X Factor (UK) 2015

Partly convinced that Wand split up to avoid having to perform on this show again.

Wot, we liveblogging?

I think this series is going to be more like The Voice in a lot more ways than simply pinching one of the judges.

Or maybe not. TECHNO TECHNO TECHNO TECHNO

That was better. Right, the stall is set out now.

At this rate, we're going to see ten acts this evening, and eight of them are going to get through to the next round, with the other two being politely told to go and practice a bit more. So in other words exactly like The Voice.

This old-ish Camden care worker is fantastic.

Along with the lad who was very Aaron Neville, and the obvious ones.

The sisters from the Philippines were cool.

And the last one, the 17-year-old with the blonde hair. But if I were very young and good-looking and could sing impressively, the last thing I would do is go on X-Factor (by last thing, I mean I would wait till I were 22 or something at least). I don't understand these people sometimes.

The way they mix the sound of the audience gets worse every year. The fading in and out of the cheering or laughing is ridiculous.

Jennifer's audition was amazing.

Grimshaw is really dull, isn't he? Like, sub-Barlow levels of dull. After years of moaning at how terrible Louis is, I'm missing him already.

Just catching up. So far, so OK, tbh. The Filipino lassies were great, but I kind of got the feeling they were put there so Simon could do his "we're all-inclusive and don't care about borders" speech.

Ha, I should maybe have googled them first:

https://uk.celebrity.yahoo.com/post/127937482729/x-factor-2015-controversy-begins-as-girlband

Never change, X Factor

"hi, I'm Olly Murs' best mate". The world already has a Jonathan Wilkes. We don't need another one.

After years of moaning at how terrible Louis is, I'm missing him already.

^^^ this

Well, that was different.

Usual batshit X Factor logic: live Judges' Houses = all the remaining acts sit on stage while VT from the actual Judges' Houses filmed in exotic locales is shown.

New drinking game: down a shot every time a contestant says they're "hard working".

That was much worse than usual even. The boys category is pretty amazing this year though. Love Sean and love Ché even more.

Is Sean "shipped in" like the Philipino girl group? They give me the boak tbh.

Simon putting a lot into Anton with the expressions being very loved by the public which I can't believe is actually the case.

Seann is already my favourite contestant since Cher Lloyd. That performance was incredible.

Brilliant song choices this year. Bupsi singing Pony and Simon doing one of the best Sugababes songs were highlights.

Not sure about Anton. His crazy eyes and intense outbursts are hard to get used to.

Nick is utterly useless. No charisma at all.

I did tear up during Sean's performance. It was really beautiful.

KP, what do you make of ché? He's very charismatic in totally the opposite way from e.g. Sean. Loved his six chairs challenge so much. Those two are the bomb.

I'm still undecided about Ché. He has got a strong voice and does seem very likeable. There's something a bit Sam Smith about him though. I can't believe he's only 19. I think he and Seann will definitely be on the live shows. I've absolutely no idea who the third will be. Before tonight I would have guessed Simon. Amazing song choice, but he did struggle. It could be Mason just for the ratings/drama. Hopefully it's not indie/rock voice Ben. We had enough of that last year.

I didn't watch last year much. Hope the third is mason. Simon and the North-East guy failed to deliver but I'd have expected one or both to be a lock until last week.

Actually that's unfair. They both delivered more than most of the other category contestants.

Simon's audition was just about perfect. He hasn't been as good since then. I was so excited when I heard he was doing Too Lost In You as I adore that song. He struggled with some of those high notes. There's something about Simon that reminds me of Will Young which is no bad thing. I never really got the excitement over Josh, but Style was a great song choice and he did sound really good. I think he's a bit bland. Thinking about it, I do think it will be Mason. Mason, Ché and Seann. That's probably the strongest category.

Looking forward to the girls tomorrow. I quite like Havva. She's giving me Cher Lloyd meets Charli XCX vibes. I don't think she stands a chance of making it to the live shows.

I wonder if Seann will keep his cap on for the whole of the live shows?

So glad there's no bands that were put together this year. That was getting really old. Stereo Kicks last year were the biggest disaster since Danyl Johnson.

