The X Factor 2011, farewell!

And now, the end is here, and we have seen the final showdown. My friends, I wrote it clear, I've blogged my thoughts, I've gave the low down! (me and Frank wrote that together!)

So then, that's it for another year, personally I can't quite believe how quickly it's gone over. It seems like just yesterday I was ranting about not liking the sound of the new judges, then completely changing my mind and ranting about how much I love them. Now we have our winner, and I bet no-one predicted a group would win this year, let alone a girl group, I certainly didn't. However they proved each week how much they deserved to be there, and improved massively from start to finish. I truly hope they do well after the show because personally I can't wait to hear more from them. I want, sorry, I NEED to see more 'Little Mix' songs in my library! Get cracking lasses!!!

As promised I'm gonna do a little series review, just highlighting a few personal best and worst moments. I'm only gonna concentrate on the finalists else I'll be still writing when next years starts!

Before I begin though I just want to address something, now a lot of people have been complaining that this year has been boring and The X Factor has ran its course, well I am being 100% truthful when I say that I think this year has been one of the better years, I started getting bored a few years back and missed quite a few last year, but this year I've watched every episode religiously, and personally I would be gutted if they didn't bring it back. I think the talent this year, generally, has been quite high, but also quite similar and despite the controversy it caused, people missed the 'Jedward' and 'Wagner' acts. Yea we had Frankie, but you couldn't laugh at him, and although Kitty and Johnny put on a good show, they also both had a reasonable amount of talent.
Even with a drop in ratings it's still the most watched TV show and would be a HUGE miss even to those complaining!! I read an article today saying the final had more viewers than The Royal Wedding, THE ROYAL WEDDING!!! Watched by every man woman cat dog fish and every bloody teddy bear! How can they morally spin that into a slating about a big drop in viewers for the final, I just can't comprehend it!! It's the same story with the sales figures for Cannonball, reported as the fastest selling single this year, got straight to number 1, yet all the press can do is slate it for not selling as well as previous years, its very contradictory. To me that says more about single sales in general than anything else. This year The X Factor has taken a lot of unnecessary media bashing's, some not so unnecessary as well but still, in general it's just been unfair, and I would love for them to come bouncing back next year! I've gone off track haven't I?? This bit was supposed to be short and just say that this year has been AMAZEBALLS! Dammit I always talk too much!! Swiftly moving on....

Best and worst! Little Mix and Frankie. Nuff said!! Good night....

HA, As if....let's do this!!
I'm not gonna ramble on too much about Little Mix here coz I'm gonna assume you all already know I love them, and I've already rambled on enough in my previous posts, and earlier in this one, I'm rambling again aren't I? DAM!!
First up one of my fave performances, all I'm gonna say is E.T.!! Wow! As a performance that will take a lot to beat. The vocals, the stage set up, the make-up, everything was awesome socks, with a capital AWE!!!
Not forgetting the 'Don't Let Go' performance, OH to the EM GEE! And of course every other song they sang, whoops forgot I wasn't meant to ramble about Little Mix too much, it's just so hard when they were just so fantabulously gorgeously amazingly AWESOME!!! Ok ok I'll talk about some other contestants now, if I must! Pffft.

I have to admit, Marcus had a few show stopping moments early on in the competition, but the best moments besides Little Mix for me personally seemed to always come from Johnny, oh how I loved him! Each week he showed us a different side, but my favourite 2 performances from him were 'I Believe in a thing Called Love' in rock week, he totally nailed that, I am a fan of The Darkness and was actually over the moon when I heard he was singing it, and oh by gosh did he live up to my extremely high expectations. My other favourite of his was 'That old Devil Called Love' Johnny really shone that week, it was a perfect song choice for him and I don't care what anyone else says, I will always have a soft spot for him, for some reason I like to use the word chap when I refer to Johnny haha, he seemed like a lovely chap!

From amazing performances to annoyingly cringeworthy moments, did anyone else want to slap Kitty when she jumped in the pool at judges houses then just laughed awkwardly!!! Argh!! Maybe it was just me but that REALLY annoyed me! To be fair though I'm pretty easily annoyed, BE WARNED!!!! Wow I like exclamation marks don't I?
Another 'punch in the face' annoying moment was Kelly Rowland and her reaction to Craig in floor fillers week 'Who knew you could do up tempo, owwwwwww' every time I see it replayed I want to bite my hand in annoyance. I'm not a big fan of stuff like that as you can probably guess! Needless to say I cringed at quite a few Frankie performances, not all of them though, I want to make that clear. As I've said before, I disagree with the unnecessary character bashing, but hey let's not get into that!

