X Factor (UK) 2013

Tonight, 8PM, ITV1.
Let your hatred flow...
http://tcowa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/emperorGrins.jpg

This is still going huh?

Perhaps going downhill, but still going. Apparently changes have been made to the audition format so it's more like earlier series, ie, auditionees are in a room with the judges instead of on a stage in front of a baying crowd.

That's better.

X Factor judges, what's on your iPod?
Dodgy, 'In A Room'

Bruce Springsteen: "Three Yesses and a No"

Watched some of this on Saturday. I only really watch it for the mad people who can't sing but they've cut back on them. It was mostly really boring people who could pretty much keep in tune. The worst thing is, the people who get a yes from the judges come back for a second audition in front of an audience. So the idea is you have to sit through the boring ones twice. Fuck that.

Yeah, it kind of makes the Sunday programme a waste of time. Generally the whole thing has become more 'The Voice' like in it's increasingly humane treatment of tone deaf screechers.

I had to give up early doors when Sharon started putting really shit people through for a laugh and average singers with sob stories moved everyone to tears by having sob stories despite not being particularly good at singing. Same old same old, in other words.

They've somehow managed to drag out the auditions even more, so we only get to see seven or eight singers on the Saturday, and then it's pretty much a given that six of them will get through to boot camp anyway (the other two sent of with a "keep practising and come back next year").

bit boring eh. good to hear the phrase 'kept his dick wet' on my tv at 8pm though.

A yodelling 17 year old, ffs

tbqh, I'm glad there are less of the mad/delusional nutters, and more of the 'not quite good enough, but keep practicing' ones. Lets people know what is really required.

Wow, they really drag out the audition stages, don't they? Still bloody whittling them down to the least shit ones.

that extended thing with the chairs, jeez, such cruelty. if i cared about these people this show would be so emotionally draining.

Yeah that was brutal.

This is the first one I've watched in any great depth this series, cannot believe Sharon sent home that dude who sang Higher Love. Are her ears made of cloth?

I work with G1l3s P0tt3r's mum. She says it's been crazy, girls outside the house already trying to see him. He's got something like 200k Twitter followers and 50k FB friends.

Is it just me, or has Dermot started dyeing his hair?

vote Tamera

Ah, look at all the loony people
Ah, look at all the loony people

Dermot O'Leary, picks up the mic and goes out on the stage
Trys to conceal his rage
Looks at the camera, wearing the face that he gets paid by the hour for
The crowd are so bored.

All the loony people
Where do they all come from?
All the loony people
Why can't they sing a song?

That Gary Barlow, writing the words of a song that no one wants to hear
No one comes near.
Look at the winner, they'll release a single and then disappear
For most of next year.

All the loony people
Where do they all come from?
All the loony people
Where do they all belong?

Ah, look at all the loony people
Ah, look at all the loony people

Dermot O'Leary, dyes his hair and thinks it won't show
But everyone knows
All of the judges, send it to deadlock, the audience raves
No one was saved

All the loony people (ah, look at all the loony people)
Where do they all come from?
All the loony people (ah, look at all the loony people)
Why can't they sing a song?

this seat swapping thing is so stupid and pointlessly mean

yum

I didn't watch or record tonight because that seat thing is so fucking awful. I sort of see why they have to do it because too many talent shows have a billion yesses before they've weighed up the options, but surely you'd whittle down in a less unpleasant way?

When do the live shows start? I'll probably get back on board for that.

Next week is the Judge's Houses Blubathon, so the week after that at the earliest.

chairs was unusually cruel, especially for the girls - seemed to be set up to have three dead certs going in last.

The last note of the flute playing woman doing 'High And Dry' just now... Wow.

Yeah that was something else.

Louis still wearing those sunglasses that make him look like a Mafia hitman on holiday.

Just been catching up on all the latest episodes (because I am that cool!)

Groups - Not sure I'm seeing what Gary sees in the new girl band (Miss Dynamix!) Pure Shores was a great song choice but they didn't exactly sound great singing together. Kingsland Road are of course terrible and the producers should probably just accept that One Direction were a one off and it will never happen again, just ask The Risk, Union J, Distric3 or Nu Vibe. Rough Copy seem like nice enough lads but don't have anything else to add at this point.

The Overs - Seriously what is the point? The prison officer will go far (in a Chris Maloney, Tesco Mary way) but will end up with exactly the same album album out for Mother's Day situation as all the others. Sharon putting through Shelly proves that she still thinks it is the same show she was last on in 2007. Even though she got praised for her vocals by ALL the judges those cruise ship comments are coming her way very very soon. She will be out by week 2 just like Sami Brookes was. Lorna is Sharon's best singer but they have given her no airtime yet so she will be out within the first 3/4 weeks. I love that Joseph was an absolute shoe in until he got in a big strop at the chair swapping auditions "NO NO NO...You can't do this to me man!" You could tell right there that Sharon took a dislike to him and he had just screwed it for himself. Shame as the rock singers on the show always provide a good laugh (Storm Lee, Jamie Afro etc)

The Boys - Oh Louis...your obsession with "Ready made pop stars" has really made you fuck it up this year in a year they finally didn't give you the shit categories. Yeah Nicolas can sing but remember Eggnog Quigg? This guy will win the votes every week until the last few weeks before the final when the producers start sabotaging him just like they did to Janet Devlin and poor Eggnog because he obviously isn't the kind of singer they want representing the show these days. Guy with crap hair has nothing going for him and Sam won't make it that far even though every week they will try and brainwash us with all the "the girls all love you" comments. Sending Paul home over any of these guys was the biggest fuck up this year. Yeah he was shy and not quite as skinny as the other guys but he seemed like a good guy and had a great voice (by X Factor standards)

The Girls - As soon as Abi auditioned with that look, playing the guitar and singing her own song it was completely obvious she was going to be in the final 12. The producers really like those quirky girls don't they? Thinking she'll probably go the same way as Ella from last year though. Tamera seems to be the chosen one this year and will be pushed all the way to the final. She can sing (when she remembers her words) but I'm just not sure. I feel the press will all over her and all those hard times she kept talking about will soon be revealed. Hannah is obviously a good singer and stands out in this category but PLEASE STOP CRYING. Her sob stories each week are going to be unbearable. One other thing on this category is personally I was sad Relley C didn't get through. Loved her audition and judges houses song and she seemed really likeable. Was that just me? Oh and Melanie and Jade... see you next year.

Yeah. Although I feel like either Relley or Paul will get parachuted back in as a "surprise".

Sadly I think it's more likely Melanie will take Relley's place if they do the whole wildcard thing again this year. They really made it seem like she was going to make it this year.

Tamera really the only one I can see being anything beyond the show from this bunch.

The blonde woman in the overs category is such a joke. Souli Roots could sell more records than her.

There were a couple of interesting rumours on Popjustice indicating Souli Roots was being pushed to be this year's joke act.

It was online a few weeks ago that Souli had actually got through to the lives and Gary kicked up a massive fuss about it. I guess they just got it wrong, but I was definitely expecting her to go through as the joke act.

People at the Bootcamp shows said that after Souli Roots performed, Sharon left her seat and spoke with the production team for 15 minutes before returning and telling her that she couldn't have a Top 6 seat.

I'm guessing that Mrs. O dug her heels in?

Tamera really the only one I can see being anything beyond the show from this bunch.

Tamera is really obviously equipped to be a star, but the stories that are coming out already could maybe hamstring her? They don't read as 'sympathetic troubled teen'; I'm sure syco/itv will do what they can to fix that (oh, ok, underway, but i get the impression it's hard to shift drugs + bullying w/ the public.

Not sure I'm seeing what Gary sees in the new girl band (Miss Dynamix!)

He is a vain man, maybe: he put them together, so he was always going to put them through.

At this point, I like Hannah (I think her tears should stop, and even now are tempered by a winning 'fuck working in Greggs' attitude) and Rough Copy.

Rough Copy might provide some mildly diverting entertainment. The other groups not so much. I knew that Barlow would put Miss Dymaxion through the second he said he was putting a group together from the discarded solo girls. His ego is just colossal.
The prison officer is going to go the Tesco Mary route for sure. Shelley will be Wanger-ing it up with a side order of the singer from M People. Lorna probably get voted off before we really get to see much from her, due to public indifference/lack of screen time.

Sending Paul home over any of these guys was the biggest fuck up this year.

Agreed. I have no interest in the Boys category, the finalists are all so bland, to the point of making Leon Jackson look interesting. Someone says this every year, but how the hell did Louis ever make a successful career in the music business? Oh yeah, he got incredibly lucky.
Girls category, more or less the same as the boys, but with added tabloid fodder.
There is just no-one even remotely interesting this year. Some of them have technical singing ability, but it's really like the producers are expecting everyone to sit down and watch the programme with a fucking mug of Ovaltine in their hand. Someone like Kitty Brucknell or even Johnny Robinson could have made it more watchable, but it's just going to be blandness, and that's even before the X Factor machine has started squashing the individuality out of the contestants.

