Ant Killer?

Nov 21, 2018 by Rob

It was written here last week that Shan’s pimp slot felt a thoroughly deflating, damaging thing. So it proved with her ending up second last on the public vote. It was a case of close but no cigar for value seekers who jumped on Shan at 50-1 to be the 9th elimination.

Bella landed in last place after a classic X Factor hatchet job on the Saturday night. The arrangement of ‘Strong’ was intentionally exposing and sucked the life out of the track.

Looking at how it has panned out, did the show really want Scarlett to be the last Girl standing, given Cowell labelled her a pub singer, while Shan and Bella enjoyed far greater praise and fanfare earlier in the series?

This is just one confusing aspect of a show that seems to have completely lost its way. Despite the opportunity it offers as a trading platform, news it has been re-commissioned for another 4 years was not an incentive to get the bunting out in this particular corner of tv betting land.

Two Girls departing the show last weekend would also have come as a surprise to those who were piling in to Aaliyah & Acacia at short odds to be the 10th elimination before, during and after the sing-off.

There seemed to be an obvious angle as to why they would save A&A for a third time – enabling Robbie to still have representation in the completion going into the semi-final and his return as judge, meaning all 4 judges still have acts in the competition.

The question now is, can this be extended to a convenient final of one act in each category which would mean losing two Boys on Sunday? It’s not inconceivable. Brendan looks easily steered into the bottom 3. Anthony will be a tougher proposition but further negative press for him has hinted the show does not want him anywhere near winning, and they might be poised to come after him during Mamma Mia week, which on paper doesn’t look ideal for him and could offer perfect take-down material.

To try and make the Boy-Girl-Group-Overs final happen they would probably have to deliver the mother of all pimps for A&A to try and get them out of the bottom 3, as four saves for them would start to look a bit preposterous, as much as their save over Shan via deadlock on Sunday already made the show look ridiculous. X Factor has jumped that many sharks now it should apply for a job as a professional stunt performer.

It should be pretty easy to keep Dalton and Scarlett out of the drop zone. Danny enjoyed the Big Band pimp and he is now one of 3 underdogs still in the competition who has enjoyed a surprise run to the final 6. He could be the one who finds himself in the bottom 3 in this weekend’s semi-final but with legitimate prospects of being saved.

Dalton has gone from strength to strength at the top of the market and it is hard to find a reason why the show would want to derail him from this point.

There is also an argument the show might like to get A&A in the final to at least offer a modicum of variety and bring some entertainment to the show. Otherwise, it could risk being a dull balladeer-fest. So A&A might be worth considering opposing in 11th elimination betting. As always, only song choices and running order will tell us more.