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.

The X-Factor 2010 - Three Weeks In And All To Play For

BY JASON WRIGHT

MOST TV contests are very close to call after a few weeks of action and this year’s X-Factor is no exception.  Three weeks in and there are five or six acts that are fully capable of winning.  This blog reports back on the previous fortnight’s action.

Week Two (16-17 October)

AFTER the eliminations of Nicolo and F.Y.D the previous week, 14 acts were left in the running for Week two.  The second week’s theme would be known as “Musical Heroes” in which the judges chose songs from whatever music idol that each act had picked.

First on the bill are the Over 28’s and Storm Lee went first with ‘Born to Run’ by Bruce Springsteen.  It was a solid improvement, losing some of the insanity from the first week but still looking underwhelmed and strange looking.  Next was John Adeleye with Donny Hathaway’s ‘A Song for You.’  This performance also saw John make strong improvements on the first show and with hope of winning over more public support.  Brazilian Wagner followed up with Tom Jones’ ‘Help Yourself’.  Again looking so off-key and mad, Wagner is easily becoming this year’s novelty act, what was Louis Walsh thinking when choosing him as the category’s wildcard?  Finally, Mary Byrne gave another show-stopping performance with ‘You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me’ by Dusty Springfield.  It’s clear that she has already proven the bookmakers wrong; they said she wouldn’t go far but she’s a contender.

Cheryl Cole’s newly-dyed red hair stole the headlines for the girls’ category, but on the performance side, it was a strong night.  First in the category was Treyc Cohen, singing ‘Purple Rain’ by Prince.  It wasn’t on the levels of the first week, but again very impressive. Cher Lloyd followed with the Jay-Z rap ‘It’s A Hard Life’ again showing off her specialist skills.  Rebecca Ferguson perhaps gave the performance of the night with Nina Simone’s ‘Feeling Good’ and Simon Cowell’s comment suggested her as being labelled the ‘one to beat’.  Lastly, having received a barrage of criticism from both public and press all week, Katie Waissel had to give the performance of her life.  Her take on the Etta James’ ballad ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’ proved that, though at times she seemed to try extremely hard.

Next was the Boys and it began with Paije Richardson performing ‘If I Ain’t Got You’ by Alicia Keys.  Solid if unspectacular from the young wildcard act but he may want to pick it up if he wants to stay much longer.  Next up was Aiden Grimshaw, singing one his personal favourites ‘Jealous Guy’ by John Lennon.  It certainly seemed like the pressure got to him, his lyrical voice was so off-key; even he labelled it as “rubbish”.  That left Matt Cardle to close the show with the Bruno Mars song ‘Just the Way You Are’.  Once again, he showed off his brilliant vocal skills and proved he can give it everything at whatever he is given.

Last up was the Groups which kicked off with One Direction performing Kelly Clarkson’s ‘My Life Would Suck without You’.  After playing it safe on week one, they without question raised their game.  Diva Fever’s version of Boney M’s ‘Gotta Go Home’ which involved a canny pun at Louis raised eyebrows.  They may not be the best singers but can certainly entertain.  Finally, up came Belle Amie who made a massive leap forward with ‘You Really Got Me’ by The Kinks.  However, it will still take loads more to convince the public whether they really are group girl material

The results on Sunday first featured performances by 2008 graduate Diana Vickers.  After achieving a debut number one single earlier in the year, it was no surprise she would return to the show that kick-started her career.  Performing her new single, ‘My Wicked Heart’ proved just how far she has grown up since her time on the show.  The series five semi-finalist may have many critics from the public, mostly from her distinct voice; but she will be around for many years to come.  This was then followed by US pop sensation Katy Perry (who at the time of writing this blog is now newly married to Russell Brand) with her new song ‘Firework’, looking very stylish and on form as always.

For the second consecutive week, a double elimination was the order for this week.  First out was Storm Lee by virtue of receiving the lowest votes from the public.  Storm hadn’t won over many fans so this was perhaps a possible outcome, though one other reason could be that the first 15 minutes of the week’s show clashed with BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing and so many would have missed his full performance.

Worse was to come for Simon though as both Diva Fever and Belle Amie ended up in the bottom three and forced to sing for survival.  Both acts gave it their all to survive and return for the following week.  However, the nightmare scenario for Simon was spared as Louis, Dannii Minogue and Cheryl all voted to send home Diva Fever.  If he had to make the final decision then surely he would have sent it to deadlock.  Though it was disappointing to see Diva Fever go, looking back, Belle Amie do have better vocal talents and so that may have influenced the decision.