Overall this series has had it's ups and downs like every year, however unlike previous years, It's kept me interested every week.We've had tears, fall-outs, tantrums, judges missing, judges kissing, Dermot dancing, oh my god, DERMOT DANCING!! I'm gonna miss that the most *sobs uncontrollably*!!

Oh the new judges were a shock to the system were't they, but now I kinda love some of them (emphasis on some). Personally I would like to see a small jig around, I have my ideas on who but that's just for my little ol' brainicle! One thing I will shout from the rooftops, only because I already have, is how much I think Tulisa suits the panel, many people were wary but she PUT IT DOWN!!! I would like to see her return, but that's all your getting out of me!! Also a few of the other twists were pretty cruel/cool, like the voting off in the first week, ouch, and the final live at Wembley WHOOOP! I wasn't sure how well that would work if I'm honest but it was ace!

Social media has changed the way I interacted with the show this year, which might be the reason why I've enjoyed it so much more. The power of Twitter is phenomenal, how many times did it overload!!! You don't get none of that during a Strictly episode do you!! Just Saying! And of course blogging, connecting with people from all over the world just by writing what you think and feel, it's been an amazing few month and I'm gutted it's all over, but I promise to start blogging again next year, so long as you promise to read it....It's been an absolute a pleasure. Just want to say a huge thanks to Stephen for his encouragement, guidance and of course for allowing me the pleasure of working with him. Not forgetting the amazing Amy for her support, and editing skills ;-) and of course a HUGE thanks to each and every one of you reading and following this blog, you've been awesome socks, and if I could hug every one of you I would, but I can't, sorry!
Keep in touch @TulisaRoxMySox :-)

Merry XFactormas and Happy New Year to you all! xxx

And the WINNER is..........

LITTLE MIX!!!!!!

They made history tonight and rightly so! What an amazing final tonight has been, and so emotional.
I have to say Little Mix were actually the better of the 2 for every performance tonight, Marcus was first and set the bar, yet Little Mix raised it, and smashed it every time. Don't even get me started on the winners song, oh my god how emotional, I'll openly admit I was worried that the song was more suited to Marcus than Little Mix but they absolutely blew it out of the water. I had actual tears, real tears..... I'm not the ice queen afterall! :-D SUCCESS all around!!!

AHHHH MAN I'm actually buzzing right now, I'm so happy for them, they truly deserved it. No girl group has ever made the final, and no group has ever won, what an achievement for them, and for Tulisa, youngest judge ever, and her first year and she goes and bloody wins it, that's how it's done Gary, take notes! hehe!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I MET THEM!!!! I MET THE WINNERS EEEEEEEK!!!!!! And I have a photo as proof!!

Silent night was just beautiful, welled up at that song too, and of course they smashed Don't Let Go, even more so than the first time, which by the way was the song they sang the weekend I was there, possibly the reason why they liked it so much, just saying.....!!

Ok ok I need to calm down a bit now and start writing stuff that actually makes sense, SCREW IT!! I'm soooooooo HAPPY!!! I actually got twitter banned twice this weekend because of tweeting too much!! Whatever, as if I talk to much SHUT UP!!!

I'm leaving this post to be all about the winner tonight, rightly so!!! Keep your eyes open for a series review coming to your computer screens very soon!!!!! (hopefully my sentances will actually makes sense and flow properly by then, hmmmm then again maybe not)

Now it's time to check my phone bill..........ooooo this is gonna be painful!!!! Night. Thanks for reading you guys and gals are all amazing and have made this series amazing for me. Best series to date in my opinion, mainly thanks to you reading, and #Twitterguy!!!!!!!!! Muchos Love! xxx

And then there were 2....

Tonight has been both amazing and shocking in equal amounts. For those who haven't actually watched tonight's episode then you may want to avert your eyes for the next paragraph...

Just want to start by saying a huge WELL DONE to Amelia Lily, although she got voted off, she has amazing talent and will go far. Based on her performance tonight alone she didn't deserve to go home but overall I think it was probably her time.

Ok lets have a quick discussion on the performances, and unfortunately I won't be nicey nicey like the judges are on final weekend :-) SORRY!

