TV classics - Home and Away

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

SOME people may often forget that it was Channel Seven that launched the concept of soap in Australia.  The nostalgic Sons & Daughters started it all in 1982 and then it launched Neighbours three years later.  The latter wasn’t a success and defected to rivals Channel Ten the following year and became so successful that Seven decided to get its own back. Thus, Home and Away was born in 1988.

     Set in Summer Bay; a fictional seaside town on the coast of Melbourne, the concept behind the show was to aim it towards a family audience compared to Neighbours, which was targeted more at just the youth.  Early episodes largely focused on the Fletcher family, Tom (Roger Oakley), Pippa (Debra Lawrance) and their adoptive daughter Sally (Kate Ritchie) along with the Stewart couple of Alf (Ray Meagher) and Alisa (Judy Nunn).

START: A young Dannii Minogue made her breakthrough in Home & Away

     This initial plan didn’t really work and soon enough, the show extended towards other residents, along with the local businesses.  Several people got their big break through the show, including Dannii Minogue and the late Heath Ledger.  During the nineties, popular new characters came in, including Shannon Reed (Isla Fisher), Angel Parrish (Melissa George), Shane Parrish (Dieter Brummer), Marilyn Chambers (Emily Symons) and Fisher (Norman Coburn).

     Home and Away made its arrival onto British television in 1990 with ITV broadcasting the soap after the BBC turned down the rights to concentrate on funding for Neighbours.  Together with popular quiz show Blockbusters, with the ITN News sandwiched in-between, ITV had finally created a combination to take on the BBC on weekday teatimes.

     Going into the new millennium and Home and Away started a severe decline Down Under.  Constantly being thrashed in the ratings by Neighbours, it was criticised for trying to copy Ramsay Street’s way of storylines and then taking it over the top.  Meanwhile, it was rocked even further in January 2000 with the news that ITV wouldn’t be renewing its contract in order to fund for more original daytime programmes, namely a revival of the classic soap Crossroads.  Channel 5 duly picked up the rights, beating off stiff competition from Channel 4 and Sky.  However, due to legal documentation which I won’t go into, it would not return to UK screens until July 2001.  In the ten years that it has aired, Channel 5 has done a remarkable job to now only lie a few weeks behind Australian transmission.

     Over in Australia, Seven ordered a facelift of the show in 2004, but denied it was a “last chance” revamp.  Some of the sets were given neat makeovers, a whole host of new faces came in and the show switched into a new picture format, giving it a film-like effect that was being demonstrated in British soaps Hollyoaks and Doctors.  Bevan Lee, who was serving as series producer at the time of the revamp, left but decided to stay on until the end of the 2004 season to allow a strong transition into new producer Dan Bennett.  Bennett built on the wide praise from the 2004 relaunch, by continuing to dramatically extend the cast and commission storylines and plots that Home and Away had never touched before.  By now, the soap was being targeted to youngsters, with the arrival of popular teen characters such as Ric Dalby (Mark Furze), Cassie Turner (Sharni Vinson), Lucas Holden (Rhys Wakefield) and Matilda Hunter (Indiana Evans).

     One element that makes Home and Away standout from any other soap is disasters.  During the two and a bit decades it has been on the air, there has been an earthquake, a landslide, a hurricane, a cyclone, several fires, a helicopter disaster which left many characters stranded in a remote forest for over a month and countless car crashes.  It’s no wonder why Inside Soap magazine has labelled Summer Bay as soap’s most dangerous town!

     The murder of corrupt mayor Josh West (Daniel Collopy) in 2006 signalled change of direction in Home and Away.  Despite still being broadcast in a 7pm slot on Seven, and 6pm on Channel 5, more darker and grittier storylines were rolled out which included a continuing storyline the previous year of Eve Jacobson (Emily Perry).  Eve was a possessed stalker who coming back from the dead to enact revenge in blowing up the reception building at the wedding between Jack Holden (Paul O’Brien) and Martha Mackenzie (Jodi Gordon), leaving everyone’s lives at risk.  The end of the 2006 saw gangster Johnny Cooper (Callan Mulvey) begin to terrorise the town in a two-year period, during which Sally Fletcher was hospitalised twice for being stabbed.

     Despite these shock twists, it made compelling viewing and by now Home and Away was miles ahead of Neighbours in Australia and was often picking up awards for it.  The show’s 20th anniversary in 2008 promised a nostalgic element to the show throughout the year.  It also though saw the departure of many popular characters, especially the farewell of Sally, who left to travel the world.  Although new faces came in, many would argue that they would have a lot of work to do to better the class that began in 1988 and came in through the 2000s revival of what seemed to be a dying format.

STRONG: Home and Away still has a good following of fans

     Recently, the show has returned to its roots and although still features the odd dramatic element now and again; it has now taken a lighter and pleasurable approach.  Its reception in both Australia and the UK remains good and I predict that Home and Away should still be on everyone’s screens for many years to come.

Cheryl Cole - Is her career over?

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

THREE weeks ago, Cheryl Cole seemed to be on top of the world.  Now, not just her dream job in the US has been taken away, so now could her career.