Week Three (23-24 October)

12 acts now left in the running and the theme for last Saturday went completely against what has been seen in the past.  Traditionally the third week is reserved for Big Band but instead this year we got a strange theme of ‘Guilty Pleasures’.  This basically saw the acts perform a song that they secretly love.

The boys were the first category to go and it started with Paije.  He had a very tough week with the tragic death of his grandmother, but his performance of ‘Ain’t Nobody’ showed that a devastating event like that didn’t affect his confidence.  Matt was next with a real surprise, an acoustic version of Britney Spears ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ and it certainly won mass praise from the judges.  Finally, after a bad performance last week, Aiden returned to form with ‘Diamonds Are Forever.’  There still seemed to be something missing in his act but otherwise he could still go some distance.

Up next were the over 28’s and John was first with ‘Zoom’.  His performance though was overshadowed by a strange backing dance act that according to Simon and Dannii, seemed to demonstrate, let’s just say “getting it on”.  After struggling with her initial choice of song, Mary performed her audition song ‘I (Who Have Nothing)’.  It sounded very good again but drew criticism that she should try something else to enhance her chances of winning. Wagner then followed with what could only be described as one of the maddest performances in the show’s history.  A mash up of the Spice Girls ‘Spice up Your Life’ and Ricky Martin’s ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’ was so like drunken karaoke.  He shouldn’t be on the show; he is more like a Eurovision entry for Lithuania!

Now onto the girls and the top of the category’s pack, Rebecca started off with ‘Why Don’t You Do Right?’  Preferably, her performance last week was better, but still once again, the Liverpool lass really showed off her talent.  In the week’s build up, Cheryl had promised fans of Cher that she would sing a ballad this week but this proved to be a white fib.  Instead, Cher came out onto stage with another rap-style song, ‘Shout’ by Tears for Fears.  This is now getting ridiculous, if Cheryl intends on making Cher a superstar, she has to give her something different to sing otherwise she’ll be voted out sooner rather than later.  The girl is trying hard but at the moment in the words of Dancing on Ice judge Jason Gardiner, “she is so BORING!”  Next in the category was Treyc with ‘Whole Lotta Love.’  Hardcore music fans would immediately recognise it as the theme to Top of the Pops in the 1990s and Treyc once again owned the stage, she could well and truly be the surprise package.  Katie had the duty of closing the show on Saturday with ‘I Wanna Be like You’ from the classic film The Jungle Book.  After two mediocre performances, she finally arrived in the contest, showing off her full vocal ranges.

Just two groups now remained in the show and the first of them was One Direction with ‘Nobody Knows.’  Following up from last week’s marked improvement, they may well give Take That and JLS a run for their money in terms of the future fan support.  The second act was Belle Amie singing ‘I’ll Stand By You.’  Another good performance from the foursome, but Louis felt that Simon was hindering their chances by giving the girls the wrong material.  Louis’s comments were unnecessary and frustrating to listen to.  Belle Amie chose their own material for this theme and is pleasing to see that Simon is giving them a chance to form a close bond together.

The Sunday night results show first featured a performance from Michael Buble with ‘Hollywood.’  Considering that he admitted afterwards he had been suffering from a sore throat, its effects weren’t being displayed then.  Then came what is becoming a traditional moment in the show, Cheryl Cole swapping the judges desk for the stage to perform her new single ‘Promise This.’  All eyes seemed to be transfixed on her rather raunchy outfit she was wearing but otherwise she once again delivered a brilliant vocal, even if accusations in the media have indicated that Cheryl mimed the song.

After two weeks of double eliminations, just one act left this week and things returned to normal with just the sing-off to decide who went.  John and to the shock of many, Treyc went head to head to survive and once again, a majority decision was reached by the judges’ which saw John get knocked out.  He tried his best, but he just didn’t make the connection between himself and the public and that was his ultimate downfall.

This is perhaps a very close competition to call then again and we are just three shows into the live shows.  Seven weeks of fierce competition remain so the real story that emerges is certainly still yet to be uncovered.  The next blog on this year’s contest will come at the end of week six but in the meantime, in a fortnight’s time, I’ll be looking back at what was no doubt the most shocking and outrageous moment in X-Factor history, when Jedward survived the axe and eliminated an act that had so much potential.  Adios for now!

