Welsh dragon can slay X Factor's Emily
Patriotic votes can spring a surprise in third eviction, says Betfair Radio pundit Ian Brindle
The X Factor rumbles onto its third round this Saturday night and punters were given plenty of food for thought with a series of mixed performances during round two.
Alisha managed to escape the slings and arrows of eviction but not without surviving the judge's vote.
On paper, the likeable Londoner should have had few worries. A safe female standard in 'Say A Little Prayer' looked odds-on to secure a smooth passage, but the combination of an off-key opening verse, superfluous choreography and an outfit that made her a dopple-ganger for 80s cook, Rustie Lee, proved the recipe for near-disaster.
While Alisha's second performance was better than her first, mentor Sharon Osbourne desperately needs to find her a killer song in order to maintain any hope of progression.
The triumvirate of Rhydian Roberts (4.5), Beverley Trottman (24) and Niki Evans (3.8) has proved popular in the outright market following Saturday's performances and to coin a horseracing term, the week's theme was very much a case of horses for courses.
Rhydian, in particular, has proved a boon for those traders that made a positive call about this year's Marmite entry. Looking like a cross between Rutger Hauer and Max Headroom, the Welshman sang powerfully although the execution of the performance was somewhat tempered by a modest sense of movement and timing.
All three groups progressed with minimal trouble with somewhat surprisingly, Hope (5.4) proving more popular with Betfair players rather than Futureproof (6.6).
Cowell's choice of Lady Marmalade was distinctly unoriginal. As a piece of work, there is literally nowhere to go with the song bar endless imitation. Indeed, in this respect, Cowell has gone so far as to throw in a low-rent Cheryl Tweedy as part of the manufactured "package".
Futureproof's choice of "If You Don't Know me by Now" was typically safe. A below-par opening vocal was rescued by a much needed switch to the front by their bearded tour de force.
Same Difference (40) were fancied by many to be on their way home by this stage but the brother and sister combo deserved their place in the next round based on Saturday's performance.
Leon (13.5) put up another disappointing performance and arguably holds claim to be the dullest contestant to have ever appeared in any of the finals so far. The Scot's tired yarn of doing the programme for his mother has been replaced by the scintillating revelation that he used to fold jeans in a clothes shop.
Delivering his song with a combination of a twitching jaw and a pub singer's twang, it was somewhat ironic that it was Louis Walsh that described him as having "no charisma and no personality". High praise indeed from a man who has single handedly polluted the British charts with his charmless boybands for years.
Andy Williams (26) appears to have morphed into his fellow countryman and serial non-entity, Andy Scott-Lee. It was an ambitious task to perform "Staying Alive" and Andy's weak vocal and wooden dancing made for excruciating viewing.
So why Emily for the chop? I never thought I'd be writing this in the second week but in true X Factor style, an apparent front-runner at the auditions and the boot camp has crashed and burned before the audience's eyes.
Last week's poor performance was blamed on the pressures of studying for GCSEs but on this occasion, it was Sharon Osbourne's abysmal ear for a song that should prove entirely culpable.
Dressed like a young Mel B, Emily wandered in-and-out of tune on a real plodder of a song and then had the cheek to argue with the judges about their decisions.
When Will Young stood up to Simon Cowell during Pop Idol, this was the moment that the tide began to turn against Gareth Gates. Unfortunately, Saturday's riposte merely confirmed Emily to be the most unendearing of spoilt brats.
On the basis of two week's performances Leon, Andy, Alesha and Emily look the four most likely evictees and with the Scottish and Welsh voters likely to rescue the two boys, at the current Betfair odds, Emily has to be the play.
Recommendation: Third Eviction, back Emily
Comments (17)
Interesting theory, but I don't think Emily was any more of an unendearing spoilt brat than Will Young was. Its a pity your theory didn't come into fruition when he was on Pop Idol. If anyone should have been voted off in the early weeks of the show, it was him. Consequently, now we have to endure his big headed `I'm better than you' attitude to almost everyone he comes into contact with, other than those who can help his cause.
Janet | 29 October 2007
Ooops, looks like Janet and Val have exactly the same view about Will, wouldn't be disgruntled Gareth fans would you!!
elaine | 29 October 2007
I agree with the first/second comment re-Will Young, I find his arrogance unbearable. I had bumped into him a couple of years back and he was so far up his own arse its a wonder he could see where he was going!
karen | 29 October 2007
The two top comments are clearly made by the same person, sweetie, please, Will's voice kept him in the show and it's Will's voice that keeps him successful..he has a genuine talent and didn't need a hook like his runner up. without that hook it has to be said the runner up proved to be bland and unpopular with the record buying public, Will's successful still because of that genuine talent and that won't change no matter how many different names you use to post your thoughts on such matters.
get over it honey, it was 6 years ago, jeez.
as for the X-factor, could it really get any worse? the whole thing has had it's Day.
