Cat Among The Pigeons
Who would have thunk it? Hannah on first. Never saw that coming. The performance wasn’t particularly enthralling despite her trying her best to engage the audience. Surprised by the plea for votes from Louis and the general rampage from all 4 judges. Maybe not a dead woman walking.
This is when XF goes Twilight Zone. You sit through a very poor rendition of ‘Your Song’ but the judges tell you otherwise. Luke up second hinted he could be vulnerable of ending up in the bottom 2 and after this, despite the judges best efforts to talk him up, he still looks in danger. What is their game tonight? What are they up to here?
Gary insists Sam B is going to sell records because people are telling him she won’t sell records. That’s a bit like George Michael insisting he is not gay. Throw in the denial and it makes people consider the reverse is true. Hmm… is that a subtle de-ramp? A big belter, Nicole adds. Hardly a winning description. Louis and Sharon drag it back a bit but a sense of handbrake applied to Sam B’s vote here.
Ha, ha. The sparklers just went out on Rough Copy’s poor Coldplay effort, just as Louis gave a look to camera of total indifference. ‘You never fail. You never disappoint,’ Nicole says, contradicting the truth. Yes, at last, ‘a bit vanilla’ says Nicole. The first hint of Rough Copy de-ramping, and about time. They also exhibited some arrogance post-song which won’t have helped their pv.
All that Sam C’s staging was lacking was a laser-eyed, self-portrait effigy behind him a la Chris Maloney’s last year. Red and black, no sound help. It sounded at times like his mic was switched down if not off. And they unplugged his guitar at the start as well. The production staff have sent him to the gallows here. But he must still have a decent chance of avoiding the bottom 2 this week.
Tamera on second last hinted the producers would rather she didn’t slip into the bottom 2 again. But then you heard her strange rendition of ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ and the mixed comments of the judges and you have to add her to the ‘in danger this week’ list. A very long list. Every act bar Sam B and Nick, in fact.
At least we now have a race for this year’s crown. Nick has always been the safe stock this series and the show finally got behind him by way of the pimp slot. Excellent rendition and superb song choice. On the back of The Sun’s supposed vote leak, this pimp slot for Nick arrived bang on cue.
It’s as simple as this: telling Sun readers Sam B has a huge lead at the polls encourages apathy. She has it sewn up, right, so no need to vote for her. Syco has used the exact same tactics in the past – courtesy of the mouthpiece of The Sun – to suppress the vote of Jedward and Wagner.
Maybe the show is actively seeking a shock bottom 2 this week. Why else ramp Hannah the way they did? Hannah + 1 doesn’t look quite so certain now, but it wouldn’t surprise if Hannah still is bottom 2.
The hardest week to call by far. We could even be in for a Tamera vs Rough Copy bottom 2. It is certainly worth backing Rough Copy to be bottom 2 at 11-4. As a cover to earlier advised combos, our suggestion would be to seek best elimination odds for Luke, Tamera and Rough Copy because if Hannah escapes and Sam C’s fans come to his rescue again, it could be teed up for a deadlock shocker.
Related Posts
-
Credibility Gap
Posted on Oct 10, 2019
-
Scarlett Fever
Posted on Nov 28, 2018
-
Ant Killer?
Posted on Nov 21, 2018
-
Clinically Depressed
Posted on Nov 14, 2018
I agree, impossible to call really. Nick will have got the most votes imo, then Sam B, and all the rest could be bunched up with not much between them.
It does seem now that Gary Barlow and Sharon might be just doing their own thing and not taking much direction. I didn’t think Barlow was the type at first. Reminds me of when Sharon said to Louis ages ago “whose side are you on?” suggesting that the judges had had an anti-producer chat with each other.
Cowell may not care. His ego is so big he probably likes the idea of this XF being a mess so it will be a contrast when he comes back and creates order and gets some quality acts back in the show.
