Kyes Sones and MK1 were the two acts with the least votes on Sunday night. The judges voted sensibly enough and produced another deadlock, with the decision as to who goes home being simply the act at the bottom of the public voting pile.
That proved to be MK1. It was quite a sad evening as they had put a great deal into trying to make what they do a little more commercial for what they'd assumed to be this show's type of viewers and, whilst I don't think many expected them to last that much longer, this should not have been the week they went.
The sing-off was one of the best for a long time, both MK1 and Kye choosing tracks that they clearly both knew well, cared about and were able to perform really well. As is so often the case at times like these, you wonder what might have been the outcome had they produced those performances for the public to vote on. Despite still not really coming across as an act that will come close to winning this thing and actually being quite disappointing to date, Kye might still manage to find some numbers to do that are exactly in his zone and will please the voting audience and must be wondering how on earth Christopher Maloney keeps beating him.
MK1 may well have expected to have to struggle in this show but, strangely, may well be the act that is first to be snapped up by a publisher. Now that they're available I wouldn't be at all surprised to see someone take a chance on them and give them an album deal later this year. That should also remove some of the sting of being judged worse than Rylan, Jade and Christopher Maloney too.
Jade had a lucky escape and I think she knew it. She'll need to show us something pretty spectacular, and more than the spectacular makeover she's had, to stay around for much longer.
Ella, Union J, James, Lucy, District 3, Jahmene all easily deserved to stay but the real lucky ones must be Rylan and Christopher. Now Rylan I can sort of understand as this year's odd ball contestant who entertains people and even gets people voting juts for the hell of it. He can also sing well, not that he did this week. What he can do, though, is put on a good performance and get the crowd cheering and laughing, for better or worse. Christopher's survival, on the other hand, leaves me totally speechless - and not in a good way. In fact, it's got to the point where I am beginning to believe the Daily Star reports that he has been topping the public vote and, therefore, making me lose interest in this show as a vehicle for promoting new talent and finding an act that will entertain us with chart tracks, albums and live performances over the next year or two.
I am resigned to the winner not necessarily being the best but I do expect the votes to stack up in such a way that the last four or five are about right. Rylan surviving Jedward-like a bit longer than he should I can cope with but just as I found Wagner's continued survival offensive, so too am I already actually quite annoyed that Christopher is still there.
Absolutely none of the popular on-line polls had him anywhere other than bottom with a tiny percentage of the votes - some with over 5000 people and, whilst not, I understand, able to be termed representative of the X Factor voting public, you would expect there to be at least some correlation. You would think that the type of people visiting the official X Factor site and places like Tellymix, Digital Spy and others would cover a fair spread of those who vote. With hundreds of thousands of bets (and pounds) placed on the outcome, too, at bookmakers, you would expect the odds to bear some resemblance to what happens and old Baloney was as close to being a certainty to going both last and this week as you'll see on programmes like this. Nor did those odds change as the show progressed - in fact, they got considerably worse! So it wasn't a case of his live performance on the day changing punters' opinions of his X Factor suitability.
I can only conclude that it is the phrase those who vote that is key in all this. Much as many of my friends and colleagues might not like to admit it, they do watch the show. Very few would dream of voting, though. I know that lots of teens watch the show and love the groups in particular, even Rylan. Quite a few do seem to vote but there's not a single teen I have ever encountered out of a good number since the Live Shows began who would even think of voting for the bumbling Baloney. So who the hell is?
It seems that there has to be a very significant bunch of people who are watching and voting consistently and specifically for the likes of Christopher. Think about that - these people are willing to spend good money and time pressing buttons or texting because they reckon Baloney is who they want to win. That can only be women over 45 with little or no knowledge of the current music scene, no clue as to what is in the Top 20, probably never listening to the radio as Daytime TV is on wall-to-wall until the soaps start at five thirty. If they do ever hear music it'll be in the Labour Club down the road, a karaoke bar in Huddersfield or a wedding at Sandals in Saynt Looseeea. Christ, give me Rylan's gay bar and TOWIE crowd any day over that lot! So do I really want to spend time writing semi-informed and hopefully amusing-in-places stuff about a programme in which the outcome is heavily influenced by that lot? Not really, because it is impossible to draw any sensible conclusions and I do not want to start having to consider the DE category vote in gauging good contestants' chances.