I'm definitely at the stage now where I'm watching it wanting people to be voted off more than actually wanting anyone in particular to do well. I'll be more satisfied seeing that boy band or quirky Abby getting kicked off than seeing Hannah (who is one of the better contestants) getting through each week. I think it was the same last year. All I really remember now is that by the end I was desperate for Christopher Maloney to win just to see Simon Cowell have to spend a shit load of money trying to launch his career. The last people I kind of liked were Little Mix and the last person I actually supported was Cher Lloyd, which seems a long time ago now.

Agree that Gary Barlow's ego is ridiculous these days and sometimes I think he might even be a more pathetic and spiteful human being than Louis. I think the whole Frankie Cocozza thing was when I really lost any tiny little bit of respect I had for him. He actually thought that guy was going to win and defended his vocals, behaviour and overall awful personality.

I liked Ella Henderson last year but she peaked early.

Agree that Gary Barlow's ego is ridiculous these days

"I think I've created something special with these girls. Well done me."

Dermot: "How did that lipstick get behind your ear?"

Hmm, its as if he doesn't watch the performance or something!

Flash! Aaaaahh-aaaaaaaahhh!
Fuck off with this bullshit!
DUN-DUN DUN DUUHHHNN!

Got to admit that all of the groups were quite good, sort of likable. I did miss Rough Copy cos I'd started reading the paper, but the judges were enthusiastic so I'll give them the benefit. From the look of the other boyband, I expected to hate them, but they seemed nice enough.

I liked the girl that sang Ain't Nobody too.

Boys were total garbage, especially the guy with the horrible hair and the shrimp with the terrible tie. I can't remember another boy in fact.

The blonde woman who got kicked off was pretty embarrassing.

I got the wrong end of the stick and thought Souli Roots was in this (I might even have got the idea from this thread), so mostly I was waiting for her.

the other boy was the one dressed as a dentist

Blonde woman not kicked off (yet)

She has less chance of winning X Factor than my dog.

I don't even like dogs or own one. I would have to start liking dogs, acquire one, train it up, somehow get it in as a wild card AND have it win over the hearts of the public (this is the easiest step, to be fair, for a dog) - all before Christmas, but there is still more chance of this happening than that woman winning.

Rough Copy very very likeable, just hope Gary doesn't grind them into total dullness. Kingsland Road a bit uncanny valley, like they've engineered among themselves a very careful but not quite perfect emulation of one kind of traditional boyband, down to generating chemistry by ruffling one another's hair etc. For all that, find them surprisingly decent. (Also, In current world where boyband =1D, they strike me as quite old).

Girls: Hannah probably the best, Abi interesting but could be stuck in a particular style like Janet Devlin was, Tamera's lack of diction was shown up a bit by her song choice.
Boys: Nicholas is like a slightly older Eoghan Quigg, Sam a generic Britannia High type act, and Luke is just boring (and also he fell into the trap of making me wish that Sting was singing that song instead of him).
Groups: Miss Dymaxion all sang flat, Kingsland Road are conservative Barlow's attempt to remake Wand Erection but blander, Rough Copy potentially could be interesting but are already getting shafted by arrangements (the division of harmonies didn't show off their talent and that key change was painful but OTOH they had the technical skill to carry it off).
Overs: Sharon's put all her eggs in the basket labelled 'big voices'. Sam is a bit of an anonymous singer now that some of her edges have been smoothed off, Shelley (in the bottom two after tonight's flash vote) has more personality but the spectre of Wanger still lurks in the shadows. Lorna hasn't had the individuality ground out of her yet and might actually be my pick to win.

Cher's song is very Oasis/Robbie

Lorna hasn't had the individuality ground out of her yet and might actually be my pick to win.

Well that's fucking sunk that then.

there was a noble lunacy to that prediction.

Was one of Rough Copy wearing a gold headband in the group performance tonight? I am in favour of an Imagination for modern times.

i don't think i'm going to really follow this series but it will surprise no one to learn that my favourite contestant is TAMERA

also kingsland road what the fuck, bomb everything, rip everything

(btw sam callahan will obv win due to prior youtube-style fame among teen audience, tamera will doubtless fall foul of the "she's not likeable" press they always lob at young black women)

Current odds make Tamera the favourite (surely not) and have Sam Callahan at 60/1 so I hope you're right.

Sam - She might be a technically good singer, but there's not much individuality or personality coming across in her singing. Which is odd, since in the VT Sam had plenty of personality.
Kingsland Road - The VT tries to make them out to be 'lads', but instead they come across more as creeps. Barlow here not understanding the subtle balance that made East 17 successful as 'bad boys' that nevertheless girls liked. No lead/solo vocals, so probably there isn't really anyone in the group who could do that. Louis' bullshit boast that he and Gary know more about boybands than anyone else on the judge's panel. And snore-gasm Barlow is already touting their work ethic, which means there's no, you know, excitement or anything. Nicole is pushing Matt as being the lead vocalist, but he's got virtually no presence.
Nicholas McDonald - Another piss-awful wedding singer rendition of Robbie Williams' 'She's The One'. And wtf is Sharon on?

Sharon is terrifying.

Oof, reed-thin voice cannae hit and hold the high notes. This is just so nothing.

I think Abi has real potential and is an interesting singer. But this week's song choice and arrangement was just wrong. There's just no way to cut 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head' down to two minutes. And she was required to carry too much of the song herself, with next to no help from the backing track.

OH LOUIS SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP

Louis has the nerve to criticise Shelley when Nicolas has all the substance of a fart? WTF?

"you would be popular with THE GAYS" is what I think he was subtly inferring.

The look on Sharon's face during that performance says everything - Sam's like an even blander version of Keyser Soze from last year.

I missed it completely. I assume I didn't miss much.

Tamera is so so much better than everybody else, just make her winner now and save us all countless hours over the next couple of months.

Dermot: "They're cool, they're classy, they're from... Croydon"

Dunno, this Rough Copy lot seem pretty good. Missing a few notes here and there though, and also wtf are they wearing?

It's like they got dressed with the lights off. They're competent, they're likeable, but they're also a bit boring.

I mean, I think they could be a lot more interesting, but Barlow probably won't allow it. And I think they're a lot more compliant than JLS, who pretty much over-rode their mentor (Louis).

This year is really missing a Misha B or a Cher Lloyd or someone who will just stomp themselves all over it, so that when Louis trots out "you took that song and made it your own" he will actually be right for once. It's all terribly safe.

Also, I have just seen on the Guardian liveblog that someone has pointed out that Luke Friends looks like Kimberley Walsh, and he totally does.

#stupidhashtags

That wasn't too bad, and she only looked like crying once, but the whole "people who aren't stick thin reclaiming Beautiful for the people who don't actually conform to media ideals of beautiful" schtick is WAY overdone now, especially when these people ARE actually beautiful.

I've turned off now that the singing's over.

Kingsland Road are in the bottom two after the flash vote. Barlow with a look on his face like thunder.

first one i've watched tonight, me and Hannah laughing and high-fiving when those stupid-haired twats lost the vote.

i don't give a fuck about the back-stories, Hannah B rooooooools

BARLOW YOU'RE SHIT, BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS

The quest to remove anything interesting and/or different from X Factor continues. Although to be fair Kingsland Road's survival song was better than their song from last night, because at least they took turns singing lead. But they're still a dull and formulaic boy band, and Barlow will be unbearably smug next week.

To be fair Shelley was fairly ordinary, and with two weeks in the bottom two it's not like she was garnering a lot of public support.

Think Sharon swung it?

I'm 2 years older than Shelley? ;_;

Shelley was never going to win over Kingsland Road even if they'd just come out and giggled and squawked and farted through their song, I think they are more determined than ever to find a boyband that can actually win this thing given the success of JLS and Wand Erection beyond the show (which never translates into final votes, no idea why). I don't think Kingsland Road are it though. I thought Shelley was great in her sing-off.

Sharon is completely terrifying.

NSFW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YA4DCRLK88

Looks like we're going to be saved the cheap-o indignities of Halloween Week as it's being skipped this year.

"from the crayon to the grave"

As with the Sting example above, it's not a good thing that I'm catching myself wishing that Bono was singing this instead.

The "I've never heard of that movie" schtick is really fucking played now, isn't it? Also, I find Sharon Osborne actually deeply uncomfortable to watch.

Sam very much like a miniature Keyser Soze, a singer who will very happily sing whatever you want him to in any soft rock or pop rock style you want.

But otherwise nothing of any interest.

LOUIS SAID "RECORDING VOICE" DRINK A SHOT (OF BRAKE FLUID)

He also pulled the regional voting thing for Nicholas.

Abi's voice makes me feel like someone is pouring nail varnish remover onto my eardrums.

Took song and made it her own *drink*

I may not make it to the end of the show.

A boring safe song choice and a pedestrian performance that really falls back on the Diana Vickers breathy style.

Sam C., you are not "taking risks" in this competition ffs.

First appearance this year of the 'standing on a box with the band's name on it' trick.

"Words cannot describe how much we want this"

*lapses into shiraz-induced coma*

They're the worst group in the contest. It's hard to decide which of them is actually the best singer, it seems to vary quite a bit from week to week and even during a single song. And there's also the problem that they can't really sing in harmony. Even just in unison, it sounds terrible, like they're just singing all over each other. Which kind of makes sense, seeing as how they've only just been put together as a group by Gary 'Music Industry Svengali' Barlow.