Simon looks like he just walked in from a beach bar. And I still don't really have much of a sense of who the 12 finalists are. It's like that weekend on The Voice where they suddenly get rid of half of the contestants before we've got a chance to get to know any of them or really even heard anything about them.

So glad there's no bands that were put together this year.

I get the feeling that Simon is just going to let things happen a bit more in the early live shows, then try and svengali things from there.

Really good boys and girls. I mean REALLY good. Don't have much investment in anyone from the other two categories.

I doubt we'll see a boy or girl go for several weeks of lives. Maybe mason noise.

I'm disappointed Simon Lynch didn't go through. I really like his voice. I would have picked him over Mason which would have been a solid top three. Just seeing the recap from last night, they briefly showed Seann doing This Woman's Work and I honestly got shivers.

Nick really isn't working out well at all is he?

Did anyone else notice that when Che got through it showed the screen in the background of people who'd been picked so far, instead of Che's face popping up it showed Seann instead? Was that Nick not sticking to the script?

Just realised they got rid of the part where the contestants were made to beg.

Thank fk.

Yeah, that was so awkward last night. Really misguided.

Can't believe someone is actually singing Erasure. These song choices have been so inspired. I hope they don't go back to the usual Purple Rain/Listen/I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing/And I Am Telling You/I Didn't Know My Own Strength picks for the live shows.

above all i hope they do away with themes.

Cheryl has been slagging off the themes for years now. Now she has a production credit, I hope she gets her way.

agree re the loss of the begging aspect ..
that was just too much and nagl for anyone.
that said, i think the 6 chair challenge has been particularly unpleasant this year.
the egging on of the audience.
seriously, f*ck the baying crowds,
dont turn around checking out how many fingers people are holding up, this is not caligula.
then again, i suppose it actually is.
oh, and kill themes now.

Worst, worst, worst baying audience stuff, clumsy format-playing, Ora & Grimshaw pretty dull, but seems like the strongest year for a while. Only the overs who are weak imo, though I think the girls might struggle a bit - Louisa's pre-ordained pop star vibe undercuts her obvious talent, Kiera is charming but left me a bit cold in 6-chair & Lauren is the most likeable but she feels a bit like one of those girls who goes out somewhere in the middle of lives after a couple of bad or nervous weeks.

Didn't think much of the boys till judge's houses, really, but it turned out a really strong three. I liked Simon too, but Mason will prob be more interesting. Seann seems an obvious star - pretty optimistic about his chances with the great british non-twitter public, but am ready to be disappointed. And yeah, love Che

Strong set of groups imo. Kind of love Menn on Poinnt & I reckon Cheryl has enough nous to let them do their thing without imposing novelty-act status (I keep thinking how Louis would have handled them…). 4th Whatever do feel too much like imported professionals, but are great anyway, and I like Alien Invasion's commitment to odd colours and textures, and dancing.

I can see one benefit: Nobody flying home from Rome, crying (for instance), but there has to be a better.

Word to Grimmy for being the least "Oh I am wavering", he had clearly decided before the ad break, let alone the "Ten second countdown" etc.

"You don't need to overthink smiling"

Or charisma-free cod reggae versions of Adele songs, apparently.

Anyone else read Popbitch?

>> Overs-kill <<
X marks the spot

With all the wobbles he's had
this year, Simon Cowell really
needs the X Factor live shows
to go to plan.

The whole idea of this series
was to seem younger and cooler
(hence the Grimmy/Rita reboot)
but it's the stories of the
oldies that have seemed to go
over best with the audience.

Plans are geared towards a
young winner this year, so
which "overs" did they pick?
Max, as early cannon fodder;
Bupsi, this year's take on
Wagner; and Anton. Anton might
make for good TV, but we're
told he's slated to take the
Maloney position. And if he
looks to be challenging a
more youthful winner? Word
is they have enough ammo
to take him out.

And then the following week..

FYI: Last week we said plans were
afoot to deal with Anton if he
got too popular. On-set gossip
suggests he was the big winner
in the first public vote. So
it's no surprise the anti-Anton
press stories started on Monday:
http://bit.ly/1kcrKQS

Theme-that-is-not-a-theme this week: 'Reinvention', ie, do a cover version, ie, what they do every week anyway.