DROPPED: Cheryl Cole's dream is conquer America is over

     Reports last Wednesday suggested that there was some unrest on The X-Factor USA judging panel and Fox hinted if things couldn’t be solved, action would be taken.  Then on Thursday morning, news filtered through in Britain that Cheryl had been fired, despite Simon Cowell’s willingness to keep her onboard.  The overall consent from the American media is simple; they just can’t understand her strong Newcastle accent, a reason that had been clearly dismissed furiously by the British public.

     A reshuffle will now take place within the programme.  Nicole Scherzinger is now expected to move from her presenting role onto the judging panel leaving Steve Jones to host as sole anchor.  This is certainly the best solution as Scherzinger did make a great impression when guest judging on last year’s UK series of the show.

     As for Cole she has returned home to Britain after just a 20-day stint in the Atlantic.  Her career is now in complete jeopardy, despite receiving the backing from JLS and Dannii Minogue.  Of course, there is the simple method of rejoining the UK version of the show.  That is unlikely, with auditions due to begin in Birmingham this week and it is almost certain now that Kelly Rowland and Tulisa from N-Dubz will join Gary Barlow and Louis Walsh on the judging table.  It wouldn’t be feasible for Cheryl to rejoin the programme because ITV would have to put filming of the programme on delay again.  They already had to do that when Minogue left a fortnight ago, which led to Simon Cowell calling a crisis meeting.  Her solo music career seems to have stalled and with a lack of communication with Girls Aloud, is this is the end of Cheryl Cole?

     It seems hard to accept indeed but sadly it seems to be that way for “The Nation’s Sweetheart.”  Having shot to fame in 2002 when selected to be in the line-up of Girls Aloud through the ITV talent show ‘Popstars: The Rivals,’ everything Cole touched from then seemed to turn to gold.  A turbulent four year marriage to Chelsea footballer Ashley Cole saw the public see her in a new light and a role on X-Factor soon beckoned.  There was a swing in popularity last year through a dismal series of X-Factor, which included refusing to send one of her acts home in a final sing-off in November, plus her near-fatal battle with malaria.

     Either way, it’s hard to argue that Cheryl has had a glittering level of success.  However, the ultimate question now is, is her career over?  Unless ITV hand her a remarkable and impossible lifeline, then unfortunately, the answer is yes.

X-Factor crumbles as Minogue is axed

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

THE future of The X-Factor was thrown in turmoil on Sunday following the shock departure of Judge Dannii Minogue.  As many of the show’s followers were enjoying last Saturday’s Eurovision Song Contest, a statement on behalf of Minogue’s publicist was published:-

     “Following discussions over the scheduling of this year’s series of The X-Factor, it is with deep regret that Dannii has to resign from her role as a judge.  This is because the scheduled audition dates for the show clash with that of Australia’s Got Talent and it would be inappropriate to travel back and forth to the venues on both sides.”

AXED: Dannii Minogue won't be returning to defend her title

     However, 48 hours later, the British press broke the story that this claim was false and that she had actually been axed by ITV in an attempt to give the show a fresh new look when it returns in August.  Neither ITV nor Talkback Thames, who co-produce the show with Simon Cowell’s production company Syco TV, has commented on the speculation.  Back in 2009, Minogue was on the verge of being given the chop in very similar circumstances and only got back in because no one else was interested in the judging role at the time.

     This now leaves Louis Walsh as the only member of the judging panel left with Cowell having limited his role due to his ongoing commitments in the US version of the show with it still being unclear as to whether he will judge a portion of the show at all.  Cheryl Cole quit last month due to growing pressure from unhappy viewers and having landed a role on the American counterpart.

     The opening round of auditions have now been postponed until a later date as bosses urgently meet to try and save the show from impending doom.  With Take That’s Gary Barlow having all but confirmed his place on the panel, attention will now turn to whoever will fill the final two places.  The latest rumours are that they will go to R&B singer Kelly Rowland and N-Dubz member Tulisa.  These moves could anger fans even more as it may be considered they don’t have the credentials to judge a show like this.  The original two favourites for the roles, Lily Allen and Alisha Dixon have now both dropped out of the running.  Allen has claimed that she has not been approached and Dixon, as expected, committed to her role on rival show Strictly Come Dancing.

     With both American Idol and Britain’s Got Talent having suffered from alarming declines in viewers, this is the last thing ITV needs but if they engineered the axe, then it is their own damn fault!  With many furious fans set to turn off in their drones, this latest scandal could spark the beginning of the end for The X-Factor.

Cardle's Christmas gets even better

NO.1: Album cover

JUST over a week after winning the X-Factor, Matt Cardle’s Christmas has got even better, after he was officially crowned as the winner of the Christmas No.1 on Sunday night.  Cardle’s winners single, his rendition of Biffy Clyro’s massive hit ‘Many Faces of Horror,’ which he titled ‘When we Collide,’ held off challenges from protest campaigns on Facebook about X-Factor’s domination of the coveted prize.