Outright Winner of The X Factor (as of October 25th)

7-4 favourite Matt Cardle, 3-1 One Direction, 11-2 Rebecca Ferguson, 13-1 Cher Lloyd, 16-1 Aiden Grimshaw and Mary Byrne, 33-1 Katie Waissel, 50-1 Treyc Cohen, 80-1 Paije Richardson, 125-1 Belle Amie, 150-1 outsider Wagner

The X-Factor continues this Saturday at 8pm.

The X-Factor 2010 - The Live Shows Begin With A Bang

BY JASON WRIGHT

NOW in its seventh series, the X-Factor promised that this year’s live finals would potentially be the best yet.  Whether it will do so obviously remains to be seen, but on the evidence of the first weekend, it made an explosive start.

There was talk of there being a new set again, mainly to cope with the move to high definition but surprisingly, the present set, having only itself been introduced last year, was re-used with some minor modifications for HD broadcast.  However, the real build-up was centred on “The Big Twist” and when the show went live, host Dermot O’Leary confirmed what everyone had expected.  Four new acts would join the competition as ‘wildcards’ into what would now become the final 16.

Simon Cowell chose to bring back male duo act Diva Fever, Dannii Minogue gave Paije Richardson a reprieve, Louis Walsh opted to throw a lifeline to Wagner, a sports teacher originally from Brazil with a surname that perhaps nobody can announce properly and Cheryl Cole selected Treyc Cohen.  Cole’s choice had been heavily criticised as on the previous week’s judges’ houses stage, she rejected popular Zimbabwe-born singer Gamu Nhengu.  It had been speculated that Nhengu would return as Cole’s wildcard choice, but this was scuppered when reports that her family’s visa to stay in Britain had expired and would not be renewed surfaced.

As with previous opening weeks, the finalists performed songs that got to number one in the UK chart.  Firstly the groups kicked off with F.Y.D. singing ‘Billionaire’ by Travie McCoy.  It wasn’t a good start, it looked way off-key and the vocals weren’t very strong.  Louis Walsh said they should be a dance act instead of a group and I would agree.  Next, Belle Amie didn’t really impress either with their take on ‘Airplanes’.  It sounded very drab and dull, though at least the girls did show good signs of chemistry, having been formed through being turned down as solo acts.

Diva Fever came out with an upbeat version of ‘Sunny’.  They are certainly not strong singers but are certainly very entertaining and would go far in this competition through this.  Finally, One Direction, also formed through boot camp, sang Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida’.  It was a solid start but kind of playing it safe, they may need to adopt a better approach from next week if they want to stay in for long.  It’s really no secret that Simon might be the biggest loser on Week One with no real standout performances. He’ll be hoping things will improve.

Now onto the boys, Matt Cardle was the first of them to perform with ‘When Love Takes Over’ by David Guetta.  It was a song that really suited him and he will definitely be one to watch.  Next to go was Paije Richardson with ‘Killing Me Softly with His Song’.  He certainly has got very strong vocals and could well be the dark horse in the contest.

Italian songbird Nicolo Festa came next with Lady GaGa’s ‘Just Dance’.  It was horrible from start to finish, totally murdering a very classic song from these modern times, yet the judges’ gave him praise for it.  Last of all was Aiden Grimshaw with ‘Mad World.’  It was one of the best performances of the night but he has a bad habit of rarely looking straight at the judges’ or the audience, something he has to learn to control with if he wants to go all the way.  Regardless, this category is the one to beat after the first week. Round one without question goes to Dannii.

The overs come next, now raised to 28 years. John Adeleye was first to go with ‘One Sweet Day’.  He made a good fist of it but whether he can impress the public to go long into the competition is yet to tell.  Storm Lee came next with rock tune ‘We Built This City’.  Simon already hates him and I can really tell why.  He is a total nutcase that should be detained under Section One of the Mental Health Act!

The category’s leading lady, Mary Byrne followed.  Having come down with the flu just 72 hours before the live show, her version of ‘It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World’ by James Brown showed no obvious effect to her illness.  She totally made the song her own and will be a favourite with the judges and the voting public.  Finally, the wildcard pick Wagner sang ‘She Bangs’ by Ricky Martin. The Brazilian looks insane and sounds like Gordon Brown on helium. Simon rightfully described it as “the most bonkers thing I’ve have ever seen”.  It is clear that Mary is Louis’ only hope of a second win on X-Factor this year.

