Jedward ‘Under Pressure’
While it was something of a surprise to see Jedward drop to the bottom 2 last week, at least we shrewdly suggested laying off at the 8-1 that was available a week or so ago, as they’ve now drifted back out to 25s.
It could be the end for Jedward this week as it’s hard to see them getting an enormous spike in votes after last week’s appearance in the bottom 2, and their controversial survival. Their potential exit won’t worry anyone who took our advice and backed them to make it to at least week 6. It was another good call by us last week to recommend laying Lloyd on the bottom 2 market.
It’s Queen Night tonight and there remains the possibility of another shock because we sense there may be one more twist in the Jedward story, and one more miraculous escape. Jedward are allegedly doing Under Pressure (Ice, Ice Baby) with requisite Vanilla Ice rapping.
What matters more to their chances is the show edit, how the judges play it, and if they push for the sympathy vote in the blatant way Cowell did on behalf of Danyl a few weeks back, it may just help them sneak out of the bottom 2.
We got put away with the song choice rumours last week with Stacey, Jamie and Lloyd having last minute changes. This week, the latest reports suggest Jamie is either doing Radio Ga Ga or Seven Seas Of Rhye. If it’s the former, he’s probably safe; if it’s the latter, he could easily find himself in the bottom 2 because no one knows it, and it’s completely dull.
Olly has Don’t Stop Me Now, which looks a solid enough choice for the outright favourite to smoothly progress. Stacey will be singing I Want To Break Free, and given the strength of her support we expect her to breeze through as well.
Danyl has the anthemic We Are The Champions and we’re struggling to see how this will suit his voice, and one backlash following Cowell’s perceived spineless decision to take it to deadlock last week, could be less support for his 3 acts this week.
Lloyd has Crazy Little Thing Called Love which will be cutesy enough to no doubt have his teen female fans taking to the phones again in their droves. Joe has Somebody To Love and we’re still not convinced he gets that much more support than Lloyd.
Lloyd and Stacey will also probably both benefit from Lucie’s departure, Stacey now the only solo female contestant, and Lloyd taking some of her Welsh votes. So where does this leave us? In a state of confusion, mostly.
We’d suggest a few small, speculative punts on Danyl to be eliminated at 12-1 and the 3 bottom 2 combos at 25s and bigger on Jamie, Joe and Danyl (if Jamie sings Seven Seas).
Lloyd, again, is worth a speculative lay at odds on in the bottom 2 market. And on the First Act Announced Safe market, we think it’s worth backing both Lloyd and Jedward, working on the theory at least one of these will escape the bottom 2, and being in jeopardy there’s always a decent chance they’ll be called out first safe.
Overall, this series of X Factor gets more convoluted by the week and incredibly difficult to call in advance of the show. So we will hold off from posting the X Factor blog until Sunday next week, so we can give you a full analysis having seen the Saturday show.
Rob Furber