Have to agree with Sharon that there was way too much honking out that one lassie's nose in lieu of actual singing.

I hate that song anyway, but the bit after the key change might have saved Sam B from being in the bottom two this week.

Has there ever been an over-25 that isn't Wanger that hasn't been beaten into "one for the mums" cruise ship blandness?

Johnny Robinson?

If anyone ever wondered what 'Pretty Woman' would sound like with the singers performing inside a washing machine, there you go.

Oh aye, he was completely Wangerised as well, wasn't he? It's a rum old category xpost

That was shite. It sounded like a bad Wham tribute act.

LOL eat shit Barlow!

HA! and eat a second helping, hamster face!

If Miss Dymaxion get voted off tomorrow, I will make Gary Barlow's seething-with-inner-rage face my desktop wallpaper.

This Lady Gaga song sounds like Gloria Estefan doing Eurovision.

I will make Gary Barlow's seething-with-inner-rage face my desktop wallpaper.

All I can say is that Barlow must be pretty good at poker.
No crappy cheap-o Halloween Week this year, it's Disco Week instead. Like that's not going to be completely horrifying in it's own right. Prepare to laugh yourself into a stupor as the other judges make cracks about how the last time Louis was in a club, disco was current.

after Chic opening the show Luke and Kingsland Road have a hard act to follow, but I have faith in them!

Wait to you hear what Luke's singing.

(without spoiling the 'surprise', it's another classic hamfistedly wrong Louis choice)

haaa wut.

Son of Wanger

Somebody forgot to tell Sharon's hairdresser that they weren't going to do Halloween Week this year.

His stoop is making this especially awkward

something distressingly unheimliche about all of this, it feels like i'm glimpsing a world that is not mine.

Kingsland Road are so much like a third tier 90's boyband. Completely forgettable.

Tamera is technically good, but emotionally a bit flat. There's such a thing as being too controlled.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5542/10632533575_745ec7c81a.jpg

Haha kiltimagh namecheck. I am just back from there.

True about Tamera usually, but I thought that one worked, longing-haunted air.

Rough Copy are probably the best act left in the contest, but they're still to safe and pedestrian for my taste.

Abi - imagine trying to listen to an entire album of songs sung like this.
Nicholas - boring, and isn't he the only contestant who's shorter than Dermot?

They put the two big singers at the end. I preferred Hannah's performance over Sam Bailey's, which was a bit too mid 80s Bonnie Tyler.
Bottom two prediction: Kingsland Road (just awful boyband-by-numbers drivel) vs Nicholas (he actually looked embarrassed to be there).

Nicholas - boring, and isn't he the only contestant who's shorter than Dermot?

yeah he should be shamed. how disgusting to be short. what do you propose for short people, snoball?

Hannah was best by far.

They could get him a box to stand on, maybe? Or stilts for Dermot, so that he's taller than everyone.

Or maybe on next week's Big Band Week (yeah unfortunately it's come back), Nicholas could do a thumping big band rendition of this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NvgLkuEtkA

Big band week? Whenowhen will anyone do a rendition of 'Wombling white tie and tails'?

wtf

Kingsland Road (their second time in the bottom two), understandable. But Tamera? WTF?

Tamera's survival song is a Whitney tune, which is the sort of thing she was working this week to get away from. But Kingsland Road have to go, using the same logic that saw them saved against Shelley when she was in the bottom two.

Suck it Barlow. SUCK IT WITH A STRAW!

most racist public votes ever, right?

i mean this series in general not just this week.

hannah and tamera have both been in the bottom two already? oh man the british voting public is seriously getting more and more racist year on year, not to mention the racist smear stories getting more and more obvious (one of rough copy has a COUSIN in prison, lorna once HELD A GUN)

Maybe they're all voting for Rough Copy?

Haven't been reading the press about the contestants this year that much but surely the person who has received the worst treatment by them in the last few years was Cher Lloyd?

Katie Waissel too maybe. And Kitty possibly?

normally I think race & the x-factor is complicated… like it's not sole determinant of public mood & interacts with class & gender messily, but Hannah followed by Tamera in the bottom 2… f u racist british public.

unless they are voting for Rough Copy, in which case, sorry for swearing at you british public, I can go with that.

I think it's pretty obvious Temera isn't going to win and will probably come about 4th even though she's obviously being pushed as the chosen one this year. She's the cool choice this year (like Cher or Misha B) but she won't connect with the public enough to win. She will probably do fine after the show and will be lucky to escape to another label.

At this point I can't see any obvious winners and can a number of these people winning.

Rough Copy - Now Gary is down to his only semi decent act he can concentrate on ruining their career like he did with the other bands. Having them sing Bryan Adams dressed in white was just so misguided and dated. Big improvement this week (easily helped by singing an incredible song) It was nice to see them having some fun again. Think they might make the top 3 and will probably have a couple hits sometime next year. Can't see them winning but they are likely to be the most successful act out of the show.

Luke Friend - He does seem to be gaining in popularity. Maybe he could sneak it and win it Joe Mcelderry style? His VTs show him to be likeable but totally bland just talking in usual cliches "I just want to make the final so much" "I just need to go out there and smash it" I don't really have any strong feelings about this guy apart from I still think Paul should have made it through instead of him.

Abi - There is something really unlikeable about Abi and at this point she's my least favourite act left. I like that she looks angry when she's getting negative comments like she's probably only been told how special she is by her family and friends up until this point in her life. I also like that when she did Kylie she was all "I want to show them I'm not a one trick pony" now a few weeks later she's saying "I want to go back to being the real me and back to how I was in my audition" So you mean you want to go back to hiding behind your piano and instead of progressing through the show and growing as an artist you want to give up and show how limited you are? Ok good look with that, look how well Janet Devlin has done.

Sam Bailey - Potentially the first over to win it? She's proved herself to be a better singer and more likeable person that Tesco Mary but honestly what will Syco do with her? How will they get her singles in the charts?

Nicholas Quigg - He can sing but he seems comes off as pretty cocky. Dermot will ask him how it went and always seems to say "Yeah it was great and I think I did an amazing job." Again he could make it to the final and if he won it it would be amusing just to see Syco spend thousands of pounds making an album with him that sounds like a bunch of half arsed Micahel Buble songs (Hi Leon Jackson) Wouldn't be surprised to find out he's been ahead in the voting for every week so far. The producers better start sabotaging him soon or he could walk it.

Sam Calahan - Yeah Gary's face said it all. Not since Frankie Cocozza did I Gotta Feeling have I seen such a shambolic performance on the show. I actually feel sorry for him a little bit as he knows every night as he goes to sleep he was put in for his looks alone and no matter how hard he tries he will always be a terrible singer (Reminds me of Lloyd from 2009)http://youtu.be/GN5Yb9ZFQ7g He seems like a nice enough guy but again, Paul over this guy? Just no.

Hannah - She remains my favourite at this point. Skyfall was one of the best performances of the show this year so far. It was like watching an actual star for three minutes. I would really like to hear her singing Slave to the Rhythm before the show ends. Her being in the bottom two was of course just ridiculous. I was disappointed she chose fucking Read All About It as her save me song. Can that song just be banned for a good ten years.

Kingsland Road - Why were they being made to be so cheesy and dated? People liked One Direction because they were a little bit cooler than your average boy band. You could say the same about The Wanted or even McFly. These guys were way more Bad Boys Inc than One Direction. They did do the old One Direction trick of drowning their average vocals with backing tracks. I do love how since 2010 the producers have been desperately trying to find "the next big boy band" These guys will join District 3, The Risk, No-Vibe and Union J in the list of forgettable boy bands that will never ever have a number one single ever.

The judges - Nicole continues to be the most amusing, Sharon the most creepy and Louis..well he's actually doing quite well this year but he's still throwing out some of his usual one liners. "The audience here loved you" "There's no one working harder in the competetion" "You're like a little....." "You have a lot of PO-tential"

Ok I've come to the conclusion that Gary is one of the most hatable people on the planet. Let's just remember again that whenever he slags off anyone's vocals HE PUT FRANKIE COCOZZA THROUGH AND PREDICTED HIM TO WIN THE WHOLE SHOW. http://youtu.be/3lyqZ3rcLD0 Like people said on here his ego is gigantic and he constantly has double standards. Last year when he praised Kye for a great performance (when he murdered Love the Way You Lie) Then next week showed in his VT Gary harshly saying "It was really disappointing and you sang totally flat" Not what you said on the show Gary! Also him saying to one of the other judges "Slagging off song choice really is the laziest criticism" only for him to do it the next week to someone else. Yeah Gary I never forget these things you twat. However nothing will ever top last year when had to defend Christopher Maloney every single week (leading him to singing a duet with him in the final..something I hope Gary thinks about on his deathbed)

bff

http://www.leftfootforward.org/images/2012/06/David-Cameron-Gary-Barlow.jpg

I have a sinking feeling that Luke, Nicholas or Sam C could win this Matt Cardle style. Although to be fair, none of those three are such massive egotistical bellends compared to Cardle. Luke in particular seems nice enough, but he's getting the Wanger end of the stick when it comes to Louis' song choices.
I think Gary's a complete twunt of course, but in his defence, during Rough Copy's pre-performance VT, he did show signs that he'd stop meddling and let the band do more of their own thing. Even if they don't win, they still could approach JLS levels of success.

