Weedy's X Factor UK Season 11 - 15 Watch Thread

[Weedy_Speedy]

4 minutes ago, Elliott said:

Me after seeing even you rank Leona at #1:

 

Agreed on Better in Time, though. That song is a bop.

 

If it makes you feel better, it's a strictly by default ranking based on the scores I give the performances. I honestly believe they got rid of everyone that people would have liked more than her in the bootcamp rounds.  Also she's not my highest ranking winner, Shayne is.  

 

72.1	Brenda Edwards
65.3	Shayne Ward
64.9	Leona Lewis
62.9	Rowetta Satchell
62.4	Ben Mills
62.1	MacDonald Brothers
59.0	Kerry McGregor
58.9	Tabby Callaghan
58.4	Journey South
57.3	Andy Abraham
56.9	Chico Slimani
54.8	Voices With Soul
52.4	G4
52.4	Ray Quinn
50.2	Maria Lawson
49.8	Cassie Compton
49.7	Dionne Mitchell
49.2	Robert Allen
45.6	Eton Road
41.0	Phillip Magee
39.7	2 To Go
36.0	Addictiv Ladies
35.5	Verity Keays
35.3	Chenai Zinyuku
33.8	Nikitta Angus
32.3	Nicholas Dorsett
32.0	Roberta Howett
30.5	Ashley McKenzie
26.1	Steve Brookstein
24.6	The Conway Sisters
23.5	4Tune
21.5	4Sure
19.0	The Unconventionals

[~Tom~]

Glad to see Leona at #1 and the MacDonald Brothers at #3! I really liked them too and they reminded me of one of my favorite bands, Foster & Allen. Ben did have a couple good ones as well from what I can remember.  

 

 

[Weedy_Speedy]

Dermot looked so young in season 4.

 

Kimberley Southwick - Female first boot who gets sh*tcanned after a hot mess performance of a novelty song. At least she was fun about it.

 

Daniel DeBourg - Lmao he had no personality and his voice was thin as sh*t. He was a good looking guy with a sob story, though, so he must have ranked too high in the votes week 1 for their liking, hence the "Build Me Up Buttercup" hatchet job. If he was any good I'd be pressed, but he sucked so the show did us all a favor really.

 

Emily Nakanda - "I Knew You Were Waiting" was alright I guess, but "I'm Not a Girl Not Yet a Woman" was horrendous. Plus there was that happy slapping video that proved how much of a little brat she was. I'm glad she was removed from the competition because she would've lasted too long and potentially robbed Beverley or someone, thank god that didn't happen.

 

Futureproof - This was the first season where they placed rejected soloists into groups, and Futureproof was one of them. I said with 4Tune that Simon was always looking for ~the next big boyband~. These guys were definitely no One Direction, I feel like they never gelled as a group and I can't even remember the performances they gave, they were THAT uninteresting.

 

Andy Williams - He was adorable but the singing was lol. I actually remember telling David when I was first watching this season that he sounded like a funeral singer. Just so dreary and lifeless. His "Stayin' Alive" performance was sorta funny, though.

 

Alisha Bennett - She was ok, easily the best of the girls this season. Too funny that she may very well have received the lowest number of votes the first two weeks, and then by week three she's the only girl left.  The show did everything they could to push Alisha at that point, giving her late performance slots and drumming up the sympathy vote, as they didn't want Sharon and the girls category to be a complete disaster. Overall though, her voice just wasn't too impressive, so she went out in week 5 after being bussed by some bizarre choreography with rollerskaters. I would've had her stick around over a certain other act, but still no huge loss.

 

Beverley Trotman - I liked Beverley. She was the prototypical diva contestant that people were getting sick of seeing at this point, but she had the likability factor and was relatable, being a schoolteacher. Her performances were usually good, I don't think she was ever outright bad. Her weakest performance was her last one though, being forgettable and just a bad song choice, so I can see why she polled the lowest number of votes that week.

 

Fifth Harmony Alpha Ver. Hope - Lmao in hindsight I definitely only see the first attempt of 5H here, being a 5-piece girl group put together by the show that Simon went far out of his way to push. I like Hope about as much as I like Fifth Harmony, too (i.e. not very much). I do think they gelled more as a group than Futureproof, and I appreciate that we got to know all the girls as individuals (a rarity on this show). There was Phoebe, who was the best vocalist, there was the single mother, and...the other three. Ok so yeah Phoebe essentially carried this group lmao, to the extent that their best performance ("Hurt") was literally just her singing solo while the other four girls did, as Louis put it, ooos and ahhs in the background. Other than that, their "Gimme Gimme Gimme" performance is a bit of a guilty pleasure, but everything else was just a mess really. They lasted too long, but at least they didn't advance any further than they did.

