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X Factor Betting: teacher Beverley should be history

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The Chickendinner runes suggest Bev is not going any further...

It's a tight week for elimination on X Factor, with four acts standing a little too close to the cliff edge for any of them to feel confident of surviving.

Hope - [4.1] on Betfair to go - still seem a bit of a rabble, and possibly haven't even learnt each other's names, let alone how to like one another. As a result it's hard for the audience to buy into them as individuals in a Spice Girls/ Girls Aloud kind of way, or for them to generate a sense of being a gang. (Other than one that might trash a hotel bar, shrieking blood-curdling threats to other girls to stop messin' with their boyfriends). After two weeks in the bottom two so far, they will surely fall foul of the three strikes and out rule (note the fate of Voices with Soul, series one; Conway Sisters, series two).

Also feeling the ground start to crumble beneath her is Beverley [4.0]. Almost identical to big soul singing divas Brenda and Rowetta (who both came fourth), like Hope she's already survived eviction. Her voice is powerful, her role as a teacher makes her seem sweet, but with Rhydian and Niki in the same line-up, she's the most likely act to be heard from the kitchen as you take a break to make some tea and butter some toast. The winner needs sex appeal, which she's a little short of, and Cowell is becoming increasingly sneery about her performances.

Leon [4.2] and Same Difference [4.7] would also be advised not to breathe too easy. Of the five evictees so far, four have been chopped on their first visit to the bottom two (Kim, Daniel, Futureproof, Andy). Assuming that it's still too early to call time on Rhydian [70.0] or Niki [12.0], if an upset is on the cards, it will take the same shape as one of these budding 'talents'.

To an extent, this year's last six echoes last year's, which boasted (in descending order): Leona (the favourite - hence Rhydian), Ray (same group as Leona - Leon), Ben (over-25, strong vocal - Niki), MacDonald Brothers (tacky siblings - Same Difference), Eton Road ('glamourous' singing group - Hope), and Robert (over-25, soulful - Beverley). So, for history to repeat itself, Beverley would have to go this week, and which implies a top three of Rhydian, Leon and Niki.