Other competitors included a hit from Rihanna, one of Cardle’s closest friends with ‘What’s My Name,’ which finished in second place and John Cage’s protest against Simon Cowell, known as ‘Cage against the Machine.’  Their idea was to record a 4min 33sec song of complete silence and was supported by bands such as Madness, The Kooks and Pendulum.  In the end, it didn’t launch a serious threat to the final outcome. 

FORMIDABLE: Matt with his mentor, Dannii Minogue

17.2million viewers watched Matt, 27, the former decorator from Colchester overcome Rebecca Ferguson and One Direction in last Sunday’s final.  Mentored by Australian Dannii Minogue, he was the red-hot favourite to win the ITV talent show for a large proportion of the show, highlighted by the fact that he topped the phone votes on nine of the ten live show weeks.  Cowell will be hoping that Cardle’s success starts a new trend of X-Factor domination of the Christmas charts, which has seen No.1’s for Alexandra Burke, Leona Lewis and doomed Scottish singer Leon Jackson.  It was halted last year, by a successful Facebook campaign to get Rage Against the Machine’s 1992 hit ‘Killing in the Name’ to the top of the charts, overhauling last year’s winning single, ‘The Climb’ by Joe McElderrey. 

On hearing the news of his success, Cardle was gobsmacked; "I can't believe it.  As if winning wasn't enough. I honestly didn't think I'd even make it on to the live shows, let alone win and now be the Christmas number one.  "I can't even begin to describe how it feels.”

Congratulations to Matt, a fitting Xmas No.1, I hope he can build on this success for a long-time to come.  

The X-Factor 2010 - And the winner is . . .

BY JASON WRIGHT

JUST three acts now remained in the running, going through into one of television’s biggest nights of the year, the final night of The X-Factor itself!  Pubs and clubs across the country were packed and nearly 20 million were glued to the TV at home, waiting to see if either Matt Cardle, Rebecca Ferguson or One Direction would become Britain’s next big music star.

Dermot O’Leary must have been taking fashion tips from Louis Walsh as he emerged out onto stage at the beginning wearing a film-style suit and bow tie, something that Walsh has exhibited every Sunday since the fourth week of the contest.  The night began with a rendition of Take That’s ‘Never Forget’ by the final three, joined halfway through by the band themselves.

CLASS: Matt kept his A level up throughout the show

Just like last night each act’s first song was a new one and Matt kicked off with a rendition of Katy Perry’s ‘Firework’, putting yet another unique twist on it as he has done with most of his performances so far.  Questions though were raised over his dress sense for the first performance but that was his choice so there wasn’t a problem with it.  Meanwhile, after the troubles of Saturday night in Colchester, it was second time lucky there on Sunday and Stacey Solomon was able to chat to the supporters.

One Direction came next with their take on Natalie Imbruglia’s ‘Torn’.  Performing it atop a makeshift arch in the middle of the stage, they had the crowd and their fans over in Doncaster in hysterics for the umpteenth time and only strengthening their emphasis that this could really happen, a group could potentially win the show!

SWEET: Rebecca's dreams will probably come true

Finally, it was the turn of Rebecca Ferguson performing ‘Sweet Dreams’, the song did exactly what it said in the title, again the Liverpool lass sung it in such a soulful and heartfelt way and received huge acclaim from the judges again.  Her followers back in Merseyside once again voiced their approval but with Matt’s huge chances and One Direction’s big backing, it seemed a tough call for her to get into the last two.

After the pressures of the first songs, a little bit of humour was now injected into the night.  No, it wasn’t the return of Wagner but something worse than that, the return of the those who failed miserably in the auditions.  Performing the Lady Gaga hit ‘Bad Romance’, it was predictably so out of tune but just great to watch.  After all, they usually take the great appeal during the early stages of the competition just for their bad ability.

GLUM: Simon and One Direction after their demise

Voting lines were then frozen again. Only two acts would make into the third and most crucial phase of the final.  With the final three all in their smart and formal wear, it was revealed that Matt and Rebecca would move forward to sing again.  One Direction had been sensationally knocked out and it left them, their fans and even mentor Simon Cowell stunned and shattered.  Certainly though, this is not the last of them, they will surely become the next big boyband.

So Matt and Rebecca were now within touching distance of the X-Factor crown and just one more performance would now take them there, it would of course be a performance that would be released as their debut single should they win.  However this time there was a twist, both acts (as well as the already eliminated One Direction and Cher should they been in this position) had recorded a song which was suited to their voice instead of the traditional method of choosing just one song for the final pair which sometimes can be at a disadvantage.

First up was Matt performing his cover of Biffy Clyro’s ‘Many of Horror’ which was renamed in this take as ‘When We Collide’.  Yet again, Matt transformed this song from its original core rock into his own style and it totally worked and the judges seemed to say that it was his competition to lose now, though Simon of course didn’t want to count out the opposition yet.

So what could Rebecca offer instead?  Well she took the brave gamble of covering ‘Distant Dreamer’ by Duffy, and brave because it has never been released as a single.  This may work at a huge disadvantage but it still had plenty of potential.  Simon was right, don’t count her out yet and he used his trademark comment of not being able to claim it was a definite victory for anyone.  Many must have been thinking over what the chances were of placing a bet on a dead heat.

