X Factor 2012

As fans of X Factor will of course know, last year, Louis Walsh ditched Carolynne Poole at the Judges’ Houses stage in order to take through ‘singer’ Goldie Cheung, and once again last night, the fate of Carolynne’s musical ambitions ended up in Louis’ hands…

As you’ll know if you watched last night’s second live show, Carolynne was in the bottom two along with Rylan Clark. From the moment we learned that news, it was – I thought – a foregone conclusion that Carolynne would get through because she has an awesome voice and as much as I like Rylan, he doesn’t.

It should have been the biggest no brainer of the entire series, but after Nicole understandably voted to send Carolynne home, Gary – after a snipe or two – chose to send Rylan home, as did Tulisa.

So it came down to Louis’ vote, and a seriously frustrated Dermot O’Leary continuously insisted Louis give an answer as to who he wanted to send home…

After about 12 years of prevaricating, Louis said, “I want to save Carolynne…” Continue reading »

Last night was of course the first live show of the 2012 series of X Factor, and there were a few surprises along the way, beginning with the fact that Christopher Maloney won the Wildcard vote…

I know of course that he’d been tipped as the favourite to win the vote almost from the get go, and while I don’t argue that he has a great voice, for me, Chris is something of a one trick pony.

Yes, he has a powerhouse voice, and yes, he’s incredibly likable, however, in terms of what he can sing and while I concede he can probably sing most songs, I suspect that everything he sings is going to sound pretty much the same…

For me, Chris is – as Louis Walsh bitchily pointed out last night after reports surfaced that Chris formerly worked as a singer on a cruise ship – your typical cabaret act. I can imagine he’d go down a storm in Benidorm. Or indeed, on a cruise.

But can he sing ballads? Can he sing anything from the post 1970s era? I fear not. And though the judges heaped praise on Chris last night for his first live performance, aside from the range of his vocal, I found the whole thing rather mediocre. What did you think? Continue reading »

Plus see spoilers and clip from this weekend’s shows

As you’re probably aware, in this weekend’s X Factor shows – which air both tonight and tomorrow night – we’re off to Judges’ Houses as each judge has to whittle down their acts to just three who will go forward to the live shows.

However, as The X Factor bosses announced last week, each judge has chosen one act each to return to the show out of those they previously sent home…

These ‘Wildcards’ will be revealed tonight – they are apparently currently in hiding at the Corinthia Hotel in London alongside the acts who made it through to the live shows – and their identities are being kept a closely guarded secret.

However, as soon as the Wildcards are revealed, we the viewers will then get to vote on who we want to see reinstated and go on to the live rounds.

So the big question is of course, just who are these Wildcards? Continue reading »

Last night we paid our first visit to The X Factor 2012 Boot Camp – the second installment is of course airing tonight on ITV1 – and I have a gripe…

Well, I have a few actually, but one of the main ones is this Boot Camp tradition to hear the acts singing in groups of three.

Why? They won’t be singing in the live shows in sets of three will they? Unless they ARE a group of course…

But the solo singers are of course just that; solo singers, and therefore, putting them into groups with others is just plain pointless and I think it really puts many of the singers at a big disadvantage.

We saw a lot of the truly good solo artists struggling last night, including Jahmene Douglas who forgot the words to Maroon 5’s – by now intensely annoying, we heard it that many times – song Moves Like Jagger… Continue reading »

Last night we were of course treated to the second helping of the weekend’s X Factor auditions shows, and in terms of talent, this year’s wannabes are just plain outstanding as this second helping of XF revealed.

With the likes of 16 year old Amy Mottram absolutely stealing the show, and 19 year old Eddy String doing likewise – I’m frankly a bit in love with Eddy, which is kinda wrong as I’m old enough to be his… big sister – but not necessarily for his vocal ability, last night’s show was for me, one of the best yet.

Also making a big impression – though we saw woefully little of them – were three-piece bands Duke and MITSOTU, which is an acronym for ‘Music is the soul of the universe.’

The often very short clips from the wannabes auditions has, for some, been a niggle since XF and Xtra Factor returned this year, and I have to say, I’m finding it irksome too, particularly given that Lorna Bliss – who is just the dictionary definition of wannabe and who you may recall tried out for Britain’s Got Talent as well – got such a lot of air time for having what amounts to next to no talent… Continue reading »

Plus, Tulisa tries to go incognito at airport, and BBC won’t air Strictly at same time as X Factor!

We’ll begin today’s reality TV news round up with a report from the Daily Mirror which states that former Celebrity Big Brother housemate Alex Reid was arrested outside the home he formerly shared with another CBB star, Chantelle Houghton – who recently gave birth to the couple’s baby girl, Dolly – as he allegedly tried to break down the door.

Alex and Chantelle have of course had a very turbulent relationship that’s been spattered with break ups and make ups, but this is by far the most serious of the rows they’ve had to date.

The paper reports that Alex was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and using violence to secure entry after police attended the incident at 1.30am this morning.

A police spokesperson said, “Police were contacted just before 1.30am this morning with reports of a disturbance at a property in Brentwood.

“A 37-year old man from Brentwood was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and using violence to secure entry, and is currently in police custody.” Continue reading »

Plus X Factor’s Tulisa faces enormous legal bills, and TOWIE stars threaten to walk over pay dispute

We’ll begin today’s reality TV news with a report in the Daily Star that Big Brother housemate Scott Mason could face being thrown out of the house after being given an official warning from the show’s producers after he threatened fellow housemate Becky Hannon with violence.

The paper report that incident happened when Becky accused a drunk Scott of being an alcoholic.

He responded with fury, telling her, “I’d come over there and slap you if I was.”

He then launched into a major rant, yelling, “I find people annoying. I’ve never heard so much sh*t in all my life.

“Just f*** off you tw*ts.”

When Becky told him he could be given a warning from BB over what he’s said, he replied, “It’s the truth, bitch. Just kick me out of the house.”

Scott was immediately called to the Diary Room and reminded about the rules regarding behaviour in the house… Continue reading »

Plus, Susan Boyle’s neighbours are sick of her singing, and Simon Cowell plans to make Pudsey a canine talent show judge!

It’s been reported today that a promising girl band, Quantro, who made it through to The X Factor’s Boot Camp stage have now been axed after it was revealed one of the group’s members allegedly smashed a broken glass into an ex-boyfriend’s face.

Band member Lucie Slater is set to appear in court to answer a charge of with wounding with intent to cause GBH after her ex-boyfriend, who’s a DJ at the Tiger Tiger bar in Newcastle, William Scott Aitken, needed medical treatment following the incident on June 24.

21-year-old Lucie, of Gateshead, who is currently on bail and is due to appear at crown court, was apparently “devastated” that the show’s bosses have ditched the group.

She even offered to leave the band so that her three band mates could continue on the show, but her plea was refused.

Speaking to the Sun, Lucie said, “We got fantastic comments from the judges and we are just heartbroken.

“We have worked so hard to get to where we are. We can’t thank people enough for their support and that’s why the band is going to carry on.”

After being disqualified, the band tweeted, “We’d like to thank everybody so so much from the bottom of our hearts for the support everyone gave us… Continue reading »

Plus Amanda Holden attributes her career success to Simon Cowell

We’ll start today’s look at all things reality TV with The X Factor, where auditions for the show have been thrown into “chaos” by the forthcoming Olympics.

Ordinarily, the Boot Camp stage of the show is held in London, but as hotel rooms in London during the Olympics as rare as rocking horse poo, there are no venues that can house the 200 some acts who’re through to that stage.

So, for the first time in the show’s history, Boot Camp will most likely be held in Manchester or Birmingham.

Of the move, a show source told the Daily Star, “The Olympics has posed a huge problem for us this year.

“London has always been the choice venue for boot camp. But now we are having to re-think it, and fast.

“The place is completely booked out. It would be a nightmare to stage it during the Games so we’ll have to move…” Continue reading »

Plus, Tulisa denies there’s any “rift” with Rita Ora, and Carolynne Poole tries out again

Gary Barlow has been a very busy bunny of late, for not only has he been filming the first of this year’s X Factor auditions, he’s also been jetting around the world gathering musical contributions to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee track, entitled Sing.

And in addition, he organized the amazing concert that we saw as part of the celebrations last weekend, in which he sang with former X Factor judge, Cheryl Cole.

But today, it’s been revealed that all his hard work is to be recognised by the Queen who’s set to award him an OBE in this year’s birthday honours list.

An insider told the Sun, “The Queen was delighted with Gary Barlow’s brilliant work and dedication.

“She made it clear he should be rewarded at the first available opportunity. Mr Barlow was told of Her Majesty’s offer a few weeks ago.

“He was quite surprised, but he has accepted it.” Continue reading »