X-Factor / Mike Norman / 20 September 2011 /

Bootcamp is looming and Mike Norman already knows some of the acts that have made it to the final TV stages, but who has impressed during the last few weeks of X Factor auditions?

Lots of action to catch up on this week folks. I sandwiched in a holiday in between ITV's decision to screen audition shows on consecutive nights two weekends running, meaning just the four hours of wannabes to sift through this time.

In all fairness though nobody has impressed me more than Janet Devlin - who we saw on the first show of this series - though I have to start by giving a mention to local lass (local to me that is) Amelia Lily. Sixteen-year-old Amelia lives just a stone-throw away from me in Middlesbrough and she has certainly been the talk of the town since her audition was shown the weekend before last.

I've written previously about the strength of the Female Solo (16-24) category (available to back at [2.6] in the Winning Category market) and Amelia added further strength to it with her fantastic rendition of Beverly Knight's Piece Of My Heart.

She is one of the few singers I've seen that has the looks of an already successful pop star (in this case Christina Aguilera) but chose not to try and copy that star. So many young girls try to sound like someone who they think they look like but fail miserably. Thankfully Amelia wasn't one of them.

I'm not quite convinced that the ambitious blonde will be our winner but she certainly did nothing wrong during her audition, causing all four judges to heap massive praise on her with Gary Barlow being particularly impressed, stating, "This is the reason I wanted to sit on this chair, to discover talent like this."

The Over 25s category is arguably the weakest it has been for many years (Betfair layers currently have it as their [6.6] outsider) but one man who I believe will lead the 'older brigade' charge is 27-year-old soldier Jonjo Kerr.

His audition was almost identical to that of last year's winner Matt Cardle in the fact that he is of a similar age, he wore a bit of a silly hat, he had a unique voice, and he was very nervous. In fact Jonjo was so nervous that he mistimed his first attempt and had to ask to start again. But when he did start again though I was very impressed. Singing the hit song Handbags and Gladrags the rough edge to his voice suited the performance perfectly, and when Jonjo received a standing ovation from the packed arena he was visibly bursting with pride. His confidence will grow from this, and I have a feeling he'll go a long way in the competition.

Rumours of the acts that have made it through to the final TV stages are already starting to emerge and I have it on good authority that everyone of my previous Ones To Watch list are there. At least I've washed my ears out then but the hard work starts here as also going on my list are the two people I've already mentioned, and Marcus Collins and Craig Colton.

Collins has already had his shot at trying to win the X Factor, and in fact did very well when he finished fifth in series three as part of boy band Eton Road. But now he's back as a solo singer and he was mightily impressive during his rendition of the Stevie Wonder's Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours. He was yet another to receive rave reviews from the judges with Tulisa saying that she felt like she was watching him perform at a concert rather than watching him audition. High praise indeed.

Colton was shown a few weeks ago but I've watched re-runs of all the auditions and he becomes more impressive the more I watch him. Not just because of singing though, but because of his incredible down-to-earth personality, his wit, and his likeable attitude. I've heard that Robbie Williams was very impressed at the Judges Houses stage of the competition so fingers crossed he makes it to the final 12/14/16 or whatever number it may be.

The auditions are now over and I'm more than happy with my list below. Obviously I'll whittle it down before the live TV stages commence and give two or three selections in the Winner market once the final list is confirmed.

There are some betting opportunities to be had though as we know that Gary Barlow mentors the Boys category and Kelly Rowland mentors the Girls (Louis Walsh has the Overs and Tulisa has the Groups), so with this in mind, and the fact that I've said the Girls category looks very strong, a wager on Kelly at [2.6] in the Winning Mentor market looks good to me.

X Factor 2011 ones to watch

Janet Devlin
Misha Bryan
Amelia Lily
Frankie Cocozza
Marcus Collins
Luke Lucas
Johnny Robinson
Craig Colton
The Keys
Jonjo Kerr

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