Last week: I wasn't happy that we're not going to see Bupsi develop, also agree with Cowell about voting off Alien Uncovered being a bad decision. What is it about the public and XF girl groups?
This week:

• 4th Impact - it's like watching an impersonal Las Vegas lounge act or modern cabaret on a high end cruise ship.
• Mason Noise - So the whole 'tude thing was a boring act, but now he's dropped it, presumably because it was getting a negative response from the public, he's just as boring without it. He didn't even seem cinvinced by his own performance tonight. He's also a shit dancer. Like worse than Jedward, because at least they moved around and made an effort.
• Anton Stephans - Cowell is right that they can't have Anton singing ballad after ballad. The criticisms of the other judges were ridiculous. It was a little shaky in places, but the transition between the two songs was seamless, and the overall performance was fun and enthusiastic.
• Kiera Weathers - this is a serviceable cover, and also a lot better than here two performances last week. Actually it's better in some ways than the original Mark Morrison version.
• Ché Chesterman - he can't keep using Motown songs. Although to be fair the arrangement didn't use the usual easy XF Motown signifiers. But if this single spotlight Meatloaf tinged ballad thing is the only other type of singing he can do, we might get bored fast.
• Louisa Johnson - better than last week, less of an anonymous performance. But all the emotion of the original was missing though, also the bit right at the end was just a bit too hair metal. Or not hair metal enough.
• Seann Miley Moore - he's like a cross between Rhydian and Rylan. But to be fair, he's a better more effortless sounding singer than either, and the choreography and staging is way better.
• Monica Michael - wait a minute, is the thing this year going to be 'slow down a song and make it sound like a Bond theme'? Because of 'Spectre'?
• Max Stone - more cod reggae? Really? This is also moving into sub Ed Sherran territory. This is better than last week's performance, but he could be in the bottom two this week. Although Grimshaw has a nerve saying “I think you're cooler than that”. Like he'd know what cool was. That jacket looked like one of Gary Barlow's cast offs. I get the feeling that he's not going to be back next year, not least because of how he lays into anyone who isn't one of his acts. Cheryl's right in that Max doesn't have a bad voice, but that performance was like the backing track for a bank commercial.
• Reggie 'n Bollie - they managed to fill the stage better this week, but the sound mix was a bit muffled from around the middle for some reason. Technical problems or deliberate nadgering?
• Lauren Murray - nerves had an effect on her vocals at the beginning. Also the arrangement fell back on the 'song starts off quiet then a gospel choir doing backing vocals comes in but then the singer does the last line by themselves' thing which was an XF staple five or six years ago. Although I can imagine Rita still having all or at least three of her acts by mid series.

Just catching up with the show. Simon needs to make it less obvious how much he wants Anton to fail. Already mentioned Anton headbutting him last week and now deliberately picking a song he forgot the words of at Boot Camp.

And now he's turning him into Wagner/Rylan.

Better song choices this week. I was so disappointed last week after all those excellent song choices at judges houses they went back to Adele and Amy Winehouse again. Teardrops, Sound of the Underground and Return of the Mack so far.

Che is going to win this isn't he? He's exactly the kind of person that's going to sail through every week and be dropped within a year.

Not Seann's best week but still my favourite by a mile. I prefer when he does singers like Kate Bush and Bowie. I'd love to see him sing Bjork, Grace Jones, Associates or Yes by McAlmont & Butler. I'm prepared to be disappointed.

I want to hear Sean do Rebekah del Rio Llorando.

"Yes" would suit him and be good, yes.

So far a girl group and three non-white singers have been voted off. Max Stone is going to win this, isn't he.

I haven't watched it yet but just saw the result. I feel quite angry that was allowed to happen.

Should of had Grimshaw giving his vote first. Of course he would have abstained, because they were both his acts, but it would have preventing him tactically sending it to deadlock.

Oh dear. RIP this programme.

I hope Max wins. He's the winner this series deserves.

