public vote going into a further App-only vote to determine which two (2) acts will take part in the sing-off.
The Programme producers and/or judges may in their sole discretion reintroduce an act seen in the earlier stages of the competition, which was previously eliminated by the judges.
I love Danny Tetley. Reckon he might do a Maloney.
Brendan is absolutely awful. Zero star potential.
This so much. I struggle to see how he’s the alpha in the boys. That voice is already getting boring and it’s only week one!
Armstrong – WTF was that?
If he hadn’t done a One Direction song and had Louis as a mentor, I’m not sure where his votes would come from.
Looks like they’ve finally managed to cast another Wagner in Gio after years of trying…
Why are they being given a minute to sing?
They’re getting about 1.45 which is a bit less than they normally get. I suppose it’s a squeeze to fit 16 in. Hopefully they’ll be back over 2 minutes next week.
They used to only get about 1.10 in the Idol days, that was brutal!
Lots of cringey performances so far. Seems I was right about Gio being a joke act. Shan the best so far.
This can not have another series left in it. I cant be the only one who finds tonight’s show the biggest pile of shit ive ever seen. Even the better singers from the pack are pretty bang average.
I actually really enjoyed the show tonight. The talent is as good as any other year and the panel and the whole thing sort of came together after a ropey start to the series.
Shan and Dalton are in another league for me. It’ll be them and Misunderstood in the final I reckon.
“Scousers – mobilise!”
Robbie is playing a blinder tonight.
Another warning sign against Anthony? Can’t even remember if Liverpool was mentioned in his VT and he’s probably the most forgettable of all the acts tonight.
I’ve enjoyed tonight’s show but it’s almost got the opposite problem of Dancing on Ice’s launch this year – instead of too much padding the show has no time to breathe and have interaction between the judge’s, the acts and Dermot. It’s very regimented.
Whoa, how prominent are the backing vocals for A&A!! Not even sure if they’re doing any of the singing?
Two to go, same format as before – bottom act to go with a sing off between second and third from bottom.
Be better off having 15 go tomorrow crowning a winner and ending the show for good. Seriously is anyone actually bothered how many go tomorrow? However many will not be enough.
Been a big fan of watching/gambling on the show over the years. But tonight felt like a funeral for the show.
By the end I’d forgotten the first 4 acts. Show was far too long. I lost the will to live half way through
I lasted as far as Molly Scott then switched off. Too many acts and a lack of sofabet activity are making it hard for me to get interested in it.
That was dreadful. No one other than Bella Penfold were even slightly decent. Does the contract end this year or in 2019?
The contract ends after 2019.
I’ll be blunt, when even Digital Spy isn’t calling it “the worst show ever” it must have been a reasonable evening for most!
I think the melodrama over the quality of the show on here is simply because the producer’s intentions are not so clear this year, meaning none of us can spout off looking clever when actually it’s pretty obvious… indeed, so obvious that even the public as a whole could see what’s happening helping to hurt the show even further.
This time around they gave most of the acts a fair shot and will be seeing who lands up where in the vote. I had to laugh when Dalton got red-and-black’d from the pimp slot, with a cage of lighting over his head and plenty of long range shots before receiving a lot of praise from the judges – it’s as though the show was sticking two fingers up at us who try to read signals and maybe it’s time they did.
Completely agree with you. Other than being a bit long, it was a good show.
On this, it’s probably worth mentioning that the producers themselves have changed a bit this year. Mark Sidaway, who has produced the show since 2007 (and exec producer since 2011) seems to have left and has not been involved this year. Richard Holloway (who has been an exec producer since series 1) left last year so is also no longer involved (although he wasn’t involved with last year’s lives either, he left after the pre-recorded stages were filmed). There seem to be a few new names listed as producers in the credits whilst it’s now headed up by BGT’s Amelia Brown and Nigel Hall (who has been there since the start). The creative directors seem to be new as well with no Brian Friedman in sight.
So it might be a case of looking for different things or simply that some of the producers involved with previous manipulation are no longer working on the show. Worth bearing in mind I think.