It was like watching an actual star for three minutes.

I get that feeling from Hannah, Abi (despite her 'tude), and Rough Copy. I'd probably put Tamera in there if she'd be more herself rather than staying in full-on Whitney mode. That's what I don't understand - this week Tamera wanted to do something different, but then for her survival song she sang... Whitney. But if she keeps taking risks I could see her in the final three over Abi.

xp bah dum pish!

like it's not sole determinant of public mood & interacts with class & gender messily

yeah the much-vaunted "likeability" on shows like this is basically code for race, class and gender expectations and the behaviour deemed appropriate in each case (it goes hand in hand with how cher lloyd was seen)

(xps)
Cameron: "So I said to the vicar, 'How are you going to pick up anything with that?'!"
Barlow: "HAHA AHAHAAHHAHAH AHAHAHAA AHAH!! HAHAHAH !!!! AHAHAHA!!!"

Potentially the first over to win it?

The campaign to remove Brookstein from history is succeeding.

But yes, I think Sam B's a likely winner. Seems pleasant and funny, a more adaptable and controlled singer than the traditional overs bellower. dece back story (prisonofficersambailey), enjoying her journey towards glamour & she can prob do a bit better for Syco than one of those star-for-6-month boys. A year or two of live shows, Radio 2, big valentines/mother's day etc albums. I don't think they need singles (outside this xmas), necessarily. Dull as anything, but not the worst.

(Want Hannah or Rough Copy to win tho')

& agree Tamera can't win. The most obvious star, but she's f'ed by having pretty much the complete set of wrong-sort-of-young-black-girl stories in circulation - drugs, bullying, shoplifting, etc etc. I thought her gifts might see her past that, but this week strongly suggests not.

Gary Barlow: X Factor losers 'do better'

Robbie's stage set makes it look like he's appearing in a production of 'The Pirates of Penzance'.

most racist public votes ever, right?

― i lost my shoes on acid (jed_), Sunday, November 3, 2013 10:48 PM (1 week ago)

i mean this series in general not just this week.

― i lost my shoes on acid (jed_), Sunday, November 3, 2013 10:48 PM (1 week ago)

more a case of the core voting audience doesn't give a fuck about music i'd guess but who knows?

This is the second year in a row I have absolutely no one that I'm actually rooting for. I quite like Hannah but I'm not exactly passionate about her. I'm starting to think I wouldn't mind Sam Bailey winning but again I'm not behind her in anyway she just seems like a good singer and a nice person.

Thinking back through the years I've always had someone I can get behind (Rowetta, Rhydian, Little Mix, Cher Lloyd, Joe McElderry, Alexandra Burke) but as I mentioned earlier it's gone from me having one person to focus all my hated towards (Frankie Cocozza, Danyl Johnson, Eggnogg, One Direction) to me just being mildly pleased when crap people get kicked off (Abi, Kingsland Road and hopefully soon Nicolas) Really can't explain why I'm watching it anymore.

The guest performers have been atrocious this year. I mentioned this in the Cher Lloyd thread, instead of having her the week her single is out they picked Celine Dion and Robbie Williams (again) Why have they given up supporting their own acts? They didn't even have last years "next big boy band" Union J on even though they've just had a single and album out. I'm not exactly a Union J fan but shouldn't they be pushing the bands from the show to make look like this all worthwhile? Last year they snubbed Amelia Lilly and Misha B even though it looked like they were about to become decent sized stars. JLS have a single out next week but instead they've got Miley Cyrus and Gary Barlow on. I'm sure they'll wheel out Leona for the final yet again and One Direction will probably be squeezed on the show at least three times before it's over.

hannah in the bottom two again? this country is 90% composed of racist fuckwits, i'm convinced

i was talking to my own Hannah about this on Saturday night, and i don't know if it makes sense to talk about outright racism - after all, you can't vote negatively - so much as the fact that a chunk of the pop audience in this country really doesn't like/get very soulful vocals (maybe music too, don't know how i'd separate that out). a lot of people seem to prefer that dry, restrained vocal style you get in a lot of British pop music especially. i'm wary of breaking that down along black music/white music lines altho i'd acknowledge historically that split has some meaning and weight.

i think race plays a part in notions of eye candy/cuteness too, which is obviously a big factor in the voting patterns. but this is all complicated and in need of more in depth analysis maybe.

which is kinda saying when i shout at the TV about the voters being racist fuckwits i then calm down and wanna analyze exactly how race factors into this show and why it seems to work against the contestants who seem to me to be obviously, almost objectively, the most talented

yeah I'm pretty much the same. first instinct is to shout 'stupid racist british public' but then I think… it's complicated. There's just such a mess of stuff going into it - gender (girls mostly have it much rougher on the show in terms of dislike/abuse), looks (Hannah suffers badly here I suspect, but then is Tamera too good-looking? Conventional attractiveness generates hostility when not combined with explicit humility – eg Leona was almost shy iirc), region (I would have thought that London, & black London in particular would generate wider hostility, but I think results over the years disprove this), musical idioms (just as you say NV, & I think I underestimate this when I think about the show) etc etc. Class is the one that's trickiest to unpick imo - not that it's separable from many of the previous – but I think it's especially closely related to the emotional availability & narrative identification that people want from the contestants ('likeability') – both on 'I can relate to them' & 'aww they love their nan' levels. I mean that 'aww they love their nan' thing seems to trump what would, under the basic 'stupid racist British public' hypothesis, seem to be insuperable disadvantages - eg Marcus a couple of years ago iirc (tho' a refined version of the srBp hypothesis could be developed that posits homosexuality or varieties of camp as changing the public's racial perceptions/expectations? I dunno. I am just a hi-oriv guy trying to figure things out).

'hi-priv' that should be in the final sentence.

basically X Factor should provide us with voter demographics so we can work out why the voters make such consistently terrible decisions

seriously. i have to rely on gogglebox at the moment.

i forgot about it yesterday. so did everybody else, it seems. i just watched some clips to catch up and sam callahan's performance is as limp as limp gets.

Sam C's performance definitely the worst from last night, a real 'week 1 live shows' feel to it. He's the act that's progressed the least.

Luke was also pretty bad, a version of 'Your Song' completely devoid of personality. Nicholas was a bit of a surprise though. When I heard that he was going to be doing an Adele song, I thought that he'd be sure to come a cropper, but he did really well. He's pulled out of Spudface/usual Louis boy singer territory now.

This Gary Barlow tune sounds like a cross between David Grey and Chas & Dave.

Sam C is a cert for the out, surely?

luke singing like he has kidney stones.

maybe all the girls really do love sam and he can somehow survive this. dunno why anyone would particularly like luke either.

ffs has there ever been a contestant on X Factor who could play guitar worth a shit?

Probably.. Lucy Sprag?

how soon we forget Tabby Callaghan, shameful.

Series 1, 3rd place. Looking back at that year's contestants, I can only remember Brookstein and G4.

did we discuss anywhere how James Arthur apologised for using the word 'queer' in a song, saying he "would just like to make it completely clear that it was not meant in anyway as a reference to homosexuality ... I realise where the term has come from in meaning ... but used in the context of the rap battles I have grown up with it has come to mean something completely different ... That said, I understand why it could cause offence and that definitely wasn't my intention"? Yeah who would've thought that "you probably want to stick your dick in me, you fucking queer" would pass as homophobic.

i watched it last night but not tonight, thank fuck they dropped the right one for a change, easily the worst of the three little boys never mind the rest of the contestants

I loved how Sam C's pre-performance VT made such a big deal of him playing guitar, then when he actually started playing someone turned the volume of his guitar right the way down after literally about one second, and they faded in some pre-recorded guitar instead. Worst 'person plays guitar on X Factor' ever, handily beating out every single Journey 'oh one of us plays guitar don't you know?' South performance.

So glad Sam went, and totally delighted that Hannah and Tamera both avoided the sing-off. I genuinely think Nicholas has a really good voice. He's dull as dishwater, but I've yet to hear him hit a wrong note and he has a nice tone to his voice which really worked last night with that Adele song. I have no idea what anyone would do with him if he won it to sustain any level of success, but him, Sam B, Hannah and Tamera are all excellent singers and I'd be OK with any of them winning it at this stage. Luke is just annoying and a bit shit but fulfilling the quirk requirement because of his hair. Rough Copy are pretty meh, but it didn't take much to be the best of the bands this year, Gary had some real stinkers.

You've all forgotten about the Macdonald Brothers for worst-guitar-playing-people, btw.

It's a terrible life. I agree with some parts of your post. I don't know what I will do after this.

http://themacs.co/en/events now that's what i call pathos. (would have thought they'd have a slew of performances at small scottish towns' low-budget christmas events lined up.)

Aww, poor The Macdonald Brothers :-(

They did our Christmas lights a couple of years back in Paisley. I have seen an amazing amount of X Factor people because of Christmas lights things in Paisley - Olly Murs, Stacey Solomon, the Dolly Rockers, Journey South, the Macdonald Brothers, Leon Jackson. The one year I was away on holiday, I missed Ruth Lorenzo. And I missed Jedward twice, because all my friends hate fun.