First up Marcus, his first performance was just wrong, it didn't suit him at all, totally wrong song for him for the final. I was expecting so much more, but saying that, at least nobody can ever accuse him of playing it safe, he definitely tries a bit of everything, and isn't scared too. His 2nd performance, duet with Gary, was much better vocally, they both suited the song well. Personally I found it boring but vocally it was very good, he pulled it back a bit.

Little Mix were up next, and as always I speak honestly regardless of personal feelings. I can honestly say I thought they smashed it TOTALLY! First song was awesome, vocally top class, and a really good song choice for them. Then came their duet with Tulisa, and quite a few people have been doubting Tulisa's vocal abilities, well doubt no longer, that girl can SING! And yet again the song choice was awesome, really REALLY loved it! (yes lots of capitals tonight, I'm THAT excited)

Finally we had Amelia singing Christina Aguilera, much better than she has previously. She really brought it to the final - as Kelly would say! Eugh! Maybe a little shouty in parts, but I've actually trained myself to get past that, it's obviously just part of Amelia's style. Shame I just got used to it and she's gone home, oh well hashtag moving on! Her second performance with Kelly was a bit hmmmmm for me, good song choice, but anyone following that performance from Tulisa and Little Mix were going to struggle :-) tee hee I'm naughty!

So that was the 1st instalment of the final. And I have to say, I was a bit worried about it being at Wembley Arena, I'm not a fan of change! Proper old biddy you know, but it really worked, the stage was awesome, and I bet the atmosphere was intense.

Really don't know which way the final is going to go, obviously I know who I want to win, but I think both are talented and will have a big future ahead of them. The winners single is usually a good deciding factor so I'm looking forward to hearing them both perform their versions.

BRING ON THE FINAL!!!!! KEEP VOTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS - of course I didn't sell my tickets to see The Saturdays tonight just so I could stay in and watch the show live, because that would be RIDICULOUS!!! GEEK!!!! *looks around shiftily*

Seriously, this is RIDICULOUS!

This show does something to me that is just plain RIDICULOUS! From 8pm I'm an emotional wreck, can't eat, drink, sit still and quite frankly I'm a sweaty mess! Why do we get so emotionally attached, it's strange what a show like this can do to you! Freaky!

Anyway, I'm gonna mix things up a bit and write what I would've wrote if it was Little Mix going home....ARGH ITS A FIX I'M NEVER WATCHING EVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOODNIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

Teehee of course I'm just kidding around, I'm a big kidder you know! 

Need to get serious now, yes I am over the moon for the acts that go through to the final, no favouritism from me, don't get any of that around here.....*looks around shiftily*......Anyway, I did predict Misha would go in my last post, however that doesn't mean it's ok to gloat about it, at the end of the day Misha was talented, even if she wasn't everyone's cup of tea, and she is probably devastated right now. I'm sure it won't be the last we hear of her.

So ladies and gents, the final is approaching, and what a bloody final it's going to be, 3 of the most talented finalists in history in my opinion, it's genuinely going to be a fabulous show. I think people are a bit complacent this year and are forgetting how talented these guys are. If you think back realistically then the final always has a pretty clear winner and usually an obvious 'not the best singer' act, but this year they are all so talented and I don't think there's a clear winner. It's going to be a tough call, so if you have a favourite then make sure you vote....SEE YOU AT WEMBLEY!!!! (not literally, unless I rename my house by next Saturday, and you happen to pop around)

PS - OMG I can't actually believe that my next post will be about the winner of X Factor 2011! How quick has that gone! SCARY dot com!

Semi Final, Full Throttle

Part of me is absolutely gutted that we now only have 1 show left to enjoy/hate/scream/cry and just LOVE, but part of me is also quite looking forward to getting my Saturday nights back...hmmm maybe....we'll see!

Now tonight has had me seriously stressed out on more than one occasion, and also Angry! This week more at the judges than the contestants, although some of the performances made me slightly mad too! Let's discuss...

Misha B - As you all well know I'm not a Misha fan, but I am always honest, if I like a performance I will always say so, same if I don't, and this week again, I didn't. I don't like Misha's voice, that is my honest opinion. She puts on a good performance, and definitely has the confidence and star quality, but vocally she just isn't my cup of tea. Quick comments on her performances, firstly I can't enjoy a Motown song with 'B'rrrap' thrown in the middle, personal preference *shudders at the mental replay* although I do appreciate she was trying to make it her own *shudders again*! Secondly P!NK is a legend and 'Perfect' is one of my favourite songs, so to me, only P!NK can sing that how it's meant to be sung, make of that as you will...

