X Factor (UK) 2014

did they put studio kicks together rom auditionees? they couldn't find a singe non-white guy?

Chloe sounded like she wanted out.

It doesn't matter how Chloe sang in the sing off she was fucked the moment she was going up against Stereo Kicks. Simon and the producers are really counting on something happening with these guys. Apparently on Extra Factor Louis was claiming He never wanted eight members in the band and it was all Simon's idea, even going on to blame him for why it's just not working. When asked about their future he said "I'm going to talk to the boys" They will lose at least two of those members by the end of the week.

I wasn't a massive fan of Chloe or Steph but at least they gave the show some variety. Losing the will to keep up with this show now. Like the last couple of years I'm all about wanting to see people I hate kicked out (Stereo Kicks and Jay James mainly) instead of supporting any of the finalists.

If they keep going with the Stereo Kicks thing, it might just be the one thing that kills off the golden goose. No audience likes to be felt like they are being spoon-fed. Even if that's what happens most of the time, they don't want to be told in naked terms "you will buy this".

One of the 'solo' spots from one of the stereo kickers was woeful in the extreme, the guy clearly could not sing a note.

Nala had promise but her voice was too Aluna Francis-y for X-Factor in the end. Feel like it's Platt or Fleur who'll end up on Duke Dumont singles in 18 months anyway.

Chloe was vile, glad to see her out. Can't see anything other than a PUGS victory though.

Have I missed someone, or does Stephanie being voted off make Fleur the only non-white contestant left?

During judges' houses, I was convinced no non-white contestants were going through – I'd have said Stephanie least likely of the girls, and until Fleur killed it & Welsh mother-of-two had a panic attack, I was pretty sure it was Welsh mother-of-two/Haenow/sailor. I was thinking it was some dark-hearted pandering to a smaller, older more ahem 'conservative' audience, but then Fleur and Stephanie went through so

Everything's

Fine.

Really.

Comments about lack of enthusiasm otm - I'm struggling this year. No-one I really like.

Still seeing Andrea in the final, but he might wear thin pretty soon – doesn't help that Mel seems to be an unusually incompetent mentor.

Basically see Stereo Kicks as a weird experiment that still could pull something off, but yeah Mark G maybe otm, it's so blunt & obvious no-one is really engaging. Feels like there's a mob on stage.

The obvious thing to do would be to have a 2nd poll each week on the worst member of stereo kicks, then during the next performance a sniper with a tranquiliser gun picks that member off. Obvs neither they not Louis know which member will be shot.

That is an amazing idea. I think the cardboard cutout guy would be the first one to be taken out. If he's too young to actually feature on Xtra Factor it's an easy choice to get rid of him first. Personally my least favourite member is the quiff guy who is obviously being pushed as the lead singer. His singing face is rather unfortunate. http://www.essexchronicle.co.uk/Stereo-Kicks-star-James-voice-rest-fresh-X-Factor/story-23184088-detail/story.html

James Graham has a cold by Gay Talese

I felt embarrassed for Simon after Stereo Kicks performed so badly on Saturday but he still came out with his usual "I'm excited about this band" "I can see you growing as a band" type comments. Since he put them together he's clearly trying to brainwash the public which I thought might work when they were at the six seat challenge but it's obvious there's no chance of that now. It's kind of like when he tried to push Danyl week after week in 2009 even though it was obvious the public were not going for him (Calling him worse than Hitler etc) Simon carried on each week trying to make him the star he believed he was even though he had Olly and even Joe right there in front of him.

They're not even his act!

Not his act as in not in his category, but if he's one of the people putting the group together surely he gets a stake in them. Just realised it's probably a lot easier to put a boyband together these days (and market them) if you have thousands of solo X factor auditionees to choose from and can put them on telly every week for a couple of months.

i'm amazed that that just occurred to you!

every act is simon's act surely

I watched Xtra Factor last (Because I hate myself obviously) It really isn't looking good for a few of those boys. Louis kept going about how he never wanted eight in the band. When the host asked what he was going to do he basically kept repeating "I'll talk to the boys" When she pushed him and asked him if he had the power to make changes in the group (Obviously he doesn't) He made it sound like he was hoping a few of them might volunteer to leave. I'm kind of excited to see they handle this. They will either carry on and be out in two weeks (Following the same pattern as Kingsland Road from last year) or they will kick out three members which I'm sure will also kill them off, just like The Risk from 2011 when they replaced a member. Bad luck Simon!

It's 'mangle a song from a movie' week.
Jake is already running on vapour - when the judges start saying things like “you're a really really nice guy”, it's all but over for that act.

It's acapella, not acapello, you candy floss haired fuck.

Stereo Dicks octo-turd of a rendition of Let It Be and Hey Jude. If it wasn't so awful it'd be funny.

I thought Dermot wasn't supposed to have favourites. After Jake performed he asked "Do you think you're good enough to stay?" after some pretty negative comments. When Jay got one criticism from Cheryl He said back to judges "Come on now, we're just splitting hairs here. That was an amazing performance."

Of course Andrea was going to do Listen. I have no idea why this gets done every single year when no one will ever top the Alaxandra/Beyonce version. Still my favourite X Factor moment ever.

Mine too, KP.

We'll never get a year like that again.

Very interested to see what was going on with Mel and Jack. He seemed really annoyed and I don't think I've ever seen a judge be that harsh on one of their own acts "If you make it through to next week" isn't exactly the most encouraging thing she could say.

Really poor show this week. Even Lauren sounded a bit off when she got to the chorus. Only the Young were out of tune on their verses. Lola was probably the worst so far which is saying a lot when I think of some of the horrible noises that came from Jay. So far I'm thinking it will be a bad week for Mel.

Jack will get through on pecs appeal for a few more weeks. my guess is that he's realised he doesn't want to be the kind of pop star that the x factor want him to be. i'm not saying he's a credible artist in his own right but he does seem to be a fairly "cool" teenager. i reckon he's just bit embarrassed by the whole thing.

mel seems to be really pissed off, she was even drawing daggers at dermot.

i'm not sure how i got into watching this again. i've not see the last two years and couldn't even tell you who won last year.

Seems like there's some crazy damage control going on with Stereo Kicks. The judges reactions were kind of sickening and more forced than ever. Simon saying he wants to mentor them is possibly the least shocking thing that happened tonight.

i'm not sure how i got into watching this again. i've not see the last two years and couldn't even tell you who won last year.

― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_)

Did you see the show in 2010? If so, imagine a slightly more likeable version of Tesco Mary that instead of working in Tescos was a prison officer. That's who won. She already had an album of covers out for Mother's Day. Last year was Leon Jackson era bad but they didn't even have a Rhydian to liven things up.

Wow, Ben's VT makes him out to be a bit of a dick. Good to see I Don't Want to Miss a Thing making a comeback. This must be the most performed song on the show. Brings back memories of my favourite Danyl performance. Think it was the week he sulked as he'd been in the bottom two the week before so he came and sang most out of it out of key just to stick it to us. Good times.

ah yes now i remember sam bailey.

ben surely can't be a dick. louis said he was the nicest guy in the house!

I thought he seemed like a decent guy but that reaction to Mel's comment last week was pretty bad. Calling himself a threat to the others is hardly going to endear him to the public. Was really surprised to see Simon slag off his song choice too. Up until tonight I thought he would easily make the final. At this point Lauren is the only person I can see winning.

louis said he was the nicest guy in the house!

― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_),

Louis' behaviour seems even more strange than usual this year. Feel like more than ever he just doesn't give it a shit about anyone there.

i have to admire the grace with which he handles the insults thrown at him several times per show.

either that or he doolally and doesn't even realise he's being made a c*nt of.

Yeah, it's really tough to say. Such a strange man.

I take his fundamental principle to be a willingness to say and do anything he's told (by producers, cowell etc), and take any shit thrown at him – I think he never forgets that he is paid a huge amount to spout strange autopilot nonsense each week, and he is perfectly willing to follow the panto script. Most other judges have a smidgeon of integrity and kick against that at some point.

This doesn't prevent him simultaneously being an idiot, or doolally of course.

Simon is one of those people who is obviously full of shit but he had a couple of rare honest reactions tonight. Reflecting on last night saying how terrible was Lola was and then his comment on how awful the sing offs were. He's right about both those things. All six of the sing offs have been truly unbearable this year. I'm sure none of them have sounded that bad in the past (Especially not Only the Young) I miss the days of Katie Waissel and Ruth Lorenzo who actually understood what a save me song was supposed to be. I honestly couldn't believe how bad Only the Young were. Reminded me of Rosie Ribbons murdering the same song back on the first season of Pop Idol.

Incredibly bad group performance too. It totally gave away why Andrea hasn't been given any upbeat songs and probably never will. Still seeing him as this year's Jahmene Douglas. There's no chance they'll let this guy win.

Genuinely quite cringe-making the sing-offs. Contestants just wandering onto stage and bollocksing up a tune. The shouty vein-popping climax from taller OTY bloke was murder.

A really dismal year. Andrea's limitations are showing and even Lauren, who I'd peg as the winner atm, is a bit of an odd one in likeability terms - the engaging self-possession sometimes spills into an unheimlich confidence – it's not quite arrogance or entitlement, but I can still see her suffering for it at the sharp end.

Yeah I feel kind of bad for that OTY guy. If he watches that back he's going to be so embarrassed. Half way through it he had a look on his face that looked like he knew how bad it was going but there was no turning back. Don't think they'll recover from that.

I really thought they might get it right this year but at this stage it looks like the producers are pushing Stereo Kicks they've failed to realise they are now stuck with a bunch of people as exciting as Matt Cardle.