I think you are spot on, henry, regarding Gary and Sharon. It started with the ‘Stars In Their Eyes’ comment from Gary regarding Tamera. Sharon obviously went too far in her criticism of Abi… there have been a few examples.
The show is in a terrible mess, summed up by last night’s awful song choices, poor live efforts by most, and the general sea of negativity with the comments.
i think the tamera’s forgetting her lines vt was a desperate attempt by the producers to keep her out of the bottom two.
the plan being create some tension with the vt then all the judges tell us how amazing she was when she remembered them.
except she didn’t.
they did this because without a bounce she is certain for bottom 2.
tamera bottom 2 for me
A difficult week to call & so it proved. Tamera vs Luke would have been a dream result. Sadly, not to be.
Maybe TPTB know more than we think – negotiating the 2 Boys into b2 probably in the script this week.
Rough Copy’s continued survival surprises me. Not especially likeable, poor vocals every week, & not as ramped as usual last night. Be interested to see the end of series vote percentages. Reckon they only just avoided b2 tonight.
Still think Tamera is more likely of making the final than RC.
luke tamera b2 would have been a dream job for me too
louis made it clear who tptb want in the final when he said who’s albums he would buy.
no way that was just a random question from dermot
Louis did indeed name check those 3 and it was a teed up question. Whether it pans out that way is a different matter.
My view is Rough Copy are a harder sell than Tamera and when you consider their comparative commercial appeal, Tamera’s is potentially far greater.
For one she can actually sing in tune. If it comes down to a choice of who they want to finish 3rd, I would expect Tamera to get the nod because the final would be stronger for her presence in it.
They can certainly navigate their choice of 3rd placer quite easily from this point on. There must be very little in it atm between Hannah, Tamera, Rough Copy and Luke.
Rob
something at the start of the results show last night made me think they may have had enough of Tamera
The commentator said
Last night the final 7 sang the best of British, Some did their country proud and he named checked, Luke, Sam B, Hannah, Nick & Rough Copy
He then said others failed to fly the flag, Sam C & Tamera.
She may be becoming disposable.
I saw this as a big negative.
I guess we were all amazed with both Hannah/Tamura escaping b2 but what amazes me even more are the song choices latter is given. Anything from Rihanna would do the trick but no, let’s do Shirley Bassey !? Oh, I forgot, Rihanna is reserved for Marcus Collins types 🙂 It can go two ways now imo.
1) They are building a big show stopper they will unleash as Gary indicated that as a missing part from her.
2) They simply don’t care about her as much as we were thinking and will be happy with 4th place (as the name check suggest).
I’m afraid I don’t believe in 1) anymore.
I still expect 1) to happen, Boki. She is simply too good a singer, & too strong a commercial prospect, for them to give up on her.
Rough Copy are not nearly as commercial. I still don’t know any of their names, their vocals are consistently poor and they have 1 singer with visa issues which makes any future touring by them seriously compromised.
Rob I agree that they’re going to try to give Tamera her moment. But maybe more in the interests of balance for the show rather than long term future for her. And she’ll probably mess it up anyway.
She’s proven to be very thick – can’t be cured but not an insurmountable problem for a pop star. And she’s proven to be unlikeable – a success barrier but one that could be cured. But is it too late?
I think her treatment on the live shows, Henry, goes to show Syco are actually rather incompetent. Maybe it is lethargy after so many series that they took their eye off the ball.
My thinking, at least pre-lives, was that this series would be a masterclass in how to get Tamera over the winning line first. The field was teed up to be the weakest possible – part of the initial masterplan imho – but they have c*cked things up.
She clearly has the voice, and the image, but what she really needed was some great contemporary song choices to suit and that could have led to the sort of eulogising and ramping we have seen them give Sam B series-long.
The show has failed to build Tamera up at all – when she had the prized pimp slot they gave Barlow enough free rein to criticise her and that was incredibly damaging. While the last 3 weeks song choices have been appalling.
This Saturday is going to tell us a lot about Tamera’s future trajectory on the show.