Don't agree with Gary's comments at all, what happened in the past should stay in the past, as the judges keep saying, yet he decides now is the time to bring that back up, low blow in my opinion, which although may have been intended to get more people behind her, may just highlight the reasons why people didn't vote in the first place. Tut tut Mr Barlow. Moving on...

Amelia - I really like Amelia, she seems lovely. I don't always like her performances though. Tonight her first performance was the best of round 1. She seemed to tone it down a bit so we got to hear more of her stripped back voice, rather than her shouty 'hitting the high notes' voice. Really enjoyed it. Having said that I wasn't keen on her second performance, when she started, I got goosebumps and really thought this was going to be amazing, but then came the shouting and I just got angry, so disappointed! She is so talented and I do love her voice.....at times!

Little Mix - needless to say, I do love a little bit of Little Mix. But like I said earlier, regardless of personal feelings, I will always be honest. So here goes. Little Mix NAILED both performances, they didn't mess up at all.....sugar plums I told a fib......dam you honesty! Lets try that again, ok have to be honest, first performance wasn't their best, Leighann did mess up which made me soooooooo gutted for her! She did pull it back really well though, but I'd be a hypocrite to say it's ok to mess your lines up this far into the competition. Generally I enjoyed their performance but it was weaker than usual. HOWEVER, their second performance was fabulous, I'll admit I was worried at the beginning, thought it started shaky, but when they got into it I honestly loved it. Perrie totally nailed it, but not just her, they all came together beautifully!

Again Mr Barlow was bang out of order, Jade done a fab job taking on the lead vocals, yes Perrie is awesome, but there's no need to take Jade's moment away from her. Not Cool! AND with 4 girls as talented as these, you don't necessarily need a lead singer, the others are too good to be just backing singers.

Marcus - now this is a strange one for me. I loved Marcus in the beginning, I thought he was amazingly talented but seemed to be hidden by other artists, I think that's why I liked him so much, he outshone those that you expected to steal the show. However now he seems to have lost that spark for me, I find him boring and predictable. As soon as I heard it was Motown week I knew Marcus would be in his element and would nail it, which he did, but he didn't wow me at all. It was boring, vocally flawless, but boring. He lacks the shock factor with me, and I no longer get excited to see what he's performing. Shame. His second performance wasn't much better either. One thing I will say for him though, he has amazing energy and spirit, and I loved the fact he never complained or played the sympathy card (excluding Xtra Factor) about his throat infection. He got on with it like a trooper, maybe he should have complained, then people would understand why his second performance sounded pitchy and quite awful in parts, but he didn't, and for that I applaud him. Others in the comp, not naming names, would have played on that immensely!

My thoughts on next week's finalists: Well despite my comments above, I would love to see Marcus in the final, like I said he is vocally flawless at times, and regardless of wow factor, he deserves a place in the final, just to try one last time to shock us, really pull it out of the bag. Also Little Mix, in my opinion those girls have improved the most yet at the same time remained themselves, level headed, they bring something fresh to the competition and it would be amazing to see them in the final. And lastly I would like to see Amelia Lily, she shouldn't have gone in week one, and people say she shouldn't win because she was out for so long, well that wasn't her fault, public didn't vote her off, her vocals can be amazing with the right songs, she deserves her place in the competition and has worked hard for it, would love to see her go through.

Obviously that leaves us with Misha B, as i've stressed 47 million time, this is just my opinion, but it doesn't mean I think Misha deserves to go home. As an artist I don't get her, and out of the remaining 4, she is my least favourite. But there's millions of other voting opinions out there so we shall see in less that 24 hours.

Hopefully in those 24 hours Gary will have had a spa visit, plenty of sleep and will be in a better mood, at the minute he's getting on my nerves! Cheer up Gary! Also think Tulisa needs to see someone about her hand, and possible someone may need to take a look at the judges desk, by heck I wouldn't like a fight with her! :-D

OOOOOOooooo almost forgot! Dermot Dancing was amazing tonight, shake that bum Dermot, awwwww I'm gonna miss those moves!