I honestly won't watch now - I may only catch it in passing. What a disastrous mistake.

I hadn't watched any of this series until last night (I have a serious aversion to Nick Grimshaw), when I turned on the TV and caught Seann's performance. I thought he was excellent. Seems you lot liked him too. And now he's away. Blah.

I've only seen short performance clips of Bupsi, Anton, Jennifer Phillips and Kiera so far.

Anton is great but a little terrifying with his mugging.
Bupsi was terrible in her initial audition and her 6 chair challenge and I'm appalled she got onto the live shows.
Kiera was very inconsistent in the 6 chair challenge with some incredibly bad pitch problems and I'm surprised she got a chair.
Jennifer was the best out of the four contestants I saw by such a great distance that I don't think terrestrial units are applicable anymore; it is appalling to me that she didn't make it to the live shows (but then again, I don't know what happened during the retreat).

Yeah, Jennifer's Shackles in her first audition was immense, and I didn't see her do a thing wrong - I do not know what happened there.

& I just watched tonight's results. fuck that.

I was annoyed about Seann leaving before I watched the results show last night. Then I watched that sing off and I honestly feel like I'm done with this show. Mason was terrible, missing notes all over the place. If they kept Mason in because of his bad boy behaviour in the past they should realise people really don't seem to care. I watched the whole of the Sam Bailey year, I can take this show being poor but there's something about this year that really makes me want to give up. The whole black eye incident and Simon's sabotage of his category has been so blatant and just shows how stupid he thinks the public are.

They are making it obvious Louisa Johnson is the chosen one, I just don't think she's going to connect they way they want her to. She's very Amelia Lilly.

Mason's survival song was nearly as bad as the week Katie Waissel sat down at the front of the stage and stopped singing because she was convinced that the judges were going to vote her off anyway (they didn't). He almost makes me feel all rose-tinted those-were-the-days towards Frankie Cokehoser, because at least that lovable cheeky scamp total fuckwad had some tiny tiny amount of talent that he was genuinely wasting by caning it Robbie style. Mason can't even convince us that he's a bad boy - ooooooooh he threw down a microphone - and now he's stopped doing that there's nothing.

Wish Louis was here to say "that's not a song from a movie!"

Partly convinced that Wand split up to avoid having to perform on this show again.

― more side eye than a Picasso (snoball), Saturday, August 29, 2015 7:52 PM

OK so I was wrong...

Olly royally fucked that one up, eh?

That was worse than the time that Wogan said Cyndi instead of Scooch.

no matter, she went anyway.

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/12241258_10153590368041066_1518217266570456720_n.jpg?oh=1a8ba344d7156ace8158decbc905c57d&oe=56E8189A

Simon's stuck with the one act in his category that he didn't really want.

WTF? A light pop shopping mall version of 'Yesterday'? The only way this could be worse is if Mick Hucknall were singing it. I was really hopeful that Ché would at least be an interesting contestant. But he's become so boring - Grimshaw is even more of a personality crushing mentor than Simon.

Never mind Olly, Grimshaw is the one who's most likely to not be on the show next year.

Anton's outburst was quite disturbing.

Ché reminds me so much of Jahmene Douglas. I think it'll be between him and Lauren in the final two. The producers/judges couldn't make it anymore more obvious they want Louisa to win but I don't think she'll quite get there.

I miss Seann.

• Ché - Grimshaw pulls the trick of getting him to sing the song for his dead grandfather, guaranteeing that none of the judges are going to criticise Ché and risk looking bad.
• Anton - his outburst was disturbing, but Grimshaw is a twunt.
• 4th Impact - Cowell's right, we still have no idea who these people are. There's a professional gloss over everything they do that's really off-putting. Cheryl's the worst mentor for them, because she's all about appearance over substance.
• Lauren - The bit in the VT where Rita was talking about crafting a 'moment'. It's all smoke and mirrors. She's got the best 'big' voice left in the contest after Anton, but there's nothing going on. Although I suppose that for XF a female singer trying to sound like Mariah is slightly less usual than trying to sound like Whitney.
• Mason - if they'd have just put him across as a normal guy from the beginning, instead of that whole 'attitude' act, then I might have been better disposed towards Mason. But even then he's still a boring stiff performer. Last night's song was a terrible personality free shadow of the original.
• Louisa - she has more personality than Lauren but the performances are almost as bland.
• Reggie 'n' Bollie - they're limited performers, in the sense that they're not going to go on and do 'Unchained Melody', but I like them. They're solid but I can't see the producers letting them win, for a start what would their winner's song be?