 

Niki Evans - Niki was great, a fantastic vocalist with a beautiful voice. She's my favorite of the season, despite some missteps with song choice here and there. You know all of those basic white girls with the understated vocals the show tried to push every damn year in modern seasons? Niki is a good example of that kind of contestant. Her understated performances were definitely her best, such as "Nothing Compares 2 U" (eargasmic  ) and "Songbird." I also loved her performance of "All That Jazz," as it was sexy and sultry and she SOLD it. Screw Simon for bussing that performance by calling it cabaret.  I didn't like her belty performances as much, because I didn't think she was that kind of singer, but singing competitions didn't think you could get away with not having big vocals until the likes of Brooke White and Diana Vickers came along. They were usually still good enough for me to enjoy them, though. I wish Niki could've snuck her way into the finale, too bad that didn't happen.  

 

Same Difference - Lol Same Difference, what an experience these two were.  When I first watched this season, I was irritated by them, as I was a miserable teenager who was adverse to the idea of fun. Now? I love them! They were adorable and their personalities were infectious. Sean is one of the cutest guys to ever be on X Factor, too. Performances I love most from them include "Tragedy," "Breaking Free," "Reach," and especially "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now."  I love that song and I'm so glad SD did it, as they're the only act cheesy enough with good vocals who could make it work. Unfortunately though, that was their peak for me, and I didn't enjoy any of their final weeks near as much. I do think they took Niki's spot in the finale, even though the image of Sarah flying through the air to light the Christmas tree at the finale is one that sticks out for me.  I also think it's hilarious that the group Simon put through as fodder was the one the public embraced over his generic boyband/girlband. Oops.

 

Rhydian Roberts - Rhydian is an interesting contestant for me. He's definitely a brilliant vocalist, but operatic stylings aren't exactly my forte. I personally much preferred Rhydian when he camped it up, such as with "The Phantom of the Opera," "Get the Party Started," and "Go West." I think those three performances were brilliant, even if "Go West" was a little much lol. But as Rhydian said, who wouldn't want to perform with so many male dancers?  The judges tried to say that those performances made Rhydian out to be a joke, though, so he and Dannii played it safe the rest of the competition with note-perfect, but soulless performances of bland songs, and all the fun was just sucked out of Rhydian for me. Brilliant vocals don't get you too far if you're singing "Bridge over Troubled Water" and "You'll Never Walk Alone."  If those last three weeks hadn't happened, Rhydian would probably be my favorite X Factor contestant, but alas the experience ended up being ruined for me. I'm not too surprised he ended up losing to Leon in retrospect. Speaking of which...

 

Leon Jackson - I'm just gonna let me average scores for Leon do the talking:

Leon Jackson

14.0

41.0

45.7

46.8

47.0

52.2

59.3

61.4

66.1

This guy is the textbook example of a growth arc. He started out absolutely terrible, the worst of the first week, with Simon even stating that he stole the spot of another guy that Dannii should've chosen instead. He was able to redeem himself the next week with a very good performance of "Home," and that began the trend of him becoming the dark horse of the season. As you can see from my scores, he improved week by week, still sort of hiding in Rhydian's shadow, but getting the votes both by improving and his likability factor. And at the exact time that Rhydian started becoming samey and boring, Leon soared, and at 100% the right time. Top 5 night is when I think he first became a contender, and he absolutely killed it at the finale, by far being the best performer of the three acts on the night. Leon's best performance for me is actually his final one--"When You Believe." The song fit him like a glove, while it really didn't suit Rhydian, and it lead to a shocking, but still authentic win for him. When I first began watching season 4, I was shocked because so many of my friends told me that Leon was their favorite, and I didn't at all understand why. Now, I understand why. He won people over by improving and finding his niche as an artist while he was on the show. Just brilliant and he's actually my favorite winner up to this point in the show's history.

 

Rankings:

1. Niki

2. Leon

3. Rhydian

4. Beverley

5. Same Difference

6. Alisha

7. Hope

8. Futureproof

9. Andy

10. Emily

11. Kimberley

12. Daniel

 

Winner Rankings:

1. Leon

2. Shayne

3. Leona

4. Steve

[~Tom~]

Niki at #1.  Fields of Gold, Songbird, and Nothing Compares to U were heavenly and I too loved All that Jazz! I liked her belting performances as well, but I agree she shone with the softer folk songs. 

 

I loved Rhydian as well and wish he were second instead of Leon but Leon is third for me anyway.  