Too emotional!

Tonight has been one hell of a roller-coaster of a show for me on a personal level. First up I was sooooooo childishly excited to see the Muppets open the show with Olly, childhood memories came flooding back, oh and by the way, they should be on every week. What a highlight! Missed Kermit though, bet he wasn't happy to see Olly flirting with his woman mind, Olly I'd watch your back if I was you....

Then the beautifully amazing Jessie J sang my favourite song of the moment, moved me to the core in a wonderful warm way. 

Next up came the charity song, but before that we saw a VT that personally I was not prepared for and lets just say it was extremely close to home, therefore left me a blubbering wreck. Shameless plug here but I don't care, Together for short lives is an amazing charity please support and download the song, even if you don't like it, it's 99p that will help families like you wouldn't believe. Please.

Ok so back to the results, although after crying like a bi-atch then I thought I wasn't going to be as bothered anymore......I was wrong. Nerves set in again and I started to panic, no one in particular of course ;-P and I certainly didn't scream like an insane crazy mad woman when I heard a particular act read out, of course not! That would've been biased and completely unprofessional on every level! *tries to keep straight face*

When it came to be Janet and Misha being in the bottom 2, I know I shouldn't have been happy, but I was elated, ONLY because I had predicted it and I NEVER get it right! Big moment for me! Not such a big moment for Janet and Misha though and I really shouldn't have been celebrating - shameful.
Anyway, personally I thought Janet's save me performance was one of her best of the season, great come back. Like I said in my previous post I don't get Misha so wasn't that fussed about hers, but I could understand why the judges saved her. As a performer she has always been better than Janet, however this is now Misha's 3rd time in the bottom 2, not many people get saved that many times, lucky lucky lucky.

I was feeling better about not being backstage this morning, up until the big Muppets moment and then the bitterness kicked back in, fingers crossed I'll be happier next week......if not then be prepared for more ANGER!!!! :-) Miss you #twitterguy!

Double songs, but not double WOW!

Prepare yourselves for a rather twisty, wailing and god awful review of this weeks show, a bit like some of the acts! OUCH I didn't just go there did I.... oh yes I did! No seriously, I'm in a terrible mood because this week I wasn't behind the scenes and yes I'm feeling VERY bitter about it. Therefore I have been sat at home like an old woman twisting at everything.....so please, PLEASE enjoy my review :-D

As there's only 5 left, I'm not going to categorise them into YAY NAY and Hmmm, I'm just gonna review each act independently and give my honest opinion, maybe too honest at times.... lets begin!

It may be a good idea to get the worst out the way first and I'm sorry in advance as this may get a bit messy......Janet Devlin. Starting with her messed lyrics, hmmm, now once is bad enough on the show, but twice is just not on, not this far into the competition and certainly not on 2 occasions in the same song! Fair enough she said she wasn't feeling well, but still, she totally killed Mmmbop and not in a good way, NEVER in a good way! So needless to say I was hoping she would come back with her 2nd song and smash it, however I was asleep through most of it, so if she did smash it then I missed it! Not good Janet, not good at all! Hopefully it's because she was unwell, IF she gets through to next week IF then fingers crossed she's feeling better and she sounds better. IF

Fan Girl MANIA!!! Yes I was a geek!

Right, so unless this is literally your first time reading my blog - HELLO, WELCOME, where you been?? Then you will have heard that I got an amazing opportunity to go backstage and see how it all goes down, and well it all goes down PRETTY DAM AMAZINGLY!! Needless to say I was honoured to be there and tried my best to be cool calm and collected, though it probably didn't show, HA - Geek alert!