And I miss Seann as well. If he was still there I'd put him in the final three instead of Louisa.

ow key change

Ladbrokes Betting:

Louisa Johnson. 1/5.
Reggie n Bollie. 9/2.
Che Chesterman. 14/1

It's a knife edge.

X Factor: The Farce Awakens

That was a complete shambles. The Ben and Leona duet was one of the worst things the show has ever produced.

I'm not surprised that Ché got voted off. He committed the cardinal sin of performing a Phil Collins song in such a way that I wished Collins was there singing it instead. Then he fell into the same trap with 'Valerie'. I'm not a fan of The Zutons, and their singer wasn't that good, but he sounded like Lemmy in comparison to Ché. Then the duet with Rod Stewart pretty much finished it. When Rod came on later and did his solo number it became clear just how much he'd been holding back during the duet to try and make Ché look better.

Not only was the Ben / Leona duet terrible, but it was also a reminder that XF has served up far, far worse.

Yes, but Fleur & Little Mix stormed it.

I know this is an ugly show, and is only watchable with a strong dose of removed cynicism, but I still found Reggie 'n' Bollie's crack at the winner's single quite upsetting (as did they, and cheryl, it seemed): felt like a forced humiliation, and a real act of cruelty towards the contestants who'd most consistently cheered & entertained me. Just one quick vicious tackle from the producers to make sure there wasn't an upset.

Vote 1
Louisa Johnson - 15.9%
4th Impact - 11.2%
Anton Stephans -10.7%
Monica Michael - 9.1%
Ché Chesterman - 8.7%
Lauren Murray - 8.4%
Reggie 'N' Bollie - 7.4%
Seann Miley Moore -7.3%
Mason Noise - 6.1%
Max Stone - 5.8%
Alien Uncovered - 4.8%
Kiera Weathers - 3.4%
Bupsi - 1.2%

Vote 2
Louisa Johnson - 15.3%
Reggie 'N' Bollie - 13.0%
Ché Chesterman - 12.5%
Lauren Murray - 11.2%
4th Impact - 9.0%
Max Stone - 8.5%
Anton Stephans - 7.5%
Monica Michael - 6.3%
Mason Noise - 6.1%
Seann Miley Moore - 5.5%
Kiera Weathers - 5.1%

Vote 3
Louisa Johnson - 16.4%
Lauren Murray -14.1%
Ché Chesterman - 14.0%
4th Impact - 13.2%
Reggie 'N' Bollie - 13.0%
Mason Noise - 9.8%
Anton Stephans - 8.0%
Monica Michael - 6.1%
Max Stone - 5.4%

Vote 4
Reggie 'N' Bollie - 21.6%
Louisa Johnson - 21.5%
Lauren Murray - 14.8%
4th Impact - 13.8%
Ché Chesterman - 12.8%
Anton Stephans - 12.3%
Mason Noise - 3.2% (left after Saturday freeze)

Vote 5
Ché Chesterman - 22.2%
Reggie 'N' Bollie - 22.1%
Louisa Johnson - 21.1%
Lauren Murray - 18.4%
4th Impact - 16.2%

Vote 6
Louisa Johnson - 31.5%
Reggie 'n' Bollie - 27.0%
Ché Chesterman - 20.9%
Lauren Murray - 20.6%

Vote 7 Freeze
Louisa Johnson - 44.5%
Reggie 'n' Bollie - 35.2%
Che Chesterman - 20.3%

Vote 7 Final
Louisa Johnson - 53.9%
Reggie 'n' Bollie - 38.9%
Che Chesterman - 7.2% (left after Saturday freeze)

9 New FOREVER YOUNG LOUISA JOHNSON SYCO MUSIC

ohhhhh.....