The X-Factor 2011 - The week five curse strikes again!

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

THIS WEEKEND was the week that is always designed to strike fear into the minds of both contestants and viewers – the dreaded Week Five!  A frontrunner always seems to depart on this particular week.     The competitive Maria Lawson in 2005, the consistent Laura White in 2008, the sexy Lucie Jones in 2009 and the formidable Treyc Cohen last year have all been victims of week five in the past and have had their dreams of being popstars destroyed as a result.  Once again, the jinx would strike again in a shock double elimination.  After its successful trial in last year’s semi-final, the ‘Club Classics’ theme was given a proper chance to shine and as Dermot O’Leary put it, this was the only week guaranteed to be a ‘ballad-free zone.’

OVER 25’s

JOHNNY Robinson was the first on stage and after his successful outing the previous week, he returned back to his entertaining roots with Madonna’s ‘Hung Up.’  Safe to say, the judges weren’t entirely impressed.  Gary Barlow, who finally was won over by him last week, returned to his criticism of him, comparing it “the opening of a bad pantomime in Scarborough”.  Ouch!  Both acts in this category had a troublesome night as Kitty Brucknell failed to impress too.  Her version of ‘Like a Prayer,’ another Madonna classic was out of her usual character on a theme that may have suited her liking.  However, the feedback she got was a little harsh with Barlow saying that she couldn’t dance.  In fairness, Kitty tried but it was lacking the extra vigour that has made her a talking point in the show.

GIRLS

BACKFIRED: Janet's style change led to mixed results

AFTER Kelly Rowland’s absence last week, she was back and ready to get her two remaining acts back on track.  There was no escape for Janet Devlin, who after four weeks of impressive but not stand-out performances, struggled with choosing her own song.  She fluffed the words during her rendition of Jackson 5’s ‘I want you back.’  She did recover, but the judges gave mixed comments, with Tulisa suggesting to go back to her previous style of music.  Following last week’s bottom two shocker, Misha B bounced back with Beyoncé’s ‘Proud Mary.’   It is well noted that when an act ends up in the bottom two on one week, they can’t win but don’t rule her out yet, especially in a competition that is becoming more open by the week.

BOYS

FRONTRUNNER: Marcus looks like the one to beat

STILL with the full line-up in tow from the first week eliminator, Craig Colton kicked off the category’s running with Bryan Adams ‘Heaven.’  A club classic song was probably going to expose Craig’s weakness, but despite looking out of his comfort zone, he performed very well.  Ultimately, he proved again that he can cut the mustard at this level.  Marcus Collins has so far been a challenger if not a serious contender.  However, everyone was up on their feet with his take of the true fifties classic ‘Reet Petite.’  Gary was in lots praise for his act, labelling it as “the performance of the season.”  Perhaps, it was a little bit boastful but can that be blamed?  With every high comes a low and yet again, Frankie Cocozza was on the end of that yardstick with ‘I Gotta Feeling’ by Black Eyed Peas.  It looked as if he had downed full bottles of Smirnoff and Jack Daniels and was fashioned by an unemployed Next salesman!  The result, quite possibly the worst performance ever in a live show; Jedward or Wagner could have done that song justice.

GROUPS

FLYING high after their praise last week, The Risk looked to impress again with Shalimar’s ‘A Night to Remember.’  Not as strong as in previous weeks for the group but it again showed their true potential.  Every year, the experts have attempted to write off the category’s chances each year but on this occasion, they shouldn’t just yet.  Girl group Little Mix have become serious challengers as their version of Rihanna’s ‘Please Don’t Stop The Music’ went down with a storm with the judges. It’s taken eight long years but The X-Factor finally seems to have found its first girl group that can make a successful career from the show.

The Result

FAREWELL: Tulisa had to say a shock goodbye to The Risk

IT’S been clear for weeks now that a certain Mr S Cowell has been extremely unhappy about the quality of contestants this year.  He decided to shake things up and the double elimination did cause a surprise, especially in the public vote.  Little Mix, Marcus, Misha B and Craig all deservedly won their place back next week whilst Janet could count herself lucky to be saved by her many supporters.  Also, despite his tripe the previous night, Frankie was somehow voted to stay in.

     That left Johnny, Kitty and The Risk in the bottom three.  It was anticipated by everyone that one of Louis acts would go first…but no! The Risk was eliminated after finishing bottom of the public vote.  Viewers and the audience were left stunned whilst the boys themselves and their mentor Tulisa looked gobsmacked.  The curse of Week Five has well and truly struck again!

     So it was a showdown between the two remaining acts Louis had.  For the second time in three weeks, he had to make a difficult decision.  Johnny gave a dignified and polished performance but when Kitty can deliver under the huge pressure, it made the final decision far easier.  Kitty was unanimously saved by the judges and expectantly, cued more booing and jeering from the audience.  Sad as it was to see Johnny go, the fact is that Kitty would provide a better chance for Louis in the competition – though that chance is already at slim to nil!

     The double elimination drama did manage to put X-Factor back in lead in the ratings war with Strictly, mainly helped that there was no head-to-head clash this weekend, though there’s certainly still a long road to recovery ahead.  One thing is for certain, the competition has never been this open before as anyone from at least five acts could win!  The second half of this year’s live finals is set to be a thriller … providing any new controversy doesn’t get in the way of course.

