Boot Camp. Glad that's over.

This is Boot Camp. It is not the most pleasant section of X Factor to watch and I really do think they should make some major changes to make this weekend's viewing rather more pleasant.

The Wall Of Songs seems a strange concept to me. What on Earth has the ability to run across a room, read song titles and grab them before someone else have to do with one's potential to entertain and delight an audience?

Oh well, it's over fairly soon and the slightly better Wembley Stage auditions are much more appropriate for those who reach them.

First there are 124 acts that have to get reduced to about one-third the number between now and the Six Chair Challenge coming up next weekend.

There isn't a great deal one can write about what happens in the first stage so here are one-liners for those who deserve them:

Kevin Day White just sings and gets on with it. Expect to see more of him.
Anthony Russell bounces around rather desperately but could be OK.
The Cutkelvins are nicely energetic.
Georgina P gets lots of praise but seems to be all over the place, notes-wise
Talia - not enough to be able to comment
Scarlett Lee - annoyingly OTT
Daniel and Harvey - very unexceptional
Rack Su - excellent again. You'll see more of them.
New Dynamix - also good.
Holly T - one of my favourites except for her serious face which doesn't make her quite as likeable as she may need in the Live Shows which she could reach.
Chloe - I couldn't hear her
FAE - never seen this group before?
Aidan - is he really 27? Stood out but a bit off.
Jodie - she is very annoying and actually not at all good. Not worth the tv time she's getting.
Mother & Daughter 'Descendance' - as expected the mother is pretty useless and doesn't stand a chance whereas the daughter could do well and we get the 'arranged for TV' will-she-won't-she thing and, after far too long, Hayley, the daughter, goes forward alone.
Russell Jones - good but in totally the wrong company!
Alisah B - the girl from the Philippines is very good, although just a little bit too desperate, I feel. It is odd TV when they say she is not through when one considers the paucity of talent in many of the acts they have put forward to the Wembley round.
Rae-Elle - another good girl we'll see more of
Deanna - my potential winner. Excellent audition again.
MQ - couldn't tell who or what they were.
Lloyd - very good.
Grace - very good, excellent in fact.
Spencer from the States is also excellent
Gregor - OK, I suppose but that's all.

Now we get Part 2 and some single auditions on stage - much better idea of what the acts could be like.
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Matt Linnen has a pretty solid audition with a slightly weird If I Were A Boy. He's reliable but i don't see him winning.

Shanaya is very popular with the audience but she isn't very good. Massive applause but too many bad notes for my liking.

The annoying and not particularly attractive Jodie makes a return. Very modest audience welcome and virtually no applause. She's out, thank goodness.

Alisha is back again. Simon says You got so upset. Well, naturally. You chucked her out. She performs Gravity. She is a potential West End star for sure and really should get some offers there. She could be a bit old-fashioned for X Factor 2017 and also does actually miss rather too many notes along the way. She has a nice personality and does make good TV in the meantime.

They continue on Sunday:

Sean & Conor price were one of the best at the first auditions. Begging seemed OK to me but Sim asks for another. That also seems good. The crowd love them and I'd definitely want to see them progress. They do, eventually, get put through but you do have to wonder just how much of the deliberation and doubt was purely for the viewers.

SJ Hill is simply boring and forgettable.

Jack Mason - I don't know if we saw his first audition or Boot camp efforts. He is a very good singer. Not sure I want to watch him but he certainly sounds good. Is he modern enough, though?

The Cutkelvins are back again. It really is the girl who does it all at the moment. Very professional.

Gary Barker - another not visually someone I want to watch but a fair voice. I don't see him going far, though.

Holly Tandy is 16 today! Well, the day of that audition. Marvellous. One of the best. Just too young to know what the words of some tracks really might mean, that's all.

Sam Beck sings Runaway. He did something like that before too. Great 1950s style voice and I can see him doing well in some West End shows along those lines. He doesn't make it through but does propose to his fiancee on stage!

Berget is the Purple Rain lady and is very professional again. She deserves to go to the next stage but I am not sure she is up-to-date and likely to sell records.

Karen Kennedy is similar. Good, professional but just out of date now. No-one is going to buy her records.

Jordan sings his own songs. Neither are great. That's it for him. Bad move.

LT from Essex, whoever he is, does actually have a decent song of his own. He is through but I am not sure he'll catch people's attention.

Benji from Cornwall is a pleasant chap. Patchy performance in places and I don't see him going far but the sort of contestant to have around a while.

Georgina P is back. She wailed last time and was all over the place but seems to get tremendous backing from the judges. This time she did much better. She is quite the performer and seemed more at home on the big stage. One to watch.