Totally agree with what you said about Andrea. He has nothing else to offer and I'm already very bored of him. I could never understand why people were saying he'd one it on that first show. Also agree with your thoughts on Lauren. I noticed a couple of weeks ago on Xtra Factor when Chloe was talking to the host, Lauren looked over at Lola and rolled her eyes in a way that was pretty obvious what she was thinking. She does have something about her that makes her seem a little over confident. Performance wise she's a bit of a step down from Ella Henderson. If Ella couldn't win, I'm not sure what will give Lauren the edge for her to make it.

What's most depressing is the iTunes positions for the last couple of weeks. Last week they pushed Jay so much and it worked getting him in the top 10. This week Stereo Kicks are currently the highest of all the acts. Are these really the acts the producers want to win?

I haven't watched any of the live shows this year but I caught the sing-off last night and my goodness it was bloody shit.

Are these really the acts the producers want to win?

Yes.

But when they are stuck with the acts they want at the end ofthe process, and they are setting out their end-of-year bring and buy sale, and the single doesn't shoot straight to number one..

Then it'll be curtains for the show.

It's too tempting to grab the controls of the juggernaut if you think it's going off the road. Basically, they don't trust the audience to vote for what they actually want, and they feel they have to educate them into selecting the right thing.

Back then, they wanted Gareth Gates to win, he did not.

Will Young got a decent career, Gareth didn't as much.

Had G won, it would have made no difference to how it turned out.

Frightening...
(Simon's botox, obviously)

I have just turned over for the first time in ages. I remember this git from the audition stages. That was horrific. Nice to see that Louis is still clearly unhinged.

I guess the joke shop had run out of arrows-through-the-head.

Actually Stevi's voice isn't that bad – if he got rid of the cheeky chappy act and wasn't full of himself, he'd be a reasonable candidate. He's prepared to take some risks and do different things, but he falls short because of this overwhelming need to be liked.

Half of the acts are full of themselves, the other half are unsure of themselves, while Andrea's in the middle without much of a strong idea of his own about how he wants to put himself across (Asda Mephisto anyone?). Mel B and Cheryl (especially) are trying to mould their acts according to what they are judges want, without regard for what the acts themselves want.

Strange show tonight. Only the Young and Stevi were the two I enjoyed the most which just doesn't seem right. I enjoyed Lauren more because I like the song but she did seem a little more nervous than usual. Loved how her whole VT was about the pressure of her having to do some dance moves which ended up lasting for around five seconds. Fleur's overall performance was great but the vocals were a little shaky at the beginning. The rest of the contestants I either hate or sometimes forget they even exist.

I hate how on the show you can now see who will leave a mile off. It was obvious each week who was going so far (Especially when it came to Steph and Jake) there was no surprise it would be Jack tonight after Mel's comments last week. Tomorrow could potentially be the first time it's not totally obvious. They seemed to want to kill Stevi with kindness tonight and all the comments were basically "You've dreamt of doing this performance all your life" Translating as you've peaked and this is as good as it's going to get for you. I have a feeling his fan base might be a little too big to get rid of him this week but I'm sure his time will be up very soon. Paul could go after what they did to him tonight. His VT had Mel saying "He's complaining about everything"and Simon told him to "lighten up." I'm not a big fan of Paul but that was so unfair after they showed Only the Young bitching about their song choices for two weeks in a row and many others have said they're not happy with their choices too. They clearly are getting ready to dump him. No idea why the judges/producers are still trying to make Lola happen. It's just not working at all. I would love a shock eviction tomorrow with either Jay or Stereo Kicks going.

Oh and Simon saying to Stereo Kicks "The last two weeks you've become a band" and "The last two weeks I've started believing in you" are exactly the same things he said for the first two weeks where every single person could see it wasn't working except him. After some rare honesty last week he's back to his old full of shit ways. They may have got more of Stereo Kicks to sing these last few weeks but the use of backing vocals on the chorus were ridiculous. One Direction levels of ridiculous.

When all of Stereo Dicks are singing at the same time, it's no longer bad enough to make people's ears bleed. That's about as generous as I can be with them. The rest of the time their sound ranges from instantly forgetable (Big Hair, Ear Plugs) to fucking dreadful (pretty much all the other six).
I can believe that Stevi has some kind of bizarre Anton du'Beke style following now who will vote for him no mater what, resulting in him getting through to the last six.
Only The Young are creeping (geddit?! ah fuggedabhautit) closer to Same Difference territory. They're a increasingly bland, and they don't even have the refuge in audacity of Jedward's terribleness.

Don't you think they're relying on a backing track for those vocals in the chorus though?

There's enough of them singing that there could be a 'school choir' effect kicking in - many crap singer blending together into a passable voice. But OTOH I wouldn't be surprised if they were being assisted by some BVs.