The X-Factor 2011 - More issues to be dealt with

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

THE last two weeks has seen The X-Factor do what it has done best.  Controversy, dramatics and confusion off the stage have yet again overshadowed the great talent that is being shown on the screen.  Here is how the drama unfolded over the past fortnight.

Week 3 – ROCK SONGS

Liverpool hairdresser Marcus Collins kicked off with an explosive rendition of ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way?’ with his mentor Gary Barlow labelling it as how to open up a show.  Next, favourite Janet Devlin sung ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ but played it a little safe by not putting any upbeat twist on it.  Sami Brookes was compared to a cruise singer in week two and Louis Walsh did no favours by picking another “dated” song with ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ whilst the girl band formerly known as Rhythmix (see Week 4 section for new name and explanation) once again impressed with ‘Tik Tok.’  Although she is a strong singer, Sophie Habibis is struggling to connect with the public.  Her ballad version of ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ was so dreary; it could have made people fall asleep.

     Craig Colton was given the chance to sing ‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out,’ which was another solid outing.  Kitty Brucknell wasn’t as mental as last week but still showed off her unique style in her version of ‘Live and Let Die.’  After last week’s bottom two shocker, Frankie Cocozza was lacking in confidence and his performance ‘Get Your Rocks Off’ showed it in every department.  The Risk overcame a bad song choice from Tulisa to get the job done again with ‘Crazy.’  Johnny Robinson finally started to win over Gary Barlow with ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’, and Barlow’s jibe at asking whether he got the suit from Argos was a right laugh.

TOUGH: Misha B has had to deal with some rough criticism

     The night ended on a bitter low when after Misha B smashed ‘Purple Rain,’ Louis Walsh and Tulisa unfairly attacked her for acting like “a bully” to the other contestants.  It left both Misha and her mentor Kelly Rowland hurt by the comments and gave the tabloids a field day.  More drama was to come on Sunday night when Frankie swore to nearly ten million viewers, after learning he got through on the public vote.  ITV were forced to make an embarrassing apology two days later after stupidly forgetting to bleep out the dirty language.

     The final showdown was a direct battle between two of Louis acts.  For the judges, they opted to keep Kitty in the competition against Sami, based on the former having the better vocals.  Only Tulisa decided to save Sami with Walsh deciding to go against sending it to deadlock, making a frank and honest decision instead.

Week 4 – HALLOWEEN

THE mess from the previous week was still being cleared up come the show’s Halloween themed night.  Kelly Rowland was struck down by a virus infection whilst on a business visit to LA, so in this weekend to judge was 2008 X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke.

RESPECT: Johnny has a new fan, in Gary Barlow!

     Meanwhile, The Risk had a big problem when band member Ashley quit the group last Thursday, citing personal reasons.  The remaining members invited Ashford from axed boyband Nu Vibe to join them.  Their performance of ‘Thriller’ justified their decision and in fact, made them sound a better group than before.  Meanwhile Johnny Robinson finally got the chance to show off his full vocals with the ballad ‘That Ole Devil Called Love.’  Gary Barlow was so pleased that he went onto stage afterwards for hug and a kiss.  Who said romance was dead!

     Barlow’s mood soon changed when Sophie Habibis paced her way through ‘Bang Bang.’  She was described as “dull as dishwater” and quite rightfully too.  Marcus Collins was one act who got into the spirit of Halloween with his appearance during ‘Superstition,’ once again receiving rave comments.  The two remaining girls in participation, Misha B and Janet Devlin, also made more lasting impressions with their performances of ‘Tainted Love’ and ‘Every Breath You Take’ respectively.

     Fast seeing his chances disappear has been Frankie Cocozza but his take of ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’ was a million times better than his previous two performances put together.  Frankie’s song is perhaps one best suited to Kitty Brucknell.  The public is split over her but it still didn’t affect her ability to sell her performance of ‘Sweet Dreams.’  Accusations of ‘auto-tuning’ were strenuously denied but it was confessed that a voice enhancing method was used at the start of that number.

     Rhythmix are no more, long live Little Mix.  Maybe they should have put a lot more imagination into their new name but regardless, they gave the best performance of the night with ‘E.T.’  Craig Colton closed the show with his best outing since the opening week.  ‘Set Fire to the Rain’ was given complete justice throughout.

WHITEWASH: Misha B was too strong for Sophie on Sunday

     As luck would have it, the week which Kelly was absent was the week she lost an act.  Both Sophie and Misha B, possibly due to the bully allegations of the previous week, were in the final showdown.  It was no contest; Misha was by far the better performer and took a clean sweep from judges.  In a bizarre twist, instead of having guest judge Alexandra Burke speak on behalf of Rowland or just skipping her right to vote, the show contacted Rowland to vote from the other side of the Atlantic.  To say the least, this was a curious decision.

     In closing, the last two weeks have brought more negative headlines.  Viewers continue to switch off in their droves, with Strictly Come Dancing continuing its domination of the Saturday night ratings.

     The X-Factor is still contracted for further two years after this year but if it gets even worse, I think that it will have to be killed off.  ITV will perhaps now be rueing a missed opportunity in bidding for The Voice.

     It may still be entertaining to watch at times but it looks as if the shovels are at work in the TV graveyard…