After Take That returned to perform another sensational number, the waiting was over and lines closed and the result was submitted.  Millions of votes were casted and after the usual tense wait, Dermot revealed the public decided that the winner of The X Factor 2010 should be…Matt Cardle!

SPEECHLESS: Both Matt and Danni look overwhelmed

Matt was left undoubtedly speechless after his success.  Dannii Minogue was delighted in joining Simon and Cheryl Cole in the ranks of being a two-time X Factor champion.  Cheryl at last was defeated and Rebecca offered congratulations to Matt.  Once again, I think this will not be the last of Rebecca; she will again get a music deal.

That just left Matt to bring down the curtain on this series with his first proper performance of his debut single, after which all of the beaten finalists (minus Cher Lloyd, who was mysteriously absent with no reason) came to his side to also say their congratulations.  The right winner indeed and it was proved as the official voting stats showed afterwards that he topped the board every time since week two but in the final he was chased all the way and won by just a narrow margin.

Round-up of the series

Despite a great final weekend, overall the series has been a massive disappointment, mainly due to the controversy and drama off camera.  It was surprising that the judges managed to keep it under control throughout most of it.  Simon Cowell always set things right and took responsibility for anything that went wrong, Dannii Minogue did a great job considering she missed the auditions due to her pregnancy whilst Louis Walsh was as impartial and usually foolish as before.  However the worst of the lot was Cheryl Cole, a disaster from start to finish.  While it was nice to see her back from her malaria scare, it screwed up her mind.  She became arrogant, thoughtless, and made decisions that were usually disgraceful.  Personally I don’t think we’ll see Cheryl back next year and there is great chance she will be replaced by Nicole Scherzinger, following her successful stint as a guest judges in the auditions and bootcamp this year.

This also may be Simon Cowell’s last stint, as The X-Factor airs in the US in the same time as the UK next year.  Before he has managed the show plus the American Idol auditions at the same time so I think he will be able to do it.  Plus, Dermot O’Leary may also be on the way out with reports that he may be off the present the new US version of the show.  Christine Bleakley, Davina McCall, Caroline Flack, Vernon Kay and Stephen Mulhern are the names that have been mostly tipped to take over should Dermot defect across the Atlantic.  If he goes, it is important that ITV will need to employ someone that has the ability to keep the show in its stride.

WINNER: Matt with Danni and the winning single 'When we Collide'

Whatever the case, The X-Factor has produced another great winner and good luck to Matt for what the future holds for him.  The countdown to summer 2011 and series eight is now well and truly underway.

The X-Factor 2010 - The semi-final showdown

BY JASON WRIGHT

Just five acts were now left in the running for X-Factor glory, supermarket worker Mary Byrne, teenager Cher Lloyd, single mother Rebecca Ferguson, boyband One Direction and DIY handyman Matt Cardle.  Now all five acts were in the crucial semi-final and by the end of last weekend, four would be in this year’s grand final and one would be heading home with their dreams destroyed.

UPBEAT: Rebecca Ferguson wowed the judges

As with past semi-finals, two songs were required from each act to get through.  First each act performed a ‘Club Classic’, which basically meant a popular song at nightclubs/discos and a song handpicked by them as one they believe would get them into the final.  First to go was Rebecca singing ‘Show Me Love’.  Despite having wowed previously, something she has lacked before is performing an upbeat song, finally this was her chance and she didn’t disappoint. Then as expected, she went back to her ballad roots for the second song, ‘Amazing Grace’ was so captivating and heartfelt, many have said this would be a two-way fight for the win but don’t count her out yet.

UNDERWHELMING: Mary didn't do enough to stay in

Next up was Mary, first with ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’ which again seemed to be underwhelming though upbeat songs are not her thing.  Her second performance again returned to her specialist area with ‘The Way We Were’, a poignant choice as it was her late mother’s favourite song and so understandably made her very emotional.  Nevertheless, her performances were solid if unspectacular and still left her with every chance of reaching the final.

BELOW-PAR: But Matt did enough to make the final

In the week’s build-up, Matt’s participation had been in severe doubt, suffering from severe laryngitis and then tonsillitis.  Yet although having hardly had any rehearsal time, just hours before the live show, he took the brave decision to sing.  His first song ‘You Got the Love’ was certainly not his best for the well-documented reasons but still giving the best he could.  The same could be said for his second performance, ‘She’s Always a Woman.’  Simon Cowell didn’t agree, stating it was his worst performance. Nevertheless, his huge fanbase and previous form should still carry him through.

CONFIDENT: Cher stuck to her usual routine

Matt may have been under huge pressure, but Cher was feeling it even more.  Although her performances had been strong of late, over the last few weeks, she had alienated the public for some strange reason and was going into the semi perhaps as the clear-cut favourite to get the axe.  In this situation, there was only one thing to do; she had call upon her specialist route of rapping.  Both of her performance of ‘Nothin’ on You’ and ‘Love the Way You Lie’ easily showed examples of the format, which has been so much criticised but something she had to do to stay in.  Dannii Minogue thought she had to perform a ballad but at the end of the day it was Cher’s choice and now her fate was with the public.