 

Same Difference might grown on me since I do like Only the Young, but I haven't rewtched any performances from season 4 in a long time, and I've never seen a lot of the first half, period. 

[Weedy_Speedy]

1 hour ago, ~Tom~ said:

Niki at #1.  Fields of Gold, Songbird, and Nothing Compares to U were heavenly and I too loved All that Jazz! I liked her belting performances as well, but I agree she shone with the softer folk songs. 

 

I loved Rhydian as well and wish he were second instead of Leon but Leon is third for me anyway.  

 

Same Difference might grown on me since I do like Only the Young, but I haven't rewtched any performances from season 4 in a long time, and I've never seen a lot of the first half, period. 

 

I don't think Niki ever had a bad performance, but I do wish she had some more in the folk pop spectrum or even performances where she could show personality like "All That Jazz." I guess there was "Hot Stuff" but you know, who knows why X Factor keeps doing Disco week lol. Cabaret was one of Simon's favorite insults back in the mid-2000s and I think it hurt certain contestants. Makes you wonder how someone like Saara would've come across ten years earlier.

 

Haha I thought you liked Leon more for whatever reason. Maybe I'm getting you confused for someone else. I know he was Elle's and David's favorite, and perhaps James' as well. I just know everyone liked him and I wasn't drinking the kool-aid until the last few weeks lmao.

 

I think the first half of the season is where Same Difference were at their best, since they became a bit samey towards the end like Rhydian. I feel like they were more authentically themselves at the beginning too, where they were basically there to fill the third slot in the groups while Simon focused on Futureproof/Hope. Once it became clear that SD were much more popular with the public he began to Simon-ize them a bit. As said, my favorites are their first three performances and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" (which I maintain is their best vocal). I know James really likes "Never Had a Dream Come True" and I thought it was good as well, I just didn't like it as much compared to my favorites.

[Weedy_Speedy]

Bad Lashes - I remember ten years ago thinking this girl group was interesting and should've stayed over Girlband. I must have been high or something, because they were horrid.  They kept playing a clip of Louis saying "hairdressers trying to be a girl group" from their audition and that was rather on point, lol they couldn't sing worth sh*t. It must have been the name making me think they were more interesting than Girlband, but even then they have a terrible name too. Bad Lashes? Just wtf.

 

Girlband - I do think they were slightly better than Bad Lashes, even if they were rather mediocre themselves. At least they performed like a legit girl group rather than...whatever it was Bad Lashes were doing. Their best performance was their second sing-off, even though they were still taken to school by Ruth lmao. Honestly the real reason I rank them higher than Bad Lashes, though? Is because one of the girls in Girlband looks like Sasha Banks. They make me think of someone amazing so that earns them brownie points.

 

Scott Bruton - Lol @ Simon's ploy to get him sympathy votes the first week ending with him scoring 2nd on the leaderboard. He definitely knows how to play the public (unfortunately). Other than that, Scott was alright. I mean he really had nowhere to go but up after his first week. His best performance was, once again, his sing-off, although he was still outsung by Daniel and rightfully went home. Oh well, at least he did this after the show: https://www.fitmales.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/page-060_1_608.jpg. Far more entertaining!

 

Austin Drage - He was kind of hosed tbh. Not only was he the cutest guy of the season, but he was also the best male singer. He was sadly screwed the second he got Simon as a mentor, because Austin did seem more of an alternative pop kind of guy, and Simon's idea of alternative was jocking the same arrangement David Cook used for "Billie Jean." Granted, I think it worked for Austin too, it was definitely his best performance. I thought he was really good on Big Band week as well. Not so great with "Wishing on a Star," although it wasn't terrible and I think with "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" he redeemed himself. But they weren't done pushing Rachel's storyline of the season yet, so he went home.  Oh well, at least we got the moment where Simon was like "you were distracted by all the girl dancers!" for WOAS, while Austin just stood there like *screaming in gay panic*.  And like Scott, he continued to entertain post-season: https://darkaeon.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/austindrageimage1.jpg. Still wish he could've lasted longer, he definitely deserved to be the last guy standing.

 

Laura White - If you scroll to the bottom of my post, you'll see Laura rank rather high in my rankings, but it's really only by default. I wasn't feeling most of the contestants they decided to push this season, so Laura sort of fell into the "best of the rest" slot after my favorites. I definitely wasn't as huge on her as a lot of people seemed to be. Her best performance imo was "Somebody Else's Guy," it wasn't as good as Brenda's version but I love the attitude she brought to the song and I thought she displayed a great deal of confidence. Cheryl gave her a terrible song on Mariah night (Endless Love?) and she probably deserved to be in the bottom 2 (Ruth didn't). Her sing-off was alright, but again, she was taken to school by Ruth. She could've lasted a bit longer, like with Austin there were definitely a few contestants she was better than that outlasted her.