Lee. | 30 October 2007
Will Young - whatever happened to him. He used to be quite popular but he seems to have dissapeared of the radar,he seemed to loose his way after that dreadful screaming song with the drums that sounded like a poor mans "Faith"!. I think the only real talent to surface from these shows is Leona Lewis she has it all and is going to be a big star, can't wait to see her performing at the Brits next year which I have it on good authority that she will be.
tony | 30 October 2007
Whatever happened to Will Young Tony? if you were a fan, which obviously your not,you would know that after his third multi-platinum album Keep On, Will was nominated for a Brit award for All Time Love, in January this year he played the role of Nicky Lancaster in Noel Coward's The Vortex, filmed a documentary for the BBC called Saving Planet Earth, performed at the Princess Diana concert and headlined in Hyde Park on the Last Night at the Proms, he's just released a Roald Dahl audio book, "Danny, Champion Of The World" and he's also doing one of the Little Noise concerts in London for Mencap in November. Will's 4th album will be released in 2008, so now you know.
luke | 30 October 2007
Whatever happened to Will Young Tony? if you were a fan, which obviously your not,you would know that after his third multi-platinum album Keep On, Will was nominated for a Brit award for All Time Love, in January this year he played the role of Nicky Lancaster in Noel Coward's The Vortex, filmed a documentary for the BBC called Saving Planet Earth, performed at the Princess Diana concert and headlined in Hyde Park on the Last Night of the Proms, he's just released a Roald Dahl audio book, "Danny, Champion Of The World" and he's also doing one of the Little Noise concerts in London for Mencap in November. Will's 4th album will be released in 2008, so now you know.
luke | 30 October 2007
Whatever happened to Will Young Tony? if you were a fan, which obviously your not,you would know that after his third multi-platinum album Keep On, Will was nominated for a Brit award for All Time Love, in January this year he played the role of Nicky Lancaster in Noel Coward's The Vortex, filmed a documentary for the BBC called Saving Planet Earth, performed at the Princess Diana concert and headlined in Hyde Park on the Last Night of the Proms, he's just released a Roald Dahl audio book, "Danny, Champion Of The World" and he's also doing one of the Little Noise concerts in London for Mencap in November. Will's 4th album will be released in 2008, so now you know.
luke | 30 October 2007
Errrr luke did you really have to repeat yourself over and over again, makes you look like a complete loony. No I'm not a fan so I guess I'm not that interested in all these little known facts about him. I just know that he hasn't been around much since Leave Right Now thankfully! All I know is Leona is going places but Will is way past his sell by date.
tony | 30 October 2007
Errr Tony, I didn't repeat myself intentionally and what is your point exactly about posting that Leona is "going places?" Will goes where he wants to go, not where he's told to. I'm sure Will is more than happy with his lot, he's not competing against anyone, he did that six years ago. You carry on enjoying your artist and I'll carry on enjoying mine, there's really no need to diss anyone is there?
luke | 30 October 2007
Tony,
Can I just ask how you know that Leona is "going places"?
How can two singles predict anything? I would say that you cant measure any artits success at this very early stage and I would have said the same for Will.
Lets see:-) Time will tell...
Julie | 30 October 2007
Tony,
Can I just ask how you know that Leona is "going places"?
How can two singles predict anything? I would say that you cant measure any artists success at this very early stage and I would have said the same for Will.
Lets see:-) Time will tell...
Julie | 30 October 2007
What is wrong with Will Young fans, do they have to keep repeating themselves!
How do I know about Leona, lets just say I have a very good friend who works for a large commercial London based radio station who also happens to be on the Brits committee. The word is there is huge amounts of money behind this girl - she will be huge no doubt about it.
tony | 31 October 2007
Tony, I think we've got the message now, Leona is going to be huge and there's huge amounts of money behind her, well good luck to her. Personally I'm not interested in her but I wish her well and I hope she's not worked into the ground and maybe she'll get to keep a bit of money for herself, when she's paid those huge amounts of money back to the record company.
luke | 31 October 2007
Got it right about the regional voting i see.
Don | 04 November 2007
Ah... so its the money that makes the artist huge- not the talent.
Rob | 12 November 2007
Benefits and offers
£50 CASINO BONUS
100% deposit bonus up to £50 for all new casino players. Just join and play to claim.
Interesting theory, but I don't think Emily was any more of an unendearing spoilt brat than Will Young was. Its a pity your theory didn't come into fruition when he was on Pop Idol. If anyone should have been voted off in the early weeks of the show, it was him. Consequently, now we have to endure his big headed `I'm better than you' attitude to almost everyone he comes into contact with, other than those who can help his cause.
Val | 29 October 2007