So until Baloney goes, expect my articles to be rants like this. Or maybe I shall ignore him completely.
That proved to be MK1. It was quite a sad evening as they had put a great deal into trying to make what they do a little more commercial for what they'd assumed to be this show's type of viewers and, whilst I don't think many expected them to last that much longer, this should not have been the week they went.
The sing-off was one of the best for a long time, both MK1 and Kye choosing tracks that they clearly both knew well, cared about and were able to perform really well. As is so often the case at times like these, you wonder what might have been the outcome had they produced those performances for the public to vote on. Despite still not really coming across as an act that will come close to winning this thing and actually being quite disappointing to date, Kye might still manage to find some numbers to do that are exactly in his zone and will please the voting audience and must be wondering how on earth Christopher Maloney keeps beating him.
MK1 may well have expected to have to struggle in this show but, strangely, may well be the act that is first to be snapped up by a publisher. Now that they're available I wouldn't be at all surprised to see someone take a chance on them and give them an album deal later this year. That should also remove some of the sting of being judged worse than Rylan, Jade and Christopher Maloney too.
Jade had a lucky escape and I think she knew it. She'll need to show us something pretty spectacular, and more than the spectacular makeover she's had, to stay around for much longer.
Ella, Union J, James, Lucy, District 3, Jahmene all easily deserved to stay but the real lucky ones must be Rylan and Christopher. Now Rylan I can sort of understand as this year's odd ball contestant who entertains people and even gets people voting juts for the hell of it. He can also sing well, not that he did this week. What he can do, though, is put on a good performance and get the crowd cheering and laughing, for better or worse. Christopher's survival, on the other hand, leaves me totally speechless - and not in a good way. In fact, it's got to the point where I am beginning to believe the Daily Star reports that he has been topping the public vote and, therefore, making me lose interest in this show as a vehicle for promoting new talent and finding an act that will entertain us with chart tracks, albums and live performances over the next year or two.
I am resigned to the winner not necessarily being the best but I do expect the votes to stack up in such a way that the last four or five are about right. Rylan surviving Jedward-like a bit longer than he should I can cope with but just as I found Wagner's continued survival offensive, so too am I already actually quite annoyed that Christopher is still there.
Absolutely none of the popular on-line polls had him anywhere other than bottom with a tiny percentage of the votes - some with over 5000 people and, whilst not, I understand, able to be termed representative of the X Factor voting public, you would expect there to be at least some correlation. You would think that the type of people visiting the official X Factor site and places like Tellymix, Digital Spy and others would cover a fair spread of those who vote. With hundreds of thousands of bets (and pounds) placed on the outcome, too, at bookmakers, you would expect the odds to bear some resemblance to what happens and old Baloney was as close to being a certainty to going both last and this week as you'll see on programmes like this. Nor did those odds change as the show progressed - in fact, they got considerably worse! So it wasn't a case of his live performance on the day changing punters' opinions of his X Factor suitability.
I can only conclude that it is the phrase those who vote that is key in all this. Much as many of my friends and colleagues might not like to admit it, they do watch the show. Very few would dream of voting, though. I know that lots of teens watch the show and love the groups in particular, even Rylan. Quite a few do seem to vote but there's not a single teen I have ever encountered out of a good number since the Live Shows began who would even think of voting for the bumbling Baloney. So who the hell is?
It seems that there has to be a very significant bunch of people who are watching and voting consistently and specifically for the likes of Christopher. Think about that - these people are willing to spend good money and time pressing buttons or texting because they reckon Baloney is who they want to win. That can only be women over 45 with little or no knowledge of the current music scene, no clue as to what is in the Top 20, probably never listening to the radio as Daytime TV is on wall-to-wall until the soaps start at five thirty. If they do ever hear music it'll be in the Labour Club down the road, a karaoke bar in Huddersfield or a wedding at Sandals in Saynt Looseeea. Christ, give me Rylan's gay bar and TOWIE crowd any day over that lot! So do I really want to spend time writing semi-informed and hopefully amusing-in-places stuff about a programme in which the outcome is heavily influenced by that lot? Not really, because it is impossible to draw any sensible conclusions and I do not want to start having to consider the DE category vote in gauging good contestants' chances.
So until Baloney goes, expect my articles to be rants like this. Or maybe I shall ignore him completely.
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