Spelling

Oh spelling.... the bane of my life!! I apologise now for any mistakes i may make or already have made. Spelling has NEVER been my strong point. And now I'm in college I plan on typing everything so spell check all the way, WoooooHoooo. Apologies again.

XFactor

It’s that time of year again where Saturday nights are temporarily put on hold and Monday morning classes, staffrooms and chat rooms are filled with chat about the amazing and some not so amazing acts the judges put through to the next round. After weeks of amusing, exciting and crazy auditions 200 or so acts get put through to boot camp where they must fight for a place in the final 12.

This year however proved to be one of the most exciting and shocking series. For starters Judge Dannii Minogue was pregnant during the first stage auditions and therefore a number of guest judges filled in for her, these included spice girl Geri Halliwel, Pixie Lott, Natalie Imbruglia, Katy Perry and Nicole Scherzinger who filled in for Cheryl Cole after she was diagnosed with Maleria and headed to boot camp with Simon and Louis.

 Boot Camp itself also held it’s surprised for the contestants. Not only would the contestants have to sing their way to the judges houses but would now also have to learn a dance routine to perform in front of the judges. Another change was the age limit, the group normally know as “the over 25’s” would now be the over 28’s it was also decided that 8 acts would now be sent to the judges houses instead of the usual 6, a relief to all contestants as they all now had a slightly bigger chance of going through. After the 8 acts for the Boys and Girls category had been chosen many walked with shattered dreams, however there was another twist 4 girls and 5 boys were called back out to the judges to be informed that they weren’t good enough on their own but were too good to be let go and so they were given the choice if they would like to be put through as groups.

Judges Houses

The Boys: Aiden Grimshaw, Matt Cardle, Paige Richardson, Nicola Festa, Tom Richards, Karl Brown, Marlon McKenzie and John Wilding                                                                                                             Judge: Dannii Minogue

The Girls: Gamu Nhengu, Keri Arrindell, Trayc Cohen, Katie Waissel and Cher Lloyd,  Anastasia Baker, Rebecca Ferguson and Raquel Thomas                                                                                                                                                               Judge: Cheryl Cole

The Groups: F.Y.D, Twem, Belle Amie, Princes and Rogues, One Direction, Diva Fever, Husstle and The Reason                                                                                                                                                      Judge: Simon Cowell

The Over 28’s: Justin Vanderhyde, Stephen Hunter, Mary Byrne, John Adeleye, Storm Lee, Elesha Moses and Wagner Carrilho and Yuli Minguel                                                                                                                                                                Judge: Louis Walsh

The Irish

This year’s final 12 plays host to 3 irish contestants. Mary Byrne from Ballyfermit who is in Louis Over 28’s,  Rebecca Creighton from Tallaght and Niall Horan from Mullingar who were both given a second chance in boot camp when they were asked along with 7 other hopefuls who had been called back to the stage and were given the opportunity to go onto the judges houses as groups. Personally I don’t see the newly formed groups going far in the competition but would gladly be proved wrong, however I give Mary my full support and can see her going a long way.

                 

Wild Card

We’ve FINALLY reached the live shows and they have brought perhaps the biggest twist of all a “wild card”. This is something never seen before on xfactor in which each judge is allowed to bring back to the competition one of their final 12. It wasn’t the well best secret but a very exciting one. Louis brought back Wagner, not a good choice i thought but as it was Louis it didn’t surprise me. Simons choice on the other hand did surprise me, he brought back Diva Fever although I love them and always enjoy their performance I wouldn’t call them amazing singers or see them as the next big thing in the music industry, something I thought would be the deciding factors for Simon when choosing his wild card. Dannii chose to bring back Paige Richardson and Cheryl brought back Trayc Cohen.

Final 16

After weeks of auditions and after many tears and forgotten words and much controversy mainly centred around Cheryls choices we now have our final 16. The Over 28’s, Mary Byrne, Wagner Carrilho Storm Lee and John  Adeleye. The Groups, One Direction, F.Y.D and Belle Amie. The Boys, Aiden Grimshaw, Matt Cardle, Paige Richardson and Nicola Festa. The Girls, Trayc Cohen, Katie Waissel and Cher Lloyd and Rebecca Ferguson.

The Live Shows

Saturday 9^th October kicked off the beginning of the live shows with the 16 finalists singing for a place in next week’s show. The theme was number ones. I felt many of the acts were given really bad songs that did not show off the contestants’ real talent. I for one am not a fan of Nicolo Festa but I feel that Dannii’s song choice for him was his downfall and let to him being kicked off the show much earlier than he deserved. I originally was shocked by Nicolos first audition expecting him to be mediocre if anything but when he sang “a song for you” I was pleasantly surprised and expected him to go far. Another act I was disappointed with was Cher’s. Once again I feel it was the song she was singing, it did nothing to show off her voice. It wasn’t all disappointments though, I had been really looking forward to Mary and Aiden and was not let down. I loved Marys performance of “mans world” it was a fantastic song choice, I couldn’t take my eyes off her and her voice gave my goosebumps, throughout the show I looked forward to seeing her and now cant wait to see her again next week. Aiden was also far from a disappointment, I’ve loved him from his first audition although he does make some strange facial expressions when he sings there is no doubting that he has raw talent. Another person who really stood out and was for me was one of the best of the night was trayc choen and not only would she have been performing extremely nervous as she had to wait around because she was the last act to perform but she also had the added pressure of being a wild card and needed to prove that she deserved to be there and she definitely proved that. Her version of “you’ve got the love” was fantastic, Trayc is definitely going to be on our screens for many weeks to come.

The Results Show

Week One: Week one saw two contestants being eliminated with the act with the least votes being eliminated immediately leaving the next two acts to battle for a place in next weeks show with a final sing off. This week saw Nicolo being the contestant with the least amount of votes and therefore was immediately eliminated. F.Y.D and Katie then faced a sing-off. As usual after the performances the judges then got a chance to save an act of their choice. Obviously Simon and Cheryl saved F.Y.D and Katie as they were their acts. Both acts fate was then placed in the hands of Danni and Louis who both chose to save Katie therefore eliminating F.Y.D much to my disappointment as I cant stand Katie.