Diary of Miss X

Leon wins!

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 22:36:42 GMT

What a shocker! That's upset the apple cart... Rhydian fans across the UK will be gnashing their teeth no doubt, but I think the public made the right choice: Leon first and Rhydian second place. GO LEON!

One horse race

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 20:54:45 GMT

And so we stumble into the end of what has been the dullest X-Factor series yet. Undoubtably, we were spoiled with last year's winner - the true international talent which is Leona - but something about this series just fell flat. Were there too many categories? Too many judges? Too many of Brian's ridiculous choreography disasters, or simply that we're not getting the calibre of potential pop stars as in previous years, making this series into more of a caberet contest than a search for a chart toppper?

However, the duets were fabulous tonight (yes even Lame Difference and Jason Donovan - the harmonies were fantastic). My favourite was Leon and Kylie's Better The Devil You Know - when you see how far Leon has come in just a few short weeks it's quite inspiring. And yes, I was fed up with his sob stories, and yes he does look like Pete Doherty, but given a choice between the teeny bopper twins and Rhydian's pop opera, I'll take Leon any day. Although I fully expect Rhydian to walk off with the crown. Let's be honest - it's been a one horse race for weeks.

Perhaps the best bit of the whole show tonight was the auditionees' number, which yet again, was totally hilarious, although I thought it was a bit unkind to bring out the overweight girl on the throne carried by semi-naked hunks - even Sharon and Dannii didn't know where to look, and I did wonder whether the singer in question realised the joke was on her?

Niki is out... Leon to win!

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 12:28:20 GMT

Well, Niki's not managed to nail it this week, and has joined the reject pile - even her brilliant version of 'One Moment In Time' wasn't enough to beat Rhydian and Leon. Incredibly, that means Same Difference are through to the finals too - will the world stop spinning on its axis after this freak occurance?

I suppose that means my vote in the final will have to go to Leon. He started off trembling like a leaf on stage, and made some dodgy arrangement decisions at the beginning, but he's now a fully-fledged performer - I think he could beat Rhydian, with the right songs next week...

Through to the semi finals

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 21:35:21 GMT

Everybody played it safe this week - with the viewers deciding who goes through to the semis, it was obviously time to play to the audience. Everybody did what they do best, although Hope's Spice Girls performance was cripplingly bad, as predicted.

The entertainment all came from the judges this week, I wondered whether they'd been in the pub all afternoon, with Louis spitting at Dannii "how would you know? You've never had a hit record!" and Simon remarking on Louis's 'hair transplant'. Very amusing!

So in the end, Hope got the bullet, and not before time. It was clear they were never a hit with the public.

Hope are just Wannabes

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:22:07 GMT

The dismal PR machine which is the manufactured band on X-Factor (ie Hope) are planning to "cash in on the popularity of the Spice Girls" by singing 'Two Become One' on this Saturday's show.

Oh please. The whole point of the Spice Girls was that they had a personality. Hope are only going to make themselves look even more fake by going down this road. However much Simon dresses them up, they are not a patch on current girl bands such as Girls Aloud and Sugarbabes.

On another note, I did wonder whether Sharon was afraid of getting the sack and/or grief from Simon on last Saturday's show, and that's why she refused to choose. If so, the whole show is totally biased farce! Let's have some real opinions from the judges!

Deadlock

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 21:11:59 GMT

The judges just couldn't decide who to send home out of Beverley and Hope, so it went to deadlock and Beverley lost on viewer's votes. No one was more suprised than Simon, or the girls in Hope - I'm sure they thought they were going home. Surely it's just a matter of time...

Love is in the air...

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 19:53:28 GMT

Six contestants left and now we're getting down to brass tacks. The pressure is on this week as they tackle 'love songs'. The original theme, 'Motown' was ditched by Simon Cowell, fearing another disco fiasco like last week.

Beverley's a good old fashioned belter, and she has got a strong voice but she's not doing anything different week-to-week. Same Difference looking demure - what is going on? They smiled their way through Starship's 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us' and it wasn't even cringeworthy... what a nice surprise. Even Louis Walsh was a little bit impressed.

Nikki was a total diva in her red lippy and Rhydian delivered a truly powerful vocal this week - so powerful it made Ms Minogue cry! I'm sure she wasn't such a good actress in Home and Away, though...

If the papers are to be believed, Hope are at each others' throats over Phoebe getting all the attention, saying they feel like 'Phoebe and the doo wop girls'. The judges made a serious mistake by booting little Phoebe out of the 15-24 solo girls' group, she's got a fantastic, original pop voice and is carrying the rest of the group.

Cute Leon rounded off the show with a gorgeous and velvety crooning performance - although Louis compared him to Michael Buble again. Simon said it was "an incredible performance".

Well, the love songs theme was emotional, but someone's going to get the boot regardless - I reckon Same Difference (because their regular voters obviously like their inane dance routines which were missing tonight) and maybe Beverley will be in the bottom two later on.

Alisha gets the chop

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 21:27:44 GMT

She put up a good fight, and looked more like a pop star than the rest of the contestants put together but in the end, Alisha's weaker voice let her down and the judges booted her off the show. She was up against Hope - who were in the bottom two for a second time... the girl band are obviously not as popular with the audience as the judges wish they were.

Choreography catastrophe

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 20:04:04 GMT

Have we reached the point where the choreography is overshadowing the contestants on this year's show? It seems the rookie rollerskaters, token brooding beefcakes and jiggling backing singers are turning X Factor from a talent contest into nothing more than cheapo caberet.

This week featured a disco theme, and so a few dancefloor moves would definitely add to the spectacle, but choreographer Brian is bigging up his part more than necessary - you can tell because all the judges wanted to talk (and argue) about tonight was the dancing.

Maybe the contestants are so lacklustre that we need something else to focus on once the sob stories have all been aired? Who knows what these over-egged stage shows are all about otherwise.

Although there were strong performances from all the contestants tonight, Simon Cowell seemed grumpier than ever. Cheer up Simon, at least the viewers had a few laughs!

Made in Wales? Made me cringe!

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:34:22 GMT

So news reaches me that Ridiculous Rhydian has already made and released a record, 'Made In Wales', which he inflicted on the public last year. Listen to it here:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/rhydianroberts

Yes, very nice, very patriotic and it's for charidee too. I can even imagine Rhydian singing a Cliff Richard-type feelgood Christmas number one (with a chorus of school children) but seriously, this man is not a pop star, which is what this competition is all about - finding The Next Big Thing.

Apparently, he was even been booted off Any Dream Will Do at the audition stages for not being good enough and blimey, if there's any place that would suit The Riddler down to the ground it's musical theatre. Know what I mean?