GAMBLE: One Direction took risks that paid off

One Direction had also been heavily affected.  Their mentor Simon had been struck down with man flu throughout the week so Cheryl Cole kindly stepped in to oversee their rehearsals. Also, Zain had missed many rehearsals, as he was back in Bradford, following the tragic death of his grandfather.  The group’s first performance was perhaps the best of round one, taking a huge risk performing Rihanna’s ‘Only Girl In The World’ which had only been a couple of weeks old but it totally worked.  Then they followed it up with ‘Chasing Cars’ which again, was totally spot-on.

Continuing the trend of series firsts, another two were made in the Sunday results show. Firstly, the first ever four-way X Factor final and secondly, the first semi-final sing-off.  The latter came at the surprise to the public as this had been unannounced until then.  However ITV had later said, it was planned weeks ahead, they just clumsily didn’t re-write the script.

Firstly, as before, the three acts with the most votes went through. They were One Direction, keeping Simon in the competition, Rebecca, ensuring the already-known fact that Cheryl would make the final again and Matt, sealing a double whammy of delight for Dannii, as just 24 hours earlier, her former protégé, Stacey Solomon won this year’s series of I’m A Celebrity.

SHOWDOWN: Cher and Mary await their fate

That left Cher and Mary, the two acts most at risk of leaving in the sing-off.  Both of them literally gave the performance of their lives and it left the judges with a difficult decision.  Louis Walsh went first to vote and as expected, chose to keep his last act Mary.  Dannii opted to send Cher through, along with mentor Cheryl which left Simon having to decide who got the last place in the final.  After several minutes of mulling whether to send Cher to the final or revert the decision back to the public vote, he save Cher, no surprise as he had continually backed her throughout.

This left the public up in arms, as they obviously wanted Mary to go through and it meant the Louis was out of the competition before the final YET AGAIN, making it now just one appearance in the past five finals for him, a sobering statistic.  Personally, it doesn’t feel right to have a semi-final sing-off but that was the decision after all.  What they need to do next time is give the public a prior warning of this rather than just leave this to minutes before it was going to take place.

STANDING: The final four, who are you backing?

But nevertheless, it is a still a strong line-up for this weekend’s big finale.  Cher Lloyd, Matt Cardle, One Direction and Rebecca Ferguson, and by late Sunday night, one of them will have won The X-Factor 2010 and become the nation’s next big music sensation.

The final starts this Saturday at 7pm on ITV1 and ITV1 HD, with a two-part report to follow next week. Britain, Who Are You Backing?

The X-Factor 2010 - The pressure starts to show

BY JASON WRIGHT

If we have learnt something so far in this series, it is that all the domination is about controversy and shock.  The X-Factor continues to deliver quality TV and here is a look at the past fortnight’s events.

Week 7 (20-21 November)

SCREAMING: Matt would have got the girls attention!

Half of the field had now been decimated and eight were left standing.  For week seven, the acts showed the spirit of the sixties by performing songs from the legendary band that is The Beatles.  Two Boys were now left and they started off with Matt Cardle singing ‘Come Together’.  Of course, the song was made famous last year by Olly Murs ripping nearly half his shirt off during it.  Matt closely attempted the same feat by wearing nothing but a vest.  As for the performance, it was a mixed bag, sometimes good, other times a bit off-key.  Meanwhile, following the woes of Elton John week, Paije Richardson bounced back with a brilliant rendition of ‘Let It Be’ and Simon Cowell quickly took back his words of not having any chance of winning.

With four weeks to go, it’s remarkable and somewhat lucky that the Girls category still has three of the four remaining.  Cher Lloyd once again built up a debatable issue with her performance of ‘Imagine’. While it was certainly nice to give something that only showed her singing, a few people questioned the song choice because this was just a John Lennon track, but if Lennon was part of the Beatles then surely it is allowed.  Then Simon criticised Cheryl Cole for having Cher perform on top of a makeshift staircase and it got so heated that both had to be called to attention by Dermot O’Leary not once, not twice but three times! At times, you must wonder, give it a rest!

NEW: Katie changed her look, and it bought good fortune

As for the other two girls, Rebecca Ferguson was under pressure.  Being from Liverpool, she needed to give the iconic band pride but somehow her performance of ‘Yesterday’ just didn’t click.  Maybe it was little too much for her cope with.  Finally, Katie Waissel must be the luckiest girl on earth.  Despite four sing-off performances, she was still hanging around.  Now she had finally undergone a much needed change, new attitude and a new haircut, her rendition of ‘Help!’ was made her own. Could it be the start of a remarkable comeback?

As for Simon’s one remaining act, One Direction, the momentum of last week’s show-stopping was still fresh in their minds and certainly carried forward into this week’s performance of ‘All You Need Is Love’.  It wasn’t as good as the previous week but still, the value of the performance was priced at sensational.

PREDICTABLE: Wagner was out of tune, AGAIN!