Series 1, 3rd place. Looking back at that year's contestants, I can only remember Brookstein and G4.

― fashionably early Christmas themed display name (snoball)

How can you forget 2 to Go? Brother and sister duo (years before Same Difference) where they both could sing decently and the guy played sax. The brother was blind which produced maybe my favourite Louis moment ever. Simon gave them really bad feedback (they probably deserved it)to which Louis shouted out in defense "HE'S BLIND SIMON" It was a real look into just how Louis thinks about things and views people. Also that year had Rowetta who was awesome.

Best bit of last night was Gary with Rough Copy saying "You had a good fun week last week but now it's back to business. No funny dancing and winking" Basically stop being yourself and having fun now you have to lose all your personality and sing a Coldplay song no one wants to hear. That's what he thinks people want from pop stars really. Each week my hatred for him grows. Last week he said "When I give criticism the contestants learn from it" GET OVER YOURSELF GARY.

I loved how Sam C's pre-performance VT made such a big deal of him playing guitar, then when he actually started playing someone turned the volume of his guitar right the way down after literally about one second, and they faded in some pre-recorded guitar instead. Worst 'person plays guitar on X Factor' ever, handily beating out every single Journey 'oh one of us plays guitar don't you know?' South performance.

― fashionably early Christmas themed display name (snoball)

Is that what happened? I was really confused why it sounded out of time but then he abandoned even looking like he was trying to play it soon after.

I keep thinking it's strange how James Arthur hasn't been on the show yet. Think I'm starting to see why.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2508605/James-Arthur-quits-Twitter-good-homophobic-slur-causes-outrage.htm

Apparently he's due on in a fortnight (worst theme week ever for next week, btw)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_X_Factor_(UK_series_10)#Week_7_.2823.2F24_November.29

So how many of them are going to do Leona Lewis songs then? I'm guessing they'll give Tamera Bleeding Love hoping this will be her breakthrough week. Personally my fingers are crossed for Nicholas to do Swagger Jagger, it's about time he did something upbeat that shows off his personality.

I like that the theme week after is jukebox, it's nice and specific.

It's songs *about* jukeboxes..

One of them will do Dave Edmunds' "A1 on the jukebox (and nowhere in the chart)"

Who's going to have the terrible version of 'I Love Rock'n'Roll'? I reckon Rough Copy.

I genuinely think Nicholas has a really good voice. He's dull as dishwater, but I've yet to hear him hit a wrong note and he has a nice tone to his voice which really worked last night with that Adele song.

agree - at his best he's got a really strong sense of a song, can pace it, draw you in, build into something unexpectedly moving (I found his first audition charming, tho' that may have been the 'you look lovely and smart son' dorky waistcoat + tie). As Louis has groomed him into a 1958 smile-at-the-camera cheeseball boy heartthrob I've found him increasingly unbearable, but he surprised me this week.

Found Tamera's VT cheering, ridiculous. There have been weeks of reputation management, & she talked about how she needs to be more emotional, open up, give a bit more… so she chooses Diamonds are Forever, which despite the 'people let you down' wounds, to casual listener sounds a lot like 'I like diamonds and money'. But I think that fluffing the lyrics actually did her a favour. She looked a bit vulnerable, which might play well for her.

Viva la Vida made no sense for Rough Copy! Pet Shop Boys version works because it's a post-success song – I used to be emperor! - but RC are on their way UP.

I'm convinced that X Factor audiences listen to the lyrics even less than the general public.

I mean, Rough Copy could come out and sing Joy Division's 'She's Lost Control', but if they did it in an upbeat way no-one would notice.

haha true I accept that my desire for satisfying tongue-groove fit between a song's sense and an act's spirit is not shared by the voters.

found this a poor week, generally. Right person went, of course.

At this point, I don't object to any of the likely winners (Sam, Nicholas, Tamera, imo, in that order) – even the last bit of dead wood, Luke, seems like a decent young man. I'm struggling to rage, possibly because I'm also accepting that although Hannah is one of the best or most interesting singers the show's found, the format doesn't really suit her and she can't win.

I think Rough Copy have a good chance of winning, but only if Gary stops fucking meddling. So actually I guess they're hosed then. Louis has made some terrible decisions with his acts over the years, but at least he had the sense to let JLS be themselves.

maybe – I just think casual granny vote in the final will give either Sam or Nicholas the push, and Tamera's hard to deny. RC should be in the final three though, so idk, my guesses are confused.

But you & kitchen person otm on Gary - "You gave a fun, exciting performance last week. LET'S HAVE NO MORE OF THAT LADS."

Gary single sounded like he'd listened to Mumford etc and saw a bright new ocean of shit spread before him.

You've all forgotten about the Macdonald Brothers for worst-guitar-playing-people, btw.

I kind of conflate the Macdonald Brothers and Journey South. After all, how many boring duos, one of which plays guitar, do you need to remember? IIRC JS tried harder to 'rock', to laughable effect.

Sam C "I'm not a karaoke singer" dude why are you here then?

same difference.

Don't bring them into this.

I have a feeling Sam will win the show now. The order will probably go something like this.

6. Hannah
5. Luke
4. Tamera
3. Rough Copy
2. Nicholas
1. Sam

I'm excited to see Louis get an act to the final 3 just in case they stick with them doing duets with their mentors like the past two years. Would love to see Nicholas and Louis doing a really sincere (but obviously creepy) take on Somethin' Stupid.

I wonder how predictable they're going to be giving them past X Factor contestants singles next week? Will they give Rough Copy a JLS song? Tamera something by Leona (Bleeding Love/Run/Better in Time)? I'd like them to mix it up and give them some Cher Lloyd or at least something by Alexandra Burke, Bad Boys and All Night Long were good singles.

I kind of conflate the Macdonald Brothers and Journey South. After all, how many boring duos, one of which plays guitar, do you need to remember? IIRC JS tried harder to 'rock', to laughable effect.

― fashionably early Christmas themed display name (snoball)

This reminds me one of the things I always love about the show. Every year there is one act that one of the judges really has a problem with and it becomes a big story. The thing is this same mentor (usually Simon, Gary or Louis) has an act almost exactly the same in their category.

Simon spent all season with the Macdonald Brothers saying how boring and cheesy they were (leading him into insulting the whole of Scotland) the year after he got Journey South to the final.

Gary has spent all series slagging off Sam's weak vocals obviously thinking we've all forgotten he put through Frankie Cocozza through. Yet again I'm happy to remind everyone he defended his vocals saying he was his little pop star and PREDICTED HIM TO WIN.

Louis spent all 2007 saying how awful Same Difference were and that were cheesy and dated two years before he inflicted Jedward on us. Simon kept saying Louis doesn't know how to have fun, he obviously found out how in time for the Wagner year.

Simon spent the second series again saying how cheesy Chico was but suddenly had no problem putting Same Difference or even Diva Fever a couple of years later.

It's totally obvious why they seem to do this every year (people are obviously going to talk more about Ryan than Kye Sones) but it's yet another way to show that all three of them are full of shit. Pretty surprised how much I hate Gary now, almost as much as I hated Simon during the Danyl Johnson year.

Ah, but when Diva Fever finally lost, and got the commis from Simon and Dermot, one of DF asked Simon "but shall we continue to work together?"

Simon's expression was a picture..

I don't remember that but sounds amazing, I love little moments like that.

I remember the week Diva Fever got kicked out on Xtra Factor Connie asked them about their song choice (Barbra Streisand by Duck Sauce) and they said something along the lines of "We didn't want to do it, Simon had a plan for us" It was a bizarre choice especially as it was musical heroes week. I remember thinking that night why did they pick a song that wasn't even out, for their heroes and why did Matt Cardle do a Bruno Mars song (who had only released one single and I'm totally sure wasn't his musical hero in anyway) Popbitch explained the choices a few weeks later. Turns out Capital Radio had refused to playlist the previous winner's single (Ambitions by little Joe McElderry) so in return Simon had decided to stop owner of Capital's new boyband The Wanted from getting a second single the next week by promoting Duck Sauce and Bruno Mars who were in the charts at the same time as them. On the show I remember him saying for no reason "That Duck Sauce song is going to be number 1 next week"

This shows two things. One, it shows just how petty Simon is and how manipulative the show is to its audience and its contestants (No big shock there I know) Secondly I know and remember way too much about the show and probably shouldn't admit these kind of things.

You say petty, I call it playa.

how do you do a live version of the Duck Sauce tune!?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-jBRNZJ4VQ

^ the horror! Poor Diva Fever.

I have no sympathy for them after the audio-visual shit they put me through.

https://soundcloud.com/aiden/fire-ice

aiden grimshaw's gone down the entirely predictable hipster electro-goth route, not too bad either.