So has Shan got this wrapped up after week 1? Into 7/4 fav, good styling. Much better than the other supposed alphas
Rating on performance for tonight
1. Shan
2. Dalton
3. Danny
4. Scarlett
5. Misunderstood
6. Molly
7. LMA choir
8. Bella
9. Janice
10. Brendan
11. Vibe 5
12. Armstrong
13. Aliyah and acacia
14. Otlanji
15. Anthony
16. Giovanni
My thoughts having seen the performances:
Acacia and Aaliyah a fairly clear cut bottom of the pack. Who will be voting for them? Janice nobbled too but tried her hardest to sing over a track with an instrumental chorus that didn’t let her use any of her voice and didn’t at all play to her strengths – while dressed in an odd outfit.
Both assumed alpha boys Brendan and Anthony disappointing and to me, actively offputting. Anthony couldn’t hold a tune and was stretched vocally even on that not-demanding song, and Brendan’s voice is odd, plus he does a piano version of an upbeat. Very Ella Henderson when she was on the show it reminded me of. Value to lay either of these I would say.
The choir has one very good singer. I wonder if this will be an attempted launchpad for her.
After that fluff up with the performance, Danny should see a hefty sympathy vote.
Gio as the joke act should be home and dry in week 1.
All of the girls were actually very strong and should all be safe this week. I wonder if this season everyone will be nobbled in favour of them, like in Little Mix’s year. Bella stood out as unexpectedly good this week – was she being kept under a bushel like Fleur East, or was a number of acts nobbled this week to make her seem better?
SAFE:
Shan
Misunderstood
Brendan (Irish regional vote)
Danny
Scarlett
LIKELY SAFE:
Molly
Bella
LMA Choir
Gio
Olatunji
Anthony
Dalton
IN DANGER:
Janice
United Vibe
Armstrong
NO CHANCE:
Acacia and Aaliyah
i haven’t seen much of the show this year, most of the top sixteen are new to me apart from scarlett (who was looking very lauren murray last night, never forget).
it seemed a very even show. mostly positives, and the negatives were valid so shouldn’t cause too much upset. i thought the judges came together well, they really worked. as somebody else pointed out, with a new team and failing ratings, the objective seemed to be to throw the cards and let them fall where they may.
the most memorable for me were janice – not classically vote-grabbing but the song she had is excellent (although i’m not sure it works on a talent show), her outfit was striking and memorable if a bit odd, and her emotional response to the feedback should get her through this week. she will be divisive, but at this stage that is better than being forgotten.
mollie was VERY cher lloyd. her arrangement was far too on-the-nose, message wise, for my liking but i think she will have a dedicated yet limited vote base. enough to see her through to the latter stages but not enough to win.
shan was the standout for me. her presentation as a contestant and the staging reminded me a little of jade ellis, but her actual performance was stunning. i think she’ll get a lot of votes – her personality as nice, kind, unthreatening etc was played up a lot. wouldn’t be surprised to see her finish second, after danny.
thought that dalton was interesting. life on mars as a pimp slot, echoing seann miley moore from the first show of his year. simon pissed on his chips a little bit, but that seemed to be his role this week.
scarlett was an odd one. her performance was ordinary af, but it will tick some boxes for a lot of viewers. interesting, her reaction to simon criticising her. that didn’t end well for emily middlemas. that seemed to say to me, from simon – “shit, she’s good, that will get votes. i don’t want to be stuck with her” and so he dreamed up some nonsense to put a pin in the positivity.
the two young girls were awful and got the worst feedback. would seem reasonable to assume they will be in trouble. i think the bts song will have saved bella, as will the 1d song and louis saving whoever sang that mess. similarly, slow hands did the new boy and a lot of favours. those two seemed to have a lot of response on twitter. whether it translates to votes is another question.
elsewhere, i wouldn’t be shocked to see anthony in danger, did not live up to any hype, nor would i be surprised to see brendan down there. the guy over who did his own song was also rather underwhelming and i can’t remember the others.
Not sure about anyone else but the ones who – during the recap – I though “oh yeah, forgot about them” were Molly and United Vibe.
The ones I’ve been keen to watch again this morning were Bella, Janice and Dalton. LMA Choir were impressive, but mainly due to the girl who took the lead.
My own gut feeling is Molly, United Vibe, Gio and Armstrong are towards the bottom of the voting, with LMA Choir, Dalton and Shan up at the top.
Have just rewatched the show this morning and this really is a difficult one to draw a line through.