Ok so for those of you interested, I'm gonna give you the low down of my trip, as much as I can without getting my head chopped off *looks around for man with axe* looks like the coast is clear, phew! Where should I start, hmm well on Thursday night we packed and g........what? Too early, ahh I see, you want just X Factor related information, ok, not interested in my life huh, I get it. Pffft! :-P
The excitement started before I even met up with #twitterguy, and it was totally unplanned. Just happened to be walking past the studios scoping the area and saw all the contestants pull in, impeccable timing huh! Anyway I then went to meet the Legend behind twitter, and I must confess it was like meeting the superhero under the mask. Exactly like you hoped it would be FAB-U-LOUS! As was the entrance to the studios, past the paps and fans straight through, coooooooool!
Fast forward through the studio tour, and general introductions, to casually sitting in on Little Mix rehearsing, wowzers, yea I used that word, and I probably said it out loud too! Rightly so. Hearing them on the show at home is one thing, but hearing them right in front of you is another. Words can't describe it.
Not long after this TwitterGuy offered me the chance to sit in on the dress rehearsal for the live show, and I got to sit in the front row, which never happens! Haha! As I'm writing this I can't help but think it doesn't sound a smidge as exciting as it was at the time, seriously, to the average Joe like me, sitting in on a dress rehearsal and taking pics for #twitterguy was an experience and a half, and a privilege might I add! So any lack of enthusiasm here is sooooooo not intentional, read every word with a high pitched excited voice please! :-) So yea, the dress rehearsal was exactly like the live show except I didn't have tickets to the live show, so wouldn't be in a nice comfy seat, chatting to the camera guy - who by the way thought I was part of the media team, oh yea, clearly I blend in well.....! Seeing all the contestants perform right there in front of you is just mind blowing, you don't appreciate how hard they work and how well they sing when your sat at home on your settee, respect!
The rest of the day was pretty much filled with production room mania, seeing how #twitterguy controls everything, selecting TXFSigns and trying, not always successfully might I add, to retrieve them - this is a great time to point out to all those trying for TXFSigns, please please please understand how hard it is, I never realised how difficult it is for Twitterguy to actually get them, he works his butt off to try and keep everyone happy but unfortunately there's 600k followers, about 400 millions requests per minute (this may be exaggerated) and only 5 contestants now. Maths just doesn't stack up.

In between collecting TXFSigns I cheekily managed to get a few personal snaps from the finalists: Marcus, looking very handsome as always. Not forgetting the enviable beauty of Miss Amelia Lily.....

During my time running around helping Twitterguy (and I use the term 'helping' VERY loosely), I managed to come across some amazingly lovely people, firstly I met the man you may know as X Factor voice over guy - Peter Dickson, really top bloke, had a nice chat. Next up we bumped into Ian Royce, always up for a giggle. Saw the ever beautiful Caroline and Olly a few times and amongst all these wonderful faces I bumped into this chap, not sure if you know him......

DERMOTRON!!!

Now you would think meeting all those famous people would be enough for one weekend, well it was, but luckily for me it didn't end there! I can see the shock on your faces, and the whispers between you all.....who possibly could I have met! Well let me tell you now, the legendary #twitterguy some how - powers are unbeknown to all - managed to make this happen............are you ready, it's a good one........seriously I'm not playing around, it's HUGE, you can even see the stress/sheer amazement on my face.....ready.....BOOM!

TULISA!!

Meeting Tulisa was the highlight that I never expected, I still can't believe it happened if I'm honest - but it did and I've got proof WHOOP! Luckily I managed to stay calm and not say anything too ridiculous, although I do vaguely remember muttering the words I love you at one point.....oh dear! Fangirl Geek moment! She was lovely though! So was Gareth! (Tulisa's PA for those of you who aren't a Tulisa geek like me!)

Although meeting all these amazing stars of the show, the biggest shout outs and thank you's have to go to the people that made me feel welcome and let this happen - Steve, you are amazing! Not forgetting Olivia, Emma, Lucy and Dave who were all very professional but absolutely lovely with a total stranger dropping in for the day! Thanks for making this weekend beyond amazing!

Late but rightly so....

As promised here's my round up on this weeks performances, as I may have already mentioned, I was backstage this weekend, did I mention that? Hmmmm not sure, anyway just for safe measures I'll mention it again, I was backstage this weekend! YAY! Therefore I got to hear and see the true magic of each performance, but just for the interest of this blog, I also had the show recorded and watched it back today so I'm gonna review based on what you guys saw and heard just so we are all on the same level!
Same process as usual, lets get this shiz done....

Lets start with the NAY category this week, pretty easy one to start with as it's empty, yes you heard me right EMPTY! I genuinely didn't think anyone deserved to be in this category this weekend, good start eh.......hmmmm we'll see...moving on....