He actually released an album in 2011 that went top 20. The first single was a minor hit and was semi decent.

http://youtu.be/0wm57rqkHmU

I'm very amused at the whole James Arthur story at the moment. Along with the homophobic remarks he made in his diss track I posted earlier he has also been slagging off One Direction, Matt Cardle and having an argument with Lucy Spragon from last years show. She tweeted these texts she got from him.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BZiXIc9IQAAjKlb.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BZiXde0IIAA5bSR.jpg

Looks like he's going to kill his career pretty quickly but luckily for him he's not bothered. "Bring on the hate, I don't want to be popular" Ok so going on X Factor probably wasn't the best idea then.

What a wanker.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25031769
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71259000/jpg/_71259543_jamesa-press-shot-5crop.jpg
I do not give one fuck about this guy. It's much more impressive to me that the mug he's holding is exactly like a set mugs my parents had in the late 80s that were given away free with petrol from Esso garages.

His diss track!

http://youtu.be/6RA8mYs1wYk

i'm impressed how tiny his face is compared to his head

James Arthur cancels engagements after Twitter row

X Factor winner James Arthur has cancelled all of his engagements for a week due to "acute exhaustion".

Because being a homophobic bigot is really tiring?

Comedians Matt Lucas and Frankie Boyle took issue with the homophobic slur

When Frankie "Isn't it funny when I repeatedly say 'pedophile'?" Boyle is telling you to knock it off, it's probably time to quit.

Amazing! The first winner to fuck it up for himself sop bad he doesn't get to come on the show again since poor old Steve Brookstein.

Also this story made me smile.

http://www.nme.com/news/take-that/73995

its pathetic that the NME (although i wouldn't expect any more of them) neglected to mention that the real reason Cowell is keen to return to the uk x factor is that the us x factor ratings are so low it may actually be axed MID SEASON, way before the "winner" is announced. apparently one episode stateside got around 3.6 milion viewers which, to put it in perspective, is about half of the number of viewers your average episode of Countryfile gets in the uk.

xp yes, Arthur was due to be on next week but there's zero chance of that happening now. I don't imagine that XF alumni get paid a lot to appear on the show again after they win, but he's blown a paycheque, a chance to promote his new album, and possibly deep-sixed his career, maybe permanently. At least he's ensured that he'll get a mention on this year's 8 Out Of 10 Cats, the homophobic gimboid.

He's going to get airbrushed out of XF history quicker than someone who pissed off Stalin.

Also I'm guessing that if Tamera sings 'Impossible' tonight, the songs connection to Arthur (it was his WINNAR! song) is not going to be mentioned.

yr right, nobody's mentioned Trotsky on X-Factor for some years...

xpost

Well if Stalin was in charge of X Factor instead of Cowell, he would have ordered ice pick lobotomies for Jedward. Whether anyone would have noticed is another matter.

ice pick ice pick baby

I honestly thought James Arthur was going to be the first properly successful male winner of the show, not because he deserved to be or anything but it seemed like they were going get it right with how they launched him for once. His winners single did really well in other countries too, I'm sure Simon was getting very excited about him. I'm sure it's not the homophobic remarks or him making inappropriate texts to a 17 year old that's really pissed off the X Factor producers/his label, I'm sure slagging off One Direction was the moment he stepped over the line.

This whole thing has been amazing to see, just in how quickly it's all happened. Matt Cardle has been blacklisted from the show and all he did was say he regrets singing a Katy Perry song whilst wearing some dodgy yellow trousers.

I've seen the song choices for tonight. They are an absolute disaster. Songs made famous by other contestants is really what they aiming for, I think four of the songs people are doing are already cover versions. The other two songs are the most obvious songs by the only two acts the show is proud to have as success stories (One Direction and Leona) The big shock of the night is Tamera getting a ballad, it's about time she was given one of those.

Luke and Nicholas are pretty much sunk with their songs tonight. Luke isn't going to be able to avoid sounding like a massive creep, Nicolas isn't going to be able to avoid being adversely compared to the original singer.

Rough Copy's song is such an obvious 'safe' Gary choice that you can pretty much imagine the though process that led him to picking it. Sam B has a reasonable shot with her song, but it's Hannah that's going to smash it out of the park tonight.

where have you seen the songs? i'll be missing most of it tonight so i may as well try to imagine it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_X_Factor_(UK_series_10)#Week_7_.2823.2F24_November.29

Usually very accurate.

thanks. that's well rubbish that is.

Oh and for all you twitchers out there, a chance to see the lesser spotted Shayne Ward as a guest mentor. Although that's like getting Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards as your skiing instructor.

Nicholas on first. He looks like he's either going to crap himself or throw up.

Hannah put in a great performance, Luke's had that same strained sound as his survival song last week, Rough Copy troubled with another wrong song choice by Gary, Tamera (no mention whatsoever of James Arthur = bye bye homophobe) fluffs the words slightly, and Sam B is suddenly the judge's favourite now for some reason?

apart from the words thing i thought Tamera was brilliant and FU gary

otm

That song is hard to sing anyway because of the odd cadence of the words. Even with those slight mistakes Tamera's was the second best performance of the night for me. Nicholas and Luke have to be in the bottom two, because everyone else was so much better.

Watching this on ITV2 just now because, y'know, Doctor Who. The little recap of Louis's highlights of 10 years of X Factor is my favourite thing ever.

Have only heard Hannah and Nicholas so far. Nicholas average (shit song, mind), Hannah was great. I will never stop being amused by the X Factor trying to make themselves synonymous with a song containing the line "you don't really care for music, do you".

Ooh look, it's Shayne Ward. There's a mentor for you.

Urgh, Luke is so rubbish and annoying and shit.

Urgh, Gary is so rubbish and annoying and shit.

Temera's series of fuck ups produced the best, realest & most emotional performance the x factor has seen for several years. It was v nice of Sam Bailey to defend her against Louis during her own comments section though.

What has happened to Rough Copy is tragic. They weren't great to start off with but there's no way they should have become this bad.

Am yet to watch last nights episode but going on what I've seen already I totally agree with you about what Gary's done to Rough Copy. When he had them dressed in white singing Bryan Adams and then Backstreet Boys it was obvious he was picturing them as some outdated boy band instead of the modern band full of personality they seemed to be when they auditioned. As I keep saying, my hatred for Gary grows and grows each week. I'm trying to think back how JLS became so popular? Did Louis just let them do their own thing? I can't remember them doing anything as cheesy as Everything I Do or I Want It That Way but maybe I'm remembering it wrong.

Sam Bailey is going to win this now, she's had some rotten song choices (Celine Dion for a start) but she's the first over in a long time that seems to be popular beyond the novelty vote (Wagner, Johnny) or the granny vote (Tesco Mary, Christopher Maloney) She is very likable and does seem to be the best singer in the competition. I still think Nicholas might be her only competition.

Also speaking of Christopher Maloney he provides one of my two favourite moments on this

http://youtu.be/0fd2fzCRJdI

The second moment comes from Paige/Louis.

Did Louis just let them do their own thing?

Yes - IIRC correctly there was actually a VT clip where they told Louis to just let them do their own thing, and Louis (despite all the bad decisions he's made with his acts over the years) had a flash of good sense and agreed. As much as I rag on him for being successful in the music business more or less by being very very lucky, he does have some idea of what makes a boy band popular. Gary's credentials are far more tenuous, he'll go on and on about 'knowing what the public want' based on his success with Take That. But he wasn't successful before or after, and since their recent hiatus he's been fumbling again. He's a player, not a team coach. He needs to be told what to do (remember his terrible performance on Philip Schofield's carol show all those years back?), Louis (some of the time) knows what to tell people to do.

raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacist Britain

so is Tamera gonna have to learn 3 sets of words next week? uh oh

They should just give her the hits of Scatman John.

I cannot actually comprehend the thinking that goes into Luke Friend getting more votes than Hannah Barrett. Also, Luke's X Factor app thing about his song choices suggested the possibility of him covering Bon Iver next week.

fuck this fucking shit for life, fuck this fucking country and all who sail in her

Hannah's sing off was v good.

(but yeah fuck this country obv)

(xp) Yes. Rough Copy's survival song choice is everything that's wrong with Gary being a mentor. Fuck Oasis.

ffs Louis, the one time that he could have sent it to deadlock and he doesn't?

And just to compound the insult, Hannah won't be back next week, but homophobic bigot James Arthur will be.

angry texts from my Hannah :/

not watching this shit any more

I cannot actually comprehend the thinking that goes into Luke Friend getting more votes than Hannah Barrett. Also, Luke's X Factor app thing about his song choices suggested the possibility of him covering Bon Iver next week.

― ailsa

I think you'll find he'll be singing Skinny Love by Birdy.

Also yeah fuck this show. I knew this was coming but I'm still really disappointed.

Choices for next week. All ballads for Tamera and cheesy dated songs for Nicholas, so no bog surprises.

Rough Copy
End of the Road - Boyz II Men
I Believe I Can Fly - R Kelly
If You Ever - E17 & Gabrielle

Sam Bailey
Living Years - Mike & The Mechanics
Clown - Emeli Sande (It's about time she was covered on here!)
Without You - Mariah Carey

Tamera Foster
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack
This Woman's Work - Maxwell (I love Maxwell but come on people this is Kate Bush's best moment you could at least give her the credit)
Emotion - Bee Gees

Luke Friend
Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel
Skinny Love - Bon Iver
One Day Like This - Elbow (When this became a massive hit last year I was convinced this was going to be the winners single, maybe this year?)

