X-Factor / Jack Houghton / 03 December 2011 /

During The X Factor last year, betting.betfair tipster Jack Houghton turned a starting bank of £1,000 into a whopping £1,900. Two years previously he returned a 17-point profit to anyone following his recommended bets. A brace of profitable years in hand, get involved as he goes for number three.

Few social movements can have been as depressingly banal and contradictory as Girl Power in the 1990s. There we were being presented with supposed icons of female chutzpah and independence, all the time thinking that Posh Spice, Lara Croft and Buffy were, if anything, simply exacerbating outdated gender paradigms, subliminally telling young girls that early sexualisation was the quickest route to womanhood. They certainly weren't names that belonged upsides Wollstonecraft, de Beauvoir and Greer.

That's what I was thinking, anyway. Until I found this website with cartoon images of Lara performing unfeasible gymnastic acts, that is. From that moment I was Girl Power all the way.

Always telling us that they are looking for something "fresh" and "current", it's surprising then that the X Factor has chosen to market Little Mix (nee Rythmix) in much the same way that the Spice Girls were marketed back in the halcyon days of dial-up internet connections. Every VT about the act is choc-full of Girl Power rhetoric: they are ordinary girls like us; they stand up for each other as girlfriends like we do; they don't want to steal your boyfriends like we say we don't; and they are insecure about all the things that girls like us are insecure about.

What's more, the rhetoric is mounting. In the last week alone there has been a raft of publicity emanating from Britain's favourite new girlband, with Little Mix telling Heat magazine that they have not had much attention from boys, with most of their support coming from girls; telling Digital Spy that their image is "natural" and "normal"; and saying at a secret gig that, if they were to win the show, they would all take their mums on holiday.

And plaudits should go to Tulisa and the show's producers, because the PR-offensive, whilst drearily unoriginal, has certainly worked so far. Matched at a high of [150.0], Little Mix are now outright favourites to win the thing, despite being the weakest act - talent-wise - left in the show. Even hard-nosed betting correspondents like Mike Norman have warmed to them of late, which tells me that the [2.32] now available is no sure lay.

But are these lovely four young women really adequate feminist role-models? One of them has repeatedly allowed herself to be shown on national television to be upset by a few morons on social networking sites who have called her fat and ugly. The comments were appalling, yes, but surely by portraying a woman as being distraught by such comments, you are implicitly telling any girl watching that there is value in being thin and pretty. If there wasn't, why would someone be blubbering about it?

What's more, Little Mix are being mentored by a woman who associated herself with male band members who have, variously, been accused of assaulting women, sending women death-threats by text-message, and firing paintball pellets at girls' bottom. It's a little unconvincing, then, for Tulisa to think she can bang the drum for the Ya Ya Sisterhood, when she seems such a recent convert to the cause.

So look, if, like me, you are a full-on feminist, it's time to stop supporting Little Mix. They're lovely young women, of course they are, but do we really want them trumpeted as contemporary icons of our cause? Of course we don't.

This is why, next year, I'm going to get my own girlband together for the show. They will all be bookish, intelligent types, who have taken sabbaticals from high-powered, worthwhile jobs in order to briefly pursue their passion for singing. As working mothers, they will all carefully balance the multifarious aspects of their hectic lives with their new X Factor commitments. And as long as one of them has big boobs, we should get some votes.

Misha should get eliminated this week, but as a Top 3 lay was recommended a few weeks' back, I won't be going in again.

This week's recommendations:
No bet.

Previously recommended:
1pt Back Misha/Rhythmix at [15.0] in Bottom Two Combo market - LOST.
1pt Back Misha/Janet at [5.3] in Bottom Two Combo market - WON.
1pt Back Janet/Rhythmix at [32.0] in Bottom Two Combo market - LOST.
5pts Lay Craig Colton at [7.4] in Winner market - WON.
1pt Back Misha/Rhythmix at [4.0] in Bottom Two Combo market - LOST.
1pt Back Misha/Janet at [7.0] in Bottom Two Combo market - LOST.
1pt Back Janet/Rhythmix at [18.0] in Bottom Two Combo market - LOST.
2pts Back Kitty Brucknell at [2.26] in 10th Elimination market - WON.
2pts Back James Michael at [28.0] in Winner market - LOST.
5pts Back The Risk at [1.5] in Groups market - LOST.
5pts Back Johnny Robinson at [1.5] in Over 25s market - LOST.
3pts Back Kitty Brucknell at [1.5] in Bottom Three market - WON.
1pt Back Misha Bryan at [3.7] in Bottom Three market - LOST.
1pt Back Janet Devlin at [7.4] in Bottom Three market - UNMATCHED.
3pts Back Frankie Cocozza at [1.74] in Bottom Two market - LOST.
1pt Back Frankie Cocozza at [3.8] in Bottom Two market - LOST.
2pts Back Nu Vibe at [2.32] in Bottom Two market - WON.
2pts Back The Risk at [22.0] in Winner market - LOST.
2pts Back Craig Colton at [17.0] in Winner market - LOST.
1pt Back Marcus Collins at [17.5] in Winner market - OPEN.
3pts Lay Misha Bryan at [1.81] in Top 3 market - OPEN.
3pts Back Amelia Lily at [5.8] in Winner market - OPEN.
4pts Back Marcus Collins at [4.2] in Winner market - OPEN.
3pts Back Amelia Lily at [4.5] in Winner market - OPEN.
3pts Back Marcus Collins at [4.2] in Winner market - OPEN.

Settled bets:
26pts staked and lost; 15.96pts won; -10.04pts overall.

Star Predictor

You've read Jack's thoughts, but what does the Betfair market say? For the latest odds on the winner market and the next elimination, check out our X-Factor Star Predictor...

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: