X-Factor / Mike Norman / 10 September 2009 / Leave a comment

Saturday nights are set to be dominated by reality TV shows until Christmas, and our man Engelbert Norman (that's Mike to me and you) will be here to tell you who's hot and who's not in this year's X Factor.

"The audience took to him immediately, he had the judges beaming from cheek to cheek, and he would eventually conclude his performance to a standing ovation and the comment, “Singlehandedly, that was the best first audition I’ve ever heard” from Mr Cowell"

Unless you've been holidaying on a different planet recently, it won't have escaped your notice that The X Factor has returned to our screens on a Saturday night.

Last year our expert reality TV tipster (that'll be me then) flagged up eventual winner Alexandra Burke from a very early stage, as well as giving you winning selections on a weekly basis - some courtesy of the dethroned reality TV tipster champion Jack Houghton. You'll hear from Jack when the live shows being... but don't trust a word he says!

This year there's a big change to the audition process... the acts have to perform in front of a live audience as well as having backing music if they choose.

However, some things will never change. Simon Cowell's tongue is as sharp as ever, Dannii Minogue looks about as happy as a dwarf at a funfair in the shadow of Cheryl Cole, and Louis Walsh looks and sounds as camp as ever.

The only markets available on Betfair at the moment are the Winning Category (Boys, Girls, Groups, Over 25s) and Winning Manager (the above mentioned judges) markets. Whilst the Winning Manager market is a complete lottery at this stage (simply for the reason that we don't know which judge will manager which category), the Winning Category market is at least of some interest.

That's because two acts in particular have stood out like a beacon during the first few weeks of auditions, namely Danyl Johnson and Jamie Archer. (Click their names to see their audition then press the back button on your browser to return to this page).

Both Danyl and Jamie fall into the Over 25s category (available to back at [3.3]) and have already got the nation talking about them as potential winners.

Danyl, a 27-year-old school teacher, was incredibly entertaining during his rendition of "With A Little Help From My Friends". The audience took to him immediately, he had the judges beaming from cheek to cheek, and he would eventually conclude his performance to a standing ovation and the comment, "Singlehandedly, that was the best first audition I've ever heard" from Mr Cowell - high praise indeed.

Yes Danyl can go on and win the show on that performance alone, but I need to see what else he has in his locker during bootcamp and the judge's houses before deciding whether he is my selection. He will definitely be in the live TV stages though.

Similar comments apply to Jamie, 33, though if I had to choose between the two at this stage as to who will go furthest in the competition, I'd just have to go for Danyl.

The Girls category (available to back at [3.35]) also looks strong, not least because it has 18-year-old student Lucie Jones in it.

Lucie sang the one song in the world that I absolutely detest when performed by Whitney Houston, but adore when sang by Dolly Parton. I'm talking of course about "I Will Always Love You". Thankfully, Lucie sang the song in a soft, slow, Dolly Parton-esque style which brought goose pimples to my body. Her facial expressions were on the button and I believe she has the potential to sing any type of song given to her. She's a contender alright.

Other Girls to mention are dippy Londoner Stacey Soloman, the powerful voice of Jade Fubara, and former S Club 8 member Stacey McClean. ITV haven't shown McClean yet, but my spies tell me that she puts in a cracking audition and is well worth following.

I'll review some of the Boys and Groups next week, but for information purposes, they are available to back at [3.4] and [6.6] respectively in the Winning Category market.

Tags: Cheryl Cole, Dannii Minogue, Danyl Johnson, Louis Walsh, Lucie Jones, Simon Cowell, X Factor 2009, X Factor 2009 Betting