Nicholas McDonald
The Prayer - Celine Dion & Josh Groban
Amazed - Lonestar
Just the Way You Are - Bruno Mars

This Woman's Work please

Can we somehow hack this vote so that Luke has to sing GG Allin's 'Suck My Ass It Smells'?

whoss the theme?

Kitchen Person, see also Samantha Sang for "Emotion"

Theme = "jukebox" i.e. pissed people choose shite songs that no-one else wants to hear except them. Had to go out as soon as the results were announced, but seriously, fuck Louis to the end of the world and back for not sending it to deadlock

The very idea of Luke doing Bridge Over Troubled Water is making me ill.

(xps) What's going to happen next week is each act sings one of the jukebox songs, plus another song, plus their survival song. So Tamera's probably going to do about as well as the person who does the subtitles that pop up when I mute the sound on the TV.

(I mean they'll sing their survival song if they're in the bottom two)

Hannah wasn't very good last night. Do any of the vocal coaches, which i presume they do have, have any idea about diction? i don't think you can really sing the "forf the fif" for "the fourth the fifth" in a song like "hallelujah". Also it's kinda funny how they are all too young to even understand that song. having said that Hannah was still better than almost anyone else considering my presumably perverse appreciation of Tamera's performance which i thought was amazing because it was so raw and went so wrong and was intense for that reason.

i think that's kinda patronising but it really does gate to hear the line sung as "forf the fif".

Did anyone else feel like clapping after the KFC advert?

I'm watching Charlie Brooker's C4 videogames docu.

(which ended with Brooker trolling the nation by claiming that Twitter was more or less a videogame)

Anyway, caught up with this afternoon's repeat. If either Tamera or Rough Copy (take two R Kelly tracks into the shower?) are in the bottom two this week, I'll be furious. Both of them sounded like bona fide pop stars. Rough Copy benefiting again from another week where Gary's attentions are elsewhere (live via satellite Skype it's Ga-ry Bar-low!). Sam B was hamstrung yet again by an 'appeal to the middle ageds' song choice. Nicholas is gradually winning me round by being not at all pathetic like the usual run of the mill X Factor boy singers. Luke smug mugs his way through Mumford & Sons like Olly Murs' kid brother.

James Arthur delivers the most grudging half-apology ever.

Haven't watched it yet. What did he say? Can't believe they still let him on there.

I can't believe they let him back on either. Anyway, Dermot subtly prompted Arthur for an apology, but he bottled out and mumbled something about having made some mistakes without specifically referencing the incident in question.

Meanwhile, Tamera s voted off. Fuck it, has everyone in Britain got cloth ears?

Fuck you, GBP. Cannot believe Luke is still there.

I don't hate Luke, but his constipated straining voice is grating. And the song choices are the most plodding obvious shit: Scumford & Sons? Snow Patrol? TBF both he and Nicholas have gone pretty far beyond the usual Louis boy singer safe zone. But it's not enough to quell my anger when Tamera is in the bottom two.

Next week is Beyoncé week...with Tamera gone and the prospect of watching Friend sing "Halo" I have no interest in this anymore.

Luke Friend looks like he should work at Gringotts.

I had a bit of cognitive dissonance when Luke and Tamera appeared side by side and were around the same height, I'd taken him to be about 5'6" and her to be about 5'10".

Luke turns a Beyonce song into the theme from Friends.

That's Nicholas' worse performance by miles. Ouch.

Nicolas's performance is really really bad, flat notes, bad diction, then he totally missed that high note ("never gonna shut you OWOWOWOWOWOuuut"), just ouch.

Poor lad knows he's fluffed it big time. Ironically his Elton joint tonight is 'Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me'.

But I'm sure he'll be alright, because everyone in Scotland will vote for him because Louis told them to oh wait no they won't...

Thankfully I missed Luke due to tv cock-up. Sam B was terrific though.

Gary always looks so cross when he introduces Rough Copy. And 'Survivor' is by Destiny's Child, not Beyonce solo. But usual X Factor weekly theme rules apply.

Did no-one on Gary's team realise that abbreviating 'Rough Copy' to 'RC' sounds like "arse-y"? Nicole: "That was the arse-y anthem!"

Dear God, the recap clip makes me so glad I missed Luke earlier.

RC/arsey kills me every week. It's this year's Wand Erection for sure.

Nicholas's second song was much better than his first, but the same could be said of a flatulent goat.
They've made Luke look like Mick Hucknall.

Someone I follow on Twitter has just pointed out that Luke looks like the first Lucy Robinson on Neighbours. He totally does as well.

If Arsey become really famous, are people going to start dressing like them? I do hope not.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_elFWuPQNrRg/S6voiq3mXHI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/uaZJB91u2rk/s1600/0493_7%5B1%5D.jpg

Rough Copy: that song choice could have been a disaster, but they made it work. One of their best performances.
Sam B: Technically the best singer left in the competition. She's probably going to be the winner.

Nicole Scherzinger: insane

nah she's just pretend kooky.
Sharon is properly insane

I haven't seen anything beyond auditions this year, but that Luke Friend cover of Beyoncé was basically a Wonder Stuff tribute act.

'The Size of a Cowell'

Scheriously, put a schock in it, Nicole.

Well I guess we've got at least another year of this then.

Surely SURELY Luke has to go now. Though Arsey have chosen the most obvious song and are making a bit of an arse of it. Still, they aren't Luke.

ffs Sharon

Sharon, you utter shitebag.

Another all white final brought to you by the 'Great' British Public.

ffs

Fuck up the high notes and get through to the final. Sound like someone straining out a turd and get through to the final. Be an all black boy band? Oooooooohhhhh, no place in the final for you.

I haven't bee this fucked off about a reality TV show sionce Lee 'I Lied On My CV But Still Got Hired' McQueen won The Apprentice.

luke is so terrible

we haven't watched this since the Hannah debacle, impressed it's managed to sink deeper into the mire

I think Arsey will do OK for themselves - not winning never hurt Wand Erection or JLS. Seriously though, who the fuck is picking up a badly-advertised app (or a phone) and actually voting for Luke?

Luke Likeys

Is that a thing (google tells me it isn't)? It'll be a thing. You should copyright it.

I am still mildly cross about this three hours later.

Oh, you didn't say Lukey Likeys. That should be a thing.

(i may have had a glass of wine or two)

Haha this is the worst final since the very first season! Well done everyone. Hope Nicholas wins just to see them try and make him a star the same way they did with Leon (Sam will win obviously)

Oh and the rumoured celebrity duets are one of the most depressing things I've ever read.

http://tellymix.co.uk/reality-tv/the-x-factor/169186-x-factor-2013-celebrity-duets-revealed-and-its-bad-news-for-nicholas-mcdonald.html

lol. also lol: i didn't watch this week and had just been assuming that luke was eliminated cuz well why wouldn't he have been.

Because Nicholas.

xxp I'd like to imagine that Shane and Kian flipped a coin to see who would do X Factor and who would do I'm A Celebrity. Obvs the loser had to do XF, because two minutes on stage with Nicholas is way worse than three weeks picking bugs out of your teeth.

Ooft. Still, at least we are all spared Gary singing with Arsey, which would be the worst thing ever, at least since Robbie Williams forgot all the words to Angels and stopped Olly Murs winning. I am slightly surprised that the two of them appear to be duetting a lot on telly just now to shill Robbie's album, less surprised that Olly sings him off the stage every time.

it's been a dismal series all in all. Nicholas + bankrupt bogger banging out Wind Beneath My Wings or w/e seems about right for the finale. Good luck Sam B, I suppose.

bankrupt bogger

keep forgetting that he's my 2nd cousin or something. Never met him.

Wonder what the winners single will be this year. In the past it has been a song that was done back at the audition stages or bootcamp (Hallelujah, Cannonball) I'm thinking maybe Skyscraper or that bloody Jason Mraz song that has been sung around 10 times on the show already. Iris or Read All About could be possibilities too. Sure it's going to be something completely predictable to fit in with the whole half arsed feel of the show this year.

No charity song this year, where they repurpose a song into something it's not about in the first place, I.e. "Heroes"?

at least since Robbie Williams forgot all the words to Angels and stopped Olly Murs winning.

I still subscribe to the view that Robbie messed up the words on purpose in a misguided attempt to make Olly look better by comparison, but it didn't work because Olly Murs is, well, Olly Murs (his version of 'Superstition' was like watching a car crash in slow motion). I think that was the same year that Joe McElldrey duetted with George Michael, which kind of makes me bizarrely nostalgic because how the hell are they ever going to have a singer as big as that on the show again.

Joe is quite small.

And ironically Steve Brookstein was quite big.

Joe McElderry singing with George Michael was the last time I really liked any of the duets. But now I have reminded myself of Matt Cardle singing with Rihanna, and I need to go and scrub my brain cleam.

yeah my memory of Joe and George was that it was Quite Good, beyond the realm of X Factor-good. I agree about snoball's bizarre nostalgia, the idea of anyone properly famous being involved with these contestants now seems absurd, the whole show just seems so provincial nowadays.

