The Horrors
A 20-minute clash with Strictly tonight. Pre-live show tonight there has been good money for Lola in the Outright which might suggest she has the pimp slot.
It will also be no surprise if Jake is on early… and he is on first, and Ben has the pimp slot. This is poor again by Jake. Totally exposed by the arrangement. The judges are harsh and this could potentially help mobilize his vote.
Only The Young start very flat. In the wrong key. Solo is not good. Much better when they harmonize. Something wrong with the sound mix? Little backing track help, it would appear. Some distracting comments from the judges.
Jay wheeling out his daughter in the VT + tears = struggling in the vote already? Jay is seriously struggling here with the song. Thought this would be a tough assignment for him and it is. The judges are reading from Simon’s script and telling us how good it was until Cheryl points out how poor it was.
‘What’s great about you… and you get better and better and better.’ Cowell, honestly, just embarrassing with the desperate, desperate lies.
Andrea looks like someone has wrapped him up with tape measures. Dreadful shirt, and ropey vocal. Every song he sings sounds the same. So overblown and not remotely tuneful. My ears are bleeding here. But Louis tells us it is faultless and Simon tells us Britain has taken the cuddly bear to their hearts.
‘No one else in this competition could have sung that song like that.’ Agree with Mel B. And let’s be thankful for that.
Lana Del Rey meets Twiggy for Lola. Lana DR is not great live and again, this is very inconsistent from Lola. Her voice isn’t big enough to cope with the real power notes, as we already knew. She gets a fire curtain. The judges are telling her she is amazing. Simon points out her shortfall, partly, but the onus is on the positive here. BF isn’t impressed as Lola drifts back out.
Paul’s confidence is growing apparently. Distracting dancers for him not helping this performance. Are they trying to turn him into a sexy soul performer? Cowell telling us Paul is great.
This is far and away Lauren’s weakest effort. It gets better further in and the judges are praising her. It’s a song the teens and pre-teens love apparently but not the best choice to demonstrate what Lauren has to offer.
Jack is getting some seriously distracting dancers. It looks like a lap dancing joint up there. Louis didn’t love the song choice and got bored in the middle. Cowell is so clever with the way he weaves honest assessments – like the one he just gave for Jack – with the absolute b*llshit he spins out at other times.
A below-par night all-round so far. Fleur gets her name in neon and this is probably the best performance of the night. Certainly the most enjoyable. Whether Fleur can entice enough XF voters remains to be seen. Louis tells us there’s a gap in the market for her.
Stevi sums up where XF is failing as a show these days. He is supposed to be the novelty act and this isn’t a novelty any more. Aurally challenged too. Louis didn’t get the joke. Time to go home, Stevi, he says. But Cheryl loves the fact he is having fun up there. Cowell calls him a guilty pleasure so they clearly want him around for a while longer.
Stereo Kicks are going to be themselves. The message is they are taking control. They are going ‘a capella’. They have them doing duets throughout this in between solos. They get a standing ovation from the judges. That was an entire ‘Homebase’ of kitchen sinks being thrown at them. Surprised Cowell didn’t tell us Barclay Beales has just discovered a cure for the Ebola virus. This show is so contrived it re-defines the words ‘shameless’ and ‘grotesque’.
My God. My ears really are bleeding now. Ben shows how good Steven Tyler is. Pitch perfect, says Mel B. Don’t be ridiculous, Mel. Cowell says it was the wrong song for him. Well, he certainly couldn’t sing it. Some real horrors tonight.
So, they look like they are targeting Jake and Jack. But it might not work out that way. Keep an eye on the Comments section below for betting recommendations when we get some markets tomorrow.
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This is proving a tricky XF series so far in terms of trying to find winning value plays on the weekly markets, not helped by poor liquidity on BF & very few bookies pricing up bottom 2.
In these early weeks, it usually pays to take on the favourite to be eliminated but this hasn’t worked out so far & may not again this week.
Jake or Jack could easily be bottom 2 but as good looking, likeable solo males, they may have enough support to scrape above b2.
Sense OTY may definitely have enough support to escape bottom 2. Stevi appears vulnerable again & could be primed for a controversial save in the sing-off.