That's it. An odd, not very entertaining weekend of X Factor. They did cut many of the bad acts which is a good sign but still a scrappy programme visually.

121 acts get cut down to about 60 in Boot Camp and Judges get their Categories

This weekend saw the end of room auditions and the start of Boot Camp. Before the farce that is Boot Camp began we get to see eight or nine more acts, thankfully mostly decent ones too.

Soheila Clifford tells us almost straight away that her parents have remortgaged their house twice now to support her through stage school. I'm not so sure that will endear her to anyone watching. Her singing is average and, whilst she can perform and has some confidence, I don't think she'll be very likeable and disappointment will be ahead for her, despite deserving to get through.

4 Of Diamonds is a girl group with nice harmonies. They look good, modern and likeable. Nicole says they're her 'favourite girl group' which can't be a bad sign for them! Nice tone and they'll move on easily.

Nate Simpson sings A Change Is Going To Come. A nice copy version. Good voice. Is he current, though? He deserves to move on as he is far better than many others who have. There are not many like him so far in this year's pack and this is the last day of the auditions so he is a definite for Boot Camp.

Christopher Peyton is from Virginia and his dad's a preacher. He works in dance music and at 46 is one of the older competitors. However, he has an original sound, good whispering sort of voice that makes him interesting. Again, I'm not sure whether he's current or how well he'd sell in the charts but it was a super audition and he is through to Boot Camp.

Some woman in an electric buggy appears. She's dreadful but does give Simon the chance to say that 'Louis likes a cockatoo' which raises a good laugh.

Will Rush is a good looking actor fellow. An average singer but he writes his own material and has some talent for sure. I suspect he has been 'selected' and asked to join the contestants from YouTube videos or similar. I'm not sure how far he'll go but easily makes Boot Camp.

Samantha Atkinson is a sort of Adele look-a-like and she sings like her too. She made Judges Houses last year. A very good, confident singer and she'll go a long way.

We get a glimpse of someone called Premonition, I think, but then we skip to Kirsty Murphy for some reason. An odd entry, strong singer but a bit desperate. She gets a break but I don't think we'll see much more of her. No idea what happened to the group.

Some really bad acts follow and then we get Gary Greig. He seems like another that may have been pulled in by producers. He does Stevie Wonders' Signed Sealed And Delivered really well. Great range and confidence but I don't know whether he's a current pop star. Obviously gets through but after that I don't know. Well, I do but your not supposed to know yet!

The last one is Mike Hough who apparently was runner up to Adele for a MOBO award. That sounds a bit strange to me so I may have misheard that bit. Another that could have been pulled in to make up the numbers of good auditions. An excellent audition. One to watch. Perhaps.

That's it. That's all the auditions. We now move on to Boot Camp and there's a new idea. At least someone is trying to improve this crazy time. Three copies of each song available are placed in various places along a 'wall'. Contestants rush to choose and take their favourite from those available and then are expected to perform with the two other acts with the same card. There is some trading of songs but, apart from one or two who seem to have failed to get anything they like, it works a lot better than the previous system that had people wandering around looking for a 'group' which was so tough on those who were not naturally outgoing or easy to fit in. This is a lot better and, as far as I can tell, worked generally a lot better. We used to get mothers trying to influence groups too which has, mercifully, not happened this time and there was only one case shown of someone not wanting to perform. Before most of the programme was taken up watching some bad tempered and rude girl refusing to do this or that with her colleagues.

There's not much point listing all the performances as we on;y get a glimpse of most of them and it seems that all we see get through anyway. So all the reasonably good contestants survive this round.

A few were notably good. Caitlyn, Chris Peyton (who Simon calls Peyton), Sada the doll girl, Gifty, Christian, a group called Sk3rl3t or something like that, Ivy and a great version of I Only Want To Be With You by Rebbekah, James and Samantha. These stood out for me. Simon says that the group Sk3rl3t would be 'a nightmare to manage' but they do seem pretty good from the briefest glimpse we get.

There were some notable acts missing from those shown but I expect we'll catch up with them in due course. Like The Brooks. I may just missed them but we know they get through anyway!

At the end, the judges are assigned to their categories. Simon gets the Girls, Nicole the Boys, Sharon the Overs and Louis the Groups. Everyone seems happy with the choices. I do fear for who gets through with the Groups, though, knowing how Louis tends to choose acts which are entertaining rather than necessarily competent. Otherwise I am expecting a decent competition to develop with some excellent acts in the Live Shows in at least three categories.