Oh I loved the George and Joe duet, it was a great moment. They both sounded so good together and yeah he's actually a big star they were lucky to get. It's bizarre to think they got names like him, Beyonce and Rihanna at one point (I know she comes on every year but she's still a big name) The last two years were with their mentors was bad enough (Remember Gary has to live with the fact everyday he had to sing one of his precious songs with Christopher Maloney) but this year is just embarrassing. I read they tried to get Celine Dion for Sam (hey I bet Michael Bolton would be free!) but she turned them down so I guess it was a toss up between Gary and Nicole. Couldn't they even get Robbie to come back?

Strange to think Robbie messed up the words to that song, was he still on his heavy drugs phase then? His 2009 comeback (doing Bodies) was one of the strangest performances I've seen on the show. He's done pretty well though really, he sang along side Olly and then One Direction the following year who have now (sadly) become the two biggest acts from the show.

Finals week, go!
And appropriately for a song called 'Lifted', Sam B does all the heavy lifting.

Nicholas sounds like he's singing through a megaphone.

STAGING! And apparently Nicholas was on stage somewhere idk

"Sam Bailey will put Leicester on the map"

FUCK YOU SHARON.

xp Probably for the best that he was hidden by all those dancers.
I'm going to find it difficult to stay interested in watching this, basically because I want Sam B to win, and the other two can go and get stuffed. I'm not sure if they announce who is in third place tonight, but if they do, and it's not Sam, I can imagine that viewing figures for tomorrow's show will be way down.

Luke was clear favourite to go first, until Nicholas sang and they're both about neck and neck now. Hopefully when Luke takes to the stage (I will not say "sings"), that'll revert back to Luke-obviously-out. But I can't pretend to understand this show any more. Why pick songs that don't suit you for the opening salvo in the final?

Made worse this year because Louis is picking the songs for two of the acts.

Luke is standing on a mock-up of a London Underground train because his career's about to go down the tube.

My girlfriend is watching this and ive got the laptop on; im astonished at how terrible these performances are

Kicked out Tamera for this.
Kicked out Hannah for this.
Kicked out RC for this.

Jesus Christ imagine him winning & supporting Beyoncé.

Luke is channelling the policeman from 'Allo 'Allo with his vocals.

That was utter dreck. From Luke AND from Goulding. Now get to fuck, I've got a fiver on you getting to fuck.

Nicolas singing 'Flying Without Wings' (SPOILERS) with Shane from Westlife, possibly the worst thing ever coming up.

Possibly the worst duo since Robson & Jerome?

Although to be fair to Nicholas, he does sing Shane off the stage. OTOH not that that's particularly hard.

Shane pretty much going through the motions there. In every sense of the word "motions". In that it was shite.

Oh, mention of Nicholas's age. DRINK!

Did Louis already mention that Nicholas is from Scotland? I think I spotted him in a VT clip waving a Scottish flag around at one point, but I've had the sound muted for most of this because there is a lot of filler.

I missed the first twenty minutes due to Strictly overlap, fast forwarded past some filler and I was actually caught up by the time anyone actually started singing. There's another 45 minutes of this!

Well, THAT wasn't all about Nicole schtomping all over that, was it?

Nicholas' performance of 'Candy' really does look like something from a shitty cruise liner.

"And now while we count the votes money, here are a load of acts from previous years who were way more interesting."

It was bit Butlinstastic.

Oh look, it's all the most annoying people in the history of X Factor. Who were more fun than this year's guff lol xpost

More excitement in three minutes than in this entire series.

Wanger in a pirate hat is better than any amount of having to listen to Gary talk or Luke sing.

Popularity watch via Twitter: Sam is trending. Sam's Nan is trending. Nicholas is trending. Kingsland Road are trending and they aren't even in it. Anything to do with Luke, not so much. He's a goner, I'm sure of it.

Oh wait, Ellie Goulding is trending. Stand down.

The Killers, who are apparently both "the biggest rock band on the planet" and "out of this world" - make up your mind Dermot!

So, Luke's away. Good. And Sam will skoosh the final, so there's no point in even watching tomorrow.

b-b-but tomorrow there's Gary duetting with Elton John, and Katy Perry, and Wand Erection
oh right... *switches off TV*

Ha, Nicholas grabbing Sam and kissing her upper arm because that was the nearest thing he could grab was a bit funny.

Imagine paying money to hear Sam Callahan singing in an arena near you. People are odd.

Imagine Nicholas winning.

It's easy if you try.

I'm backing Nicholas all the way. Apparently someone that worked on the show in 2008 said if Eggnog Quigg had won the show it would have been a complete disaster, well I'm completely up seeing 2013s version of him winning and seeing what they do with him. Still a little bitter Maloney didn't win it last year.

Perhaps everyone assuming Sam will win has put some complacency into the voting public? Might not be as runaway a victory as everyone's thinking? I made a whole £4 profit from Luke going out tonight, might chuck a couple of quid of that on Nicholas.

When was the last time people were this sure about the winner? Maybe Leona Lewis?

http://youtu.be/eeNk7XL1Hbc

Oh yeah that link I just posted is fairly entertaining. Don't know anything about the woman interviewing Rough Copy but it goes downhill very quickly for them.

I think Matt Cardle was pretty much a cert to win the year he won.

He was winning the public vote throughout the series but I honestly thought One Direction were going to take it that year (Think Simon did too) It seemed like he was the last choice for the producers in that final four but there was nothing they could do to stop him. On the night I thought Rebecca was going to win just because of that great performance of Sweet Dreams she did.

Rebecca was pretty much my favourite singer ever in the X Factor, but I just couldn't see her toppling Cardle, he pretty much had in the bag from his first audition iirc. I'm still not sure how One Direction didn't win though.

Yeah it was a real shock they only came third (and only just beat Cher in the votes to come that high) I remember Konnie revealing the results of the votes each week on Xtra Factor, when she revealed One Direction had never been in the top 2 he couldn't believe it and snatched the card with the results on out of her hands to check himself. Sadly that have gone on to win in real life which I guess is all that matters really.

Who is 'he' in that sentence plz?

I'm guessing Cowell.

Yeah sorry missed that, it was indeed Simon Cowell. It was a great moment but I was surprised as I assumed they all knew how well their acts were doing throughout the show.

Well, when Leon beat Ryllan in 2007, there was a lot of "It's been nice knowing you Ryllan" in the final judges statements before the result was announced.

You mean Rhydian.

Still don't know how Leon won that series.

Apparently Sam's song is indeed going to be Skyscraper..oh dear.

Nicholas' song is going to be 'Superman (It's Not Easy)'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRz4FY0ZcwI

"The chance to support Beyonce on tour" - getting the coffees if Nicholas wins.

Wand Erection pretend to be a rock band, no wonder this song only reached #49 on the UK singles chart.

I'm flicking between Sam Bailey Wins The X Factor and Andy Murray Wins Sports Personality Of The Year in the channel-hopping battle of the foregone conclusions. I'm hoping I can get away without hearing a single note of singing (oh, did I just miss Wand Erection?)

Either it was Wand or five guys ad-libbing terrible lyrics over the top of Joan Jett's 'I Love Rock & Roll' at a karaoke bar.

Louis OTM about Nicole being ridiculous in the duet. However no-one OTM about the best bit, which was obviously Jedward waving their crotches in Gary's disgusted face.

I liked the bit where they jumped on the judges table and Nicole had to quickly move her glass of water out of the way lest one of the Brothers Grimes knocked it over. Which was a real possibility, given that these two set off a fire alarm during their five minutes in the C4 Big Brother house.

Nicholas has started to sing in a Scottish accent, and is wearing a tartan jacket. I bet Louis put him up to this.

I bet Gary's playing his piano with one finger.

It's just as well Gary' quitting as a judge at the end of this series, as after this performance he'd never be able to get away with telling anyone that they had a weak voice.

Shock-Stun

Andy Murray wins BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2013

I am watching Xtra Factor on +1 just now and Nicole has just said "if Sam wins, I feel like *I'm* winning". Firstly, er, she DID win, and secondly IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT YOU.

Also, having not really paid that much attention to the actual show, I'm just realising the full horror of Nicole's dress. It looks like the cellophane they gift-wrap wine bottles in.

Who wants some stats?

http://tellymix.co.uk/reality-tv/the-x-factor/169518-x-factor-2013-voting-percentages-and-result-stats-revealed.html

Strictly handily beat XF for ratings this year.

So, it was always but only Sam and Nicholas, judging by the voting figures.

I read they tried to get Celine Dion for Sam (hey I bet Michael Bolton would be free!) but she turned them down

Celine Dion was on Strictly tonight (as in recorded yesterday, at the same time as the X Factor duets were on). I genuinely wish she had no intention of doing Strictly then decided to jet in to do it as soon as she knocked back the X Factor. I bet that's not what actually happened though, but it was kinda lolz that she was the obvious choice to duet with Sam, she was in the country, and Sharon had to plank Nicole onto Team Sam instead.

From BBC News:

Harry Styles wins paparazzi order

Sam Bailey wins X Factor final

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/07/26/uk-james-arthur-to-change-name-following-homophobic-lyrics-row/

James Lovegays