Lastly, there was no sign of any change in pattern of performance for the Overs…of course!  Over the last few weeks, Mary Byrne had been underwhelming but this time around, she provided a great performance of ‘Something’ and that proved she shouldn’t be written off just yet.  If a medley of two wasn’t bad enough for Wagner, a medley of three was even worse!  ‘Get Back’, ‘Hippy Hippy Shake’ and ‘Hey Jude’ were not sung in tune at all but still another seemingly crowd-pleasing attempt.  There are some things in life money can’t buy…and for Wagner, there isn’t MasterCard!

TIME: Dermot passes the Cher vs Paije battle to the judges

For the first time since week three, the sing-off threw together two new faces to the experience, Paije and Cher and it was a sing-off of two halves.  The first half, performance-wise, seemed to put Paije in front as his was note-perfect whilst Cher, at times, looked to be crumbling under pressure, very nearly in floods of tears.  However, the intensity and emotion in Cher’s performance just couldn’t be overlooked, and that probably swayed it with the judges.  Simon put his obvious faith in Cher as he has been since the beginning and with both Cheryl and Dannii again protecting their acts from leaving; Louis was left in the dreaded position yet again.  His head told him to save Paije, his heart told him to save Cher, whilst the audience told him to take it to deadlock.  In the end, he went for his heart and kept Cher in.  This is perhaps seen as the best choice since she had been the more consistent throughout but the audience just didn’t agree, and she was booed and jeered off the stage.

This reaction certainly stunned the teen singer even further to core, if being in the bottom two wasn’t that bad.  Cheryl now had just five days to bring her “special one” back into contention.  Would it happen or is she a dead girl walking in this contest?

Week 8 (27-28 November)

Loud, metal and flames could only mean one thing, it was Rock night!  Now each act had to perform twice to make it through to the all important semi-final.

STANDING: Mary is Ireland and Louis remaining hope

The Overs began and the unusual position of Wagner being first when normally being towards the end.  For once, he gave a performance of credibility with Radiohead’s ‘Creep’, once being note-perfect before ‘Addicted to Love’ saw him return to normal.  If he took a pill to change his style, the effects wore off very quickly!  Meanwhile, Mary had somewhat of a night which many people hardly mentioned her performances of ‘All I Want Is You’ and ‘Brass in Pocket’.  Both were not captivating but still worthy of positive feedback from the judges.

BEAUTIFUL: One Direction continue to look the part

One Direction once again ended up right in the thick of it.  Simon gave them two rather strange choices, yet still both performances ended up being performed sensationally by the group.  ‘Summer of ‘69’ again showed the full vocal range but it was their second song, ‘You are so Beautiful’ that brought the debate.  The song’s original singer, Joe Cocker, was in fact not a ballad person as this song seems to suggest but in fact a rock singer, according to Simon.  Louis clearly thinks it was the former and hence after eight weeks…we rejoice in the return of ‘Louis Walsh’s Official X Factor Rule Book’. It won’t be long until he’ll get it out into the shops!

PRESSURE: Can Rebecca take the heat?

The Girls were once again up to their usual tricks.  After receiving a harsh reaction from surviving the sing-off last week, it left Cher feeling vulnerable and scared of going home next.  Her two performances of ‘Girlfriend’ and ‘Walk This Way’ again seemed to show more singing and less rapping, definitely a marked improvement on previous but still has a long way to go before the public’s faith in her is truly restored…and not long left to do it in.  Rebecca went the same way as Mary in going for more of the ballad-rock instead of the up-tempo rock.  Still her versions of ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ and ‘I Can’t Get No Satisfaction’ were both top-class and looking certain of at least making the final.  If Cher doesn’t know how to cope with negativity, just talk to Katie, she can deal with it well.  She gave her best performance to date with Kings Of Leon’s ‘Sex On Fire’ really being made to set on fire and whilst ‘Everybody Hurts’ didn’t quite match the standard, this was once again a solid week for the constantly elimination-threatened girl.

When a judge has one act left, it can make them feel under pressure of having to deliver.  It must have been a distinct feeling of déjà vu for Dannii; last year when her last act standing Stacey Solomon was perhaps on the verge just a week after “you know what so I won’t mention it again for legal reasons”, she catapulted up to the next level and deserved to reach the final.  Now fast forward back to 2010 and with Stacey perhaps all set to win I’m A Celebrity this weekend, Dannii’s last act standing, Matt had to at least achieve the similar goal of getting to the finale.  The Essex decorator’s two songs, ‘I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll’ and ‘Nights In White Satin’ were once again effortless.  Like Simon with One Direction, Dannii should now have nothing to worry about in terms of elimination.

Seven acts still in and just two weeks to go until the final weekend meant there only one way to settle the exit dispute this week, a double elimination had to be held, which meant for the first time in X-Factor history, a sing-off was held on the contest’s eighth week.  Katie found herself in the bottom end of the vote for the fifth time but on this occasion, there was no way back, she came in last place and was out immediately.  Her luck having finally run dry, she was very gracious indeed, knowing it had to come to an end sometime.