Next up the Hmmm category, now this is where the fun starts because this category is BOOMING this week. Now to be fair, all performances on Saturday had moments of fabulousness but some just lacked something, cue Craig Colton. Vocally he was flawless, really really amazing, but as this week was Movie Theme week, you would think Gary would've picked something a lot better than Licence to Kill. Not to say it isn't a good song, just out of ALL the songs available to showcase Craig's voice, I wouldn't have picked that. I had to agree with Louis and Tulisa. Also had to disagree with Gary, song choice is always important, get the song wrong and your in trouble......you saw the result right??? Ahem moving on....
Janet was another 'good but not amazing' performance, as for song choice I thought Kelly nailed it this week, totally suited her perfectly, but as with most Janet performances I switched off again, all other contestants build up to a big moment in a song but with Janet I always feel like she lacks in the 'Finale' department if you get what I mean. Vocally she was really strong this week but a bit boring.
Amelia next, yet again another great vocal, she done well with what she had, but what she had wasn't the best. Lovely girl though with a beautiful voice.
Lastly we have Misha, personally I was cringing at the beginning, thought it sounded really pitchy, but as she got into it she really started to smash it, but then near the end it started to go shouty again which I'm not a fan of. Brilliant song choice, performance looked beautiful but just sounded off to me in parts.

Now then lads and lasses, we have the fabulously gorgeous YAY Category, now I know there seems to be a reoccuring theme but I can honestly say that I base my comments 100% on my own opinions from what I see and hear, I can promise it's all genuine and not biased in any way shape or form. Just thought I'd best clear that up for any doubters :-)
Ok lets get back to business. Amazing performances from this weekend, you probably already know what's coming, and if not then WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU WATCHING! Marcus and his amazing choir, wow, what a performance to end the show, he was awesome, you could tell he enjoyed it too, like Kelly said - I felt like I was physically lifted off the ground from the buzz! Awesome Marcus.
Lastly the fabulous foursome Little Mix, this week they showed they aren't just 4 bubbly girls who come out and jump around to a happy pop song, dam those girls can sing. I loved how they stripped it back this weekend and I look forward to more vocally challenging songs next weekend. Joint best performance of there's, with E.T. woo yea!

So that's the round up, and as I'm behind this week it's pretty pointless giving my predictions.....or is it....hmmm lets see.
I think the bottom 2 will be Amelia and Craig, and Craig will go after deadlock. Wooooooo how cool am I getting it absolutely right! (shhhh don't tell anyone I cheated ok, it's between me and you)
To be honest, although it was a HUGE shock, it actually wasn't that much of a shock. Craig was amazing and didn't deserve to go, but hey, no one does really.

Up close and personal! WOW

Now this weekend, for those of you that follow this blog, I've not reviewed anyone yet, or given any predictions, or pretty much said anything about The X Factor all weekend, fear not little X Factor minions, it's not through lack of interest or boredom, the exact opposite in fact. This weekend I got the amazing opportunity of actually going backstage and working with Twitter Guy, yea that's right THE #twitterguy (hash tag and everything) I got to see how everything works, rehearsals, I got to meet the contestants and get a real feel for the atmosphere and the buzz around it all. As a huge fan of the show you can imagine I was extremely honoured to be there and pretty much walked round with mouth wide open and glazed eyes all the time! I will review the show properly tomorrow just wanted to give you guys a quick behind the scenes up date!

Firstly I can't tell you certain things like behind the make up Little Mix are actually Jedward, and Twitter guy is actually Pamela Anderson (both of which are completely fabricated and are clearly untrue in every way possible) but what I can tell you is that the backstage team are all really amazing people that seems to be a huge family of complete nutters in the nicest sense. The contestants are all amazing, really genuine and down to earth, I never saw any bad feeling between anyone, and I was around during the most tense times. And dam they can sing, all of them, even those I wasn't 100% on previously, like Janet, her vocals in rehearsals were bang on. I got goosebumps pretty much all day long, and I was lucky enough to catch a random sing along in the corridor with Mischa, Little Mix and Amelia not long before the results show, AH-MAY-ZING!
Being back stage really makes you appreciate how much hard word goes into a show as big as this, they really don't stop, it's pretty much constant all day. At home it's like 'yea they sing a few songs and send one home, big deal' but seriously from now I will be watching with a completely different attitude. I've had such an amazing time and can't wait to actually watch the show back, post my reviews and post some pics!

Just a quick word on Craig, his sing off song was 'hairs on back of the neck' material, he really nailed it. Total shock to see him in the bottom 2, and from my experience alone I think he will be hugely missed back stage. Genuinely lovely guy with such an amazing voice!