The first thing to note is that the format if the show and elimination (vote and sing off) at this stage will see a good opportunity for vote testing and requirements for the win by tptb. Saying that I wouldn’t be to concerned about the treatment of some of the alphas this week. Some poor song choices and bad staging.
Theres seemed to me that there was a lot of “moment” giving and final makeover reveal early on for a few acts to maybe start them at the top and see them worsen as the shows move on (scarlett). Also the use of being negative towards an act to directly compare them to another without naming (Telling A and A that they should stick to rapping and not singing, whereas bella turned up and did both without critiscism when known for rapping. Gio wanting to break from his west end line up and then LMA turning up with a “Lead” singer and the camera focussing on gio).
Robbie and his vote calling also seemed targeted to control a vote early on, asking for the ‘scousers to mobilise’ for LMA and not for Anthony. Trying to push the girl vote for Vibe 5 and not for brendan.
Its a difficult one to call.
Splitting the pack into 2 to take into next weeks show for analysis might be the way to go…
May win
Brendan
Shan
Misunderstood
Bella
Molly
Vibe 5
And the rest in a disposable group, to give tptb 4ish shows to shape the win. Timed right maybe even with a sympathy bounce to the win in the final.
The most interesting to keep an eye on at the moment at a price is Vibe 5. Positive VT,attempting to introduce by name and at times what seemed like a polished vocal backing track (ie a bit of lip synching from the boys).
Sticking by my original, but swapping Vibe 5 into the final 3.
Looking forward to seeing who Dan is picking for the win.
i agree with what you said about united vibe, juan. the performance seemed pitched perfectly to give them something to work on going forward, but also it supported them where needed with a really positive song choice for their demo, some simple staging and lots of vocal support. they look great together, one or two of them can sjng and the whole young girls vote was signposted. the choreography and styling were criticised and those are things that they can build on. i think tptb would like to make them work, but they are nowhere near as heavy handed as they were with the octoband a few years ago.
It’s difficult to predict the outcome for this show, but if I had to:
In danger – Janice (there’s no way she’s not bottom 3), Armstrong, Anthony
Could slip down – Molly, United Vibe, A&A, Gio
Somewhere in between – Brendan, Misunderstood, Scarlett, Olatunji, Danny
Pimped beyond belief – Shan, Dalton, Bella, LMA choir
i think Simon would ideally like Bella Penfold to win but i can’t see the public playing ball.
What was that all about with the name mix up just before Danny went on. Not only did it say Anthony’s name but it sang the first word of his song. How embarrasing. 4.5 million average viewers last night. Difficult to see it getting more than next week after last night’s horror show.
Thankfully ive concentrated on strictly for my lump sum this autumn. Ill probably wait for misunderstood to come back down in price and get my stake back.
It really wasn’t a horror show. With 16 acts there’s always a few ropey performances but overall they didn’t do a bad job, and there were a handful of really good ones. The talent is no worse than it is usually is.
Show went on for too long. It was a huge mistake to put 16 acts through when the talent pool is pretty much bone dry.
Last night was as far as I know the lowest ever viewing figures for a live show. They should have got rid of 4 this weekend. Next weekend there will be 12 and it will still be strung out and they may drop below 4 million.
I agree it should’ve just been 12.
Looking at current elimination odds it’s Janice, Armstrong and Giovanni in the bottom 3. Armstrong without Louis as his mentor and without singing a 1D song would deserve to be there but I think those factors should see him safe. Janice will be near the bottom unfortunately, it wasn’t the right song for her but favourite for elimination is a bit short. Gio might just be different enough to avoid going home considering how fine the margins will be in a 16 act field.
The value for me is A&A who are 20/1 for first elimination. I can come up with vote motivation reasons for every other act, no matter how small, but I don’t see who that performance appeals to at all.
I absolutely agree. Hard to see who votes for them. Ive jumped on the 16/1. Their price is crashing on betfair.
That short haired girl has some serious attitude.
Looking at the viewing figures I’d wave a warning flag at Misunderstood which would have been unthinkable this time yesterday – but the show rated lower when it was against Strictly and both them and Anthony were thrown under the dancing bus (if viewers switched over during the Strictly recap then Anthony would have been seen but that was hardly a positive in itself).