Of the others, who might be a surprise bottom 2? Lola probably has enough north-east support to be safe. Paul and Ben probably have enough fans too. I would be inclined to look more in the direction of Jay for a potential shock. He was on early, and his ‘Skyfall’ rendition was poor and forgettable in the context of the night.
Lauren lost a little of her sheen last night & it can be very easy for solo Girls to be surprise b2s. Fleur might not be generating big support yet. You can make a case for a good few. I come back to Stevi, really not convinced he will manage enough votes to avoid b2. Jay worth a speculative tenner.
Recommendation:
Stevi – to be in bottom 2 – 4pt win – 3-1 (Ladbrokes)
Jay – to be bottom 2 – 1pt win – 8-1 (Ladbrokes)
The Horrors is an apt headline for the XF weekly markets so far. Another one for the fav backers. We could be seeing something of a trend and if so, it’s a worrying trend as it goes against the ethos of this site.
Oh well – always next week.
slim pickings this year so far. There seems to be much less value out there and in fact less money in the BF books then in previous editions? I wonder how much free voting has changed the game. It seems unfair that an app vote is in effect worth 5X more than the traditional phone vote. In all honesty I have never really voted on x factor but this year I have 15 free votes at my disposal which are used purly based on who I have money on in the elimination markets
I think the free app vote may well have changed things, Jay, & aided Syco in having tighter control. End of series percentages will be revealing. Of course, it may well turn out there have been a number of near misses so far for value seekers.
It’s often fine margins at the bottom end of the polling. Dermot mentioned over 2 million votes cast in week 1 so we have to conclude voting is significantly higher with the free app.
Greater motivation to vote (given the free app) probably means far less likelihood of voter apathy which was often a reason we previously got shocks in the bottom 2. Hard to quantify though.
Halloween song choices:
Andrea Faustini
Relight My Fire (by Take That)
Jack Walton
Bleeding Love (by Leona Lewis)
Paul Akister
Bat Out Of Hell (by Meatloaf)
Lauren Platt
Dark Horse (by Katy Perry)
Lola Saunders
Crazy (by Gnarls Barkley)
Only The Young
The Monster Mash (by Bobby Pickett)
Stereo Kicks
Everybody (by Backstreet Boys)
Ben Haenow
Highway to Hell (by AC/DC)
Fleur East
Thriller (by Michael Jackson)
Jay James
Mad World (by Tears For Fears)
Stevi Ritchie
Music of The Night (from Phantom of The Opera)
Initial thoughts on this week’s song choices:
Paul’s and Ben’s choices very suspect; could be a good week for Fleur and Jay’s song again is right in his comfort zone.
We know OTY have performed Monster Mash in the past. I see this as potentially a much stronger effort by them. Syco probably want them around a while yet in case SK’s bounce proves temporary.
Everybody could go either way for SK; ditto Lola’s ‘Crazy’. Lauren looks teed up for further endorsement while it’s harder to see ‘Relight My Fire’ boosting Andrea. In fact, he could be set up for a fall with this.
Stevi is no doubt going to have a theatrical production. He will likely look as vulnerable as he has done in previous weeks performing this.
Jack could make ‘Bleeding’ Love’ his own in an acoustic style. With only a 10 minute voting window after the last act to perform, a late slot, perhaps slot 10, possibly sandwiched between 2 big hitters in 9 and 11, could prove a disadvantage.
It looks like voting will open from the start of the show but with the 15 minute Strictly crossover slot 1 could be a coffin slot. If Jack is in slot 1, this would be a clear warning sign of producer’s intentions.
Fleur has proved strong on the Outright and could be in line for a pimp slot with ‘Thriller’.
Probably best to sit out the 6th elimination market until we know the running order.
A bottom 3 market would make far more appeal if we had prices. On song choice alone, Paul at 8-1 and Ben at 16-1 make some appeal at bwin to be the 7th elimination.
Ben’s VT last week hinted that he has lost favour with TPTB, and his song choice doesn’t inspire confidence. Nor does Paul’s and there have been hints of him possibly in a cage with distracting bats for company on stage.