FAREWELL: Wagner says goodbye to the X-Factor

For weeks now, an internet campaign has been in full swing getting everyone to back Wagner to win and it had a positive effect when the build-up to last week’s show had him installed a third favourite, odds slashed to 10-1 compared to the 150-1 given at the start of the contest last month.  However the support somewhat didn’t materialise this time and the manic Brazilian was forced to sing-off against Mary.  To ease tension, Louis, who mentored the pair voted first and put his faith in Mary and when Dannii and Cheryl agreed, the crowd went berserk, Wagner was gone.  Simon Cowell then declared a victory for the show; its credibility had been saved from total destruction.  He did though praise Wagner for his efforts, being the honourable gentleman he sometimes is.

So just five are now left in the running. Cher, Mary, Matt, One Direction and Rebecca will this Saturday and Sunday be fighting like they never fought before in aiming to secure a place in what has now become one of the television’s biggest highlights of the year…The X-Factor Final!

But who will make it and who will fall at the final hurdle? Semi-final weekend kicks off at 7:40pm this Saturday on ITV1 and ITV1 HD and a full report will follow next week.

The X-Factor 2010 - Competition levels go up and the show descends into chaos

BY JASON WRIGHT

Week 4 (30-31 October)

MAGIC: A new side to Mary worked a Halloween treat

HALLOWEEN weekend meant the theme was subtly songs that were at the least loosely related to the occasion.  The Over’s began the action with Mary Byrne performing the Take That classic ‘Could It Be Magic?’ it was certainly magic, much different to what she had performed before and held no fear to the challenge.  The least could be said for Wagner as he killed two classic songs, making a mockery of the X Factor signature tune ‘O Fortuna’ followed by his rendition of ‘Bat Out Of Hell’, was performed a language that has perhaps never existed. Simon Cowell asked Louis Walsh if he had been drinking, which was strenuously denied but to be honest that could have been planned over ten shots of whiskey!

AWFUL: Aiden's rendition of 'Thriller' wasn't a thriller!

The three Boys come next and the ghosts seemed to haunt Aiden Grimshaw as his version of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ was less fun than watching paint dry!  He wanted to make it his own but that completely backfired.  Matt Cardle also had a difficult night with ‘Bleeding Love’. He sang it well but it was totally out of his depth.  Paije Richardson did manage to salvage some pride on what was a terrible week for the category as his performance of ‘Back to Black’ won some praise from the judging panel despite not really being stand-out again.

Both of the Groups had survived the previous week and were on top form again.  Belle Amie truly arrived with ‘Venus’ and Louis seemed to put to bed the criticism he gave the previous week.  Meanwhile One Direction again impressed singing ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ and they are proving totally the decision by Simon to have them formed from solo singers into a group.

TOP CLASS: Cher answered her critics in stunning fashion

All four Girls were still left in the running.  Rebecca Ferguson was at the top of her game again with ‘Wicked Heart’ and even though it hadn’t matched the material shown previously, it was still well on par with the front-runners.  Treyc Cohen bounced back from the sing-off last week with an explosive performance of ‘Relight My Fire’ though it did draw criticism for not totally being her style of song.  Katie Waissel was another act who seemed to have finally arrived with a lavish performance of ‘Bewitched’ though it was kind of stolen by showing off too much make-up, perhaps enough to make someone go blind!  After three weeks of rapping, Cher Lloyd was surely on the brink of elimination, her support having crumbled rapidly during the build-up.  Finally Cheryl Cole listened to the abuse and gave Cher a ballad to perform.  Her performance of ‘Stay’ was not only sung, it was sung from the heart.  Simon labelled it as “the performance of the series”, Cher finally proving what she could do.

Belle Amie and Katie were forced into the bottom two on Sunday’s results, both for the second time.  After Simon and Cheryl kept their acts in the running, Dannii Minogue chose to send home Belle Amie, leaving Louis with a difficult decision.  He liked both acts and simply couldn’t decide so opted to send it back to the public vote.

TEARS: Belle Amie depart

For once, the deadlock was brought with a delighted reaction from the audience but it would prove to be misery for Simon as Belle Amie were sent packing with the fewest votes.  Once again, the ‘Girlband Curse’ had struck and so disappointing on this occasion as the girls had so much more to give. Four weeks down and Simon was now on his last life.

Week 5 (6-7 November)

The show went Stateside for the fifth week, the halfway point of the contest as the ten remaining acts performed popular songs from US artists.  The Girls began the show with Cher.  After the stunner of Halloween week, it was back to basics from her with ‘Empire State of Mind’.  It went down very disappointingly with the judges, and put her position at risk again.  Katie came next with ‘Don’t Speak’, again, which was very strong but weaker than the previous few performances.  Rebecca received plenty of praise again for a brilliant take of ‘Make You Feel My Love’ and after a dodgy couple of weeks, Treyc seemingly returned to form with the Aerosmith classic ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’.

DEBATE: Wagner's performances are the main gossip

It was another predictably mixed night for the two remaining Over’s.  Mary had struggled with her song all week and although her performance of ‘There You’ll Be’ was solid, it obviously wasn’t as good as previous.  The late Elvis Presley was the next world famous icon to be destroyed by Wagner, but to give credit, his medley of ‘Viva Las Vegas’ and ‘The Wonder Of You’ was certainly by far, his best outing to date.