Attention was much focused on the girls’ category.  Cheryl was out on a mission to become the first judge to win for a third successive year.  Rebecca Ferguson was first out with ‘Teardrops’.  A solid if unspectacular start, but Rebecca can go some distance if given the right material.  Cher Lloyd was next and was the act under the most pressure.  Firstly, being the youngest of the sixteen acts at age 17 and secondly, there have been mass tabloid reports concerning that she would be on the verge of a nervous breakdown.  Despite this, her performance of ‘Just Be Good To Me’ certainly put those concerns to bed and that she can cope under the pressure.  Cher does though have a long way to go and is so far only known for performing R&B songs.  Cheryl will quickly need to introduce her to perform other styles of songs if she intends to win, especially if the winners single will be a slow, emotional ballad again.

As with Cher, Katie Waissel had also got a fair share of criticism by the time of her performance.  Her version of the historic Queen anthem ‘We Are The Champions’ didn’t help as she sounded and looked awful, an act that will be under complete scrutiny from the viewers already.  Treyc Cohen closed the show with U2’s ‘One’ with perhaps the best performance of opening night, a shock for many given that she looked like not being in the line-up.  Like Paije, expect to see Treyc as a surprise favourite in the competition.  It’s a 50-50 start for Cheryl, her choices in songs for the girls could play a crucial role.

Fast forward 24 hours to Sunday night for the results show.  First, there were performances from rapper Usher, which was claimed to be a world exclusive performance, but in the end turned out to be performance of a single from several months ago.  Then in keeping with tradition with the past, reigning X Factor winner Joe McElderry returned to perform his new upbeat single ‘Ambitions’.  I think we need to wait for what happens to single and album in the charts before we can make our decision on how he will fare.  On first impressions, it’s a love or hate song. If you don’t hear often, you’ll be thinking “What on earth is this?” but if you listen to it more often, it will become addictive.

Then, it was onto the all important results.  With 16 acts left in the competition, two acts would leave on opening weekend.  Nicolo was first out after finishing bottom of the public vote. Considering the good comments he received for such a dire performance, he perhaps may have got through, so this in a way was a bit of a surprise. However, the way he reacted was disgraceful, “I feel like c**p” should not be said in front of about 15 million people watching when you should usually feel disappointed but gracious in defeat and he certainly wasn’t.

F.Y.D and Katie were the next two acts that received the lowest votes and went into the first Final Showdown of the series to win the judges’ support.  Like before, both acts performed a song that they had specially picked themselves to perform if they end up in this situation.  The boys sang Rihanna’s ‘Don’t Stop the Music’ whilst Katie opted for ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ by The Beatles.  After both Simon and Cheryl expectantly backed their own acts, Dannii sent home F.Y.D. and Louis had the casting vote.  He resisted the rather strong temptation in his view to send it to deadlock and back to the public vote and voted to eliminate the boys.

Fans of the show were livid with Louis’ decision but they shouldn’t be.  It is rightfully suggested that Katie ended up in the sing-off because of the controversy surrounding her passage into the live finals and her performance on Saturday was a mess.  On Sunday, she sang her survival song as if her life depended on it and so deserved to be given a second chance.  She will have to raise her game though immediately if she plans to stay any longer.

So one week down, nine to go, and it’s still far too early to predict the clear cut favourite in this year’s contest.  I’ll be back at the end of Week three in a fortnight’s time to give a view on the next two shows to come, but for now I’ll leave you with a summary of the latest betting odds after Week 1.

Outright winner of The X Factor 2010 (as of 11 October, supplied by William Hill)

9-2 joint favourites: Aiden Grimshaw and Matt Cardle, 5-1: One Direction, 6-1: Rebecca Ferguson, 8-1: Cher Lloyd, 10-1: Mary Byrne, 20-1: Treyc Cohen, 33-1: Paije Richardson, 40-1: Katie Waissel, 66-1: Belle Amie, John Adeleye and Storm Lee, 100-1: Diva Fever, 150-1 outsider: Wagner

The X Factor continues Saturday at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITV1 HD.