Along the same lines, as said abive, surely Acacia and Aaliyah are toast? Awful staging, bad song choice, the judges comments were bland rather than a full out attack on the mentor (unlike 2012 when they pulled Union J out of a tuneless hole in week one) and performed very late on, again as viewers started to drift away.
Janice performed when the show was at it’s peak and got enough positivity for me to think she avoided the bottom three. My call at the moment:
Eliminated bottom of vote: Acacia and Aaliyah
Sing off: Anthony v Misunderstood
Eliminated after Sing off: Anthony
That’ll clear the field for Bella in terms of the sing/rap approach (I expect Armstrong to leave very soon too – he could replace Anthony or Misunderstood in the bottom three and if so I’d expect the show to ditch him) and keep the categories relatively balanced. As asked before in relation to Misunderstood, why would they push Rak Su mark II when the original has struggled to take off?
Misunderstood will be comfortably mid pack. What would the strictly crossover be. 500 thousand viewers maximum. Back in the day when X factor has 8-10 million viewers there would have been a sizeable crossover.
Miss understood have enough in the tank from coverage so far to be at least mid pack in the voting. No way are they in danger. Plenty of money to be made if you believe they are. Likewise Anthony Russel.
What I will say about missunderstood is they are definately not plan A. Simon questioned their vocal last night. That was the giveaway.
Difference was 2m between the start of the show and twenty minutes later. It wasn’t just the place in the show; it was the treatment as well – nothing about the judge’s comments elicited a popularity or a sympathy vote, the colour of the staging for Misunderstood made me think of Bratavio in 2015 with a lot of garish pink and green whilst the flashing lights at the back made me call Saara’s treatment during Let It Go a year later, if not quite so in-your-face.
They may avoid the sing off; I just don’t think they’re quite as safe as it may appear.
I can understand points about not wanting to push them due to Raksu. But surely this show needs them in it until the end. Im hoping last night was a curveball. The treatment was bizzare.
Chewing gum as a song is pretty awful and id expect them to come back much stronger next week.
Stoney, out of curiosity, who are you on for the strictly win?
Stacey Dooley. Backed her from the start.
Joe Sugg for top man.
Took 8s originally but have been backing her right down to 5/2
2 pearlers there, think you’ll do well with those.
Im a little concerned with Joe Suggs online following. Just hope he doesn’t go all the way. Aside from that yes it should be a nice earner.
Stacey winning with Joe last man standing would be my perfect Christmas present.
Just looked at YT views and Gio is well below everyone else at 68k (all others above 100k) I don’t know if this is a sign he’ll be bottom of the vote or not but there’s definitely not a lot of support for him.
If she’s bottom three but not last, I reckon I can guess what Janice’s sing-off song will be…
Did you dream it?
Interesting they cut Armstrong’s god awful rapping out of the recap – trying to pull him out of the bottom three?
I reckon Gio to go and Janice and A+A in the sing off.
Armstrong Janice and otlunji no surprise there
Armstrong I thought might fall down there. I completely forgot about Olatunji so there was a warning sign there! Devastated about Janice but maybe I let personal feelings take over there – others did see that coming. I hope she survives the sing off.
Have to say, A&A managing fourth from bottom is VERY surprising to me.
Janice and Armstrong not surprised to see down here though, two I called from my list, and the boyband probably not far off either. Would expect Armstrong to go now for category balance’s sake and Janice to be killed off next week or softened up and then taken out week 3.
That was all a bit weird, I thought Janice was going.
Louis gave it away in his comments that Armstrong was a gonna.
Funnily enough, Joe McElderry’s winners single was the exact song I had in mind!
No way Simon would eliminate two of Aydas acts in week one…
Wouldn’t exactly endorse choosing her. Deadwood gone tonight anyway… a long way until the business end! My moneys in Dalton’s camp…
Well I got two of the bottom 3 right, not too bad. In hindsight, I suppose Misunderstood took all the votes Ola would have had in theory.
Everything seems to be pointing for Janice to bounce next week. Simon saying to go back to dreamer and next week being guilty pleasures wouldn’t be surprising. The biggest surprised for tonight was robbies category being all safe both vibe 5 and A and A were not far off and are most likely in danger next week. If Janice bounces id say gios in danger. The three remaining boys r looking very strong. The girls r looking quite good to. Bella r Shan r looking very safe can’t see Molly or Scarlett dropping till week 3 atleast