BREATHLESS: Matt was superb

The Boys also returned to form after the horrors of Halloween.  Aiden’s performance of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ was again a little subdued but this perhaps is what should be expected from him now, it’s his style after all.  Paije delivered his best performance of the competition.  His version of ‘I’m A Believer’ saw mentor Dannii declare him to have arrived in the show.  However it was Matt who well and truly stole the show with ‘The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face’.  Breathless is perhaps the only word to describe it and rightfully earned the first standing ovation of the series.

FORM: One Direction are a force

Louis was undoubtedly taking the Mickey out of Simon for having just one act left but the maestro was obviously not taking it seriously.  After all, his one remaining act, One Direction is a bookies favourite and proved it with an up-tempo performance of ‘Kids in America’.  If they keep it up, Simon shouldn’t have anything to worry about for a couple of weeks.

After having kept all four girls in the running for four weeks, Cheryl was finally destined to lose an act this week but for the first time, both of the acts in the final showdown were hers, Katie and Treyc.  It would descend into utter farce as first Katie ‘accidentally’ said “sod it” during her performance and then the show producers messed up totally by doing the order of voting by the judges wrong.  Simon first sent home Treyc and then Cheryl was told to go next.  She was taken aback by having to decide early, as normally if two acts of the same mentor are in this situation, that judge is saved until last.  As a result, Cheryl “claimed” she was not ready to decide and asked if she could wait until last.  The show’s host, Dermot O’Leary was told through by his earpiece, that he had to give it as a refusal to vote.

DIGNIFIED: Treyc put a brave face on her elimination

Treyc’s fate was sealed as she only received the support of Dannii with Louis’ casting vote going to save Katie.  Some people put the blame on Dermot for this but that shouldn’t be the case.  It was the producers who got it all wrong, but Cheryl doesn’t get away with it scot-free.  What she did was a complete and utter disgrace.  If she was last to vote, then forcing a deadlock decision would certainly be acceptable but in this situation it is no-no!  The tabloids called for Cheryl to be sacked and rightfully so.  The decisions she has made so far this series have been extremely shocking and this latest controversy has surely put her future on the programme under severe threat.

Week 6 (13-14 November)

TESTING: Paije produces a mundane performance

Quickly putting the controversy of last week to one side, the remaining nine acts celebrated the music of Elton John last Saturday.  First up were the Boys and it started off with Paije singing ‘Crocodile Rock.’  It felt like a drunken karaoke pub performance and it wasn’t a hit with the judges.  Aiden followed up with ‘Rocketman’, and again it was another solid if unspectacular performance from him.  Following the praise of last week, Matt was under huge pressure to deliver strongly again and although his version of ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ wasn’t as good as last week, it still kept him as the competition favourite.

The Over’s once again were in their predictable pattern.  Mary still looked below-par with her rendition of ‘Can You Feel the Love tonight.’  Meanwhile Wagner was getting worse week-by-week. If wrecking famous songs was his speciality, now he was after the films, firstly ‘I’m Still Standing’ wasn’t catching on, but it went out of proportion with ‘Circle of Life’, one of the best Disney songs of all time, totally ruined.  Maybe he does actually have a future…he could be the one to save the troubled Pontins resorts!

SURVIVOR: Katie is hanging on, by the skin of her teeth

No act had ever survived three sing-offs before but Katie was still holding on.  She kicked off the Girls performances with ‘Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting’, once again provided a lacklustre performance.  Getting lost amongst the dancers didn’t help and Louis didn’t find this performance captivating.  Simon’s response went as far as threatening to kick Louis off the show!  Cher finally delivered a good performance of her speciality, her version of ‘Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word’, did again have an element of rapping but not as much as previous renditions.  Rebecca continued to be the standout of the category with a strong performance of ‘Candle in the Wind’. It was again very consistent and captivating from the single mother.

One Direction meanwhile was the standout of the night with ‘Something about the Way You Look Tonight’.  This is genuinely perhaps the first time a group could potentially be in a strong chance of winning.  Regardless, it would be a travesty if they at least didn’t make the final.

STUNNED: Dermot O'Leary embraces a shocked Aiden

It was a battle between Dannii and Cheryl’s acts in the sing-off this week.  Aiden’s rather inconsistency finally caught up with him and he was forced to perform again along with Katie for the FOURTH time.  Another strange voting order was used in which Simon went first instead of any the mentors with acts in this situation.  He voted to save Katie again and when both Dannii and Cheryl unanimously stood by their acts, it was all down to Louis again.  He saved Aiden, which was the right call, so it went back the public vote and the whole studio was left stunned when Aiden came bottom of the vote and was ousted. Aiden was left rightfully disappointed at the result and when he revealed a possible leak on Twitter that he was in the bottom three, and the public and press went insane again.

The battle to be the best may be closer than ever, but this year’s series seems to be overshadowed by controversy, judges bickering and confusion.  The question is has the shambles of the last two weeks marked something…could it be the beginning of the end for The X Factor?

We’ll have to wait and see, I’ll return at the end of week eight for a detailed report on the next two weeks to come.  Let’s hope we’ll be speaking more about praise for singing and less of the outrage.