 

Daniel Evans - Lol. I feel for Daniel, he wasn't too great but I did enjoy his backstory. He had lost his wife and was doing X Factor because she always wanted him to do it. His first sing-off was a tribute to his wife, a rather emotional "To Where You Are," and it was bloody brilliant--by FAR his best performance. It brought Louis, one of Daniel's biggest critics, to tears, and even for me it was genuinely moving. It bought Daniel three more weeks in the competition, and then he went home once he hit the bottom 2 again. He deserved to stay over Scott, but not Austin or Laura, so I have mixed feelings on him overall. He lasted too long, but at least he didn't advance any further.

 

Rachel Hylton - If any contestant had a roller coaster ride on X Factor, it was Rachel. Like many struggling parents over the years, she joined a talent competition to provide a better life for her family. I think I remember at some point they said she had 5 kids?! But later only 2 were shown on screen, so maybe my mind made up the 5 number idk. In any case, she started off rocky, not exactly meshing well with Dannii compared to basically every other contestant who worked with her. It wasn't until week 3, when she sang "Feeling Good," that she lived up to her potential. I also enjoyed week 6's "You Know I'm No Good" and week 7's "Rule the World," but at that point Rachel had begun to run out of steam and she just couldn't compete with the established fanbases of the remaining contestants. I did like how in her last few weeks, Rachel had begun to loosen up and not take the competition so seriously. She's a great talent, even if song choice didn't always work in her favor.

 

Ruth Lorenzo - Definitely my favorite of the season and possibly my favorite X Factor contestant of all time? It's between her and Sam Bailey, both are jaw-droppingly incredible. Ruth ticks all my boxes--beyond having an INCREDIBLE voice, she had the likability factor, she was versatile, being able to switch from her Latin roots to full out ROCKER CHICK, she tore her heart out and threw it on stage for every performance, and can we say that she's by far the sexiest contestant to ever be on the show?! And that includes both men and women! My roommate (who is even gayer than I am) walked into the room during one of her performances and shouted "She is HOT!" and even I myself want to get my head crushed by her breasts. I thought only Bayonetta could get that reaction from me, just incredible.  Ruth has multiple performances that rank among my favorites of all time--"No More Tears," "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," "Summertime," "Always," and of course "Purple Rain" even though it isn't my top favorite like it is for other people. She managed to last all the way to 5th place despite being from Spain and thus not having any hometown support. Just pure talent!  Should've been a Ruth/Alexandra final two in my opinion, but I'm glad she lasted as long as she did. Her sing-out of "Always" ranks up there as one of the best ever.

 

Diana Vickers - If I were to make a list of most overrated contestants, Diana would probably be on there. I get that her quirkiness and unique tone make her popular, but her performances just usually weren't for me. Her best ones in my opinion were "Smile" and "White Flag," and "Yellow" was alright too I guess. Other than that? Wasn't drinking the kool-aid. She was especially bad on top 5 night, it was quite sad watching her implode midway through the competition Brooke White-style. She was a bit back on form on top 4 night, but she had lasted far beyond her expiration date by that point and I was ready for her to go. Don't have much else to say than I'm glad these videos haven't been scrubbed from the internet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLQVU4gDrvQ, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkFGXDpIfLY, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnOsAI_XuLs&list=RDLnOsAI_XuLs&start_radio=1

Hush hush gay bag, you underlogging gay    

 

Eoghan Quigg - Ugh, Eggnog.  He's what happens when the teenybopper vote and regional support go terribly wrong. I'll start off with some positives--"Imagine" was decent for the first week, one of the better performances of the night. His duet at the finale was sort of okay? Now the bad: everything else was mediocre. His performances ranged from stage school piss breaks to outright disasters hiding behind big productions. Watching the end of the season, I started to see where Nicole got her strategic ideas for Ryan Lawrie from. Top 6 night, Eoghan had this huge choir with fireworks and a loud backing track and whatever, you couldn't hear his voice in the song if you tried, and he gets praised as the best of the night.  Ridiculous. It was too funny watching the finale, after Alexandra had her incredible duet with Beyonce that I'm sure killed *Wallace dead, Eoghan followed that up with a reprise of "We're All in this Together." Lmao just the complete OPPOSITE quality-wise, going from a world class duet to High School Musical karaoke. He should've been shtcanned top 10 week and given his spot in the finale to someone who deserved it. At least he went straight back to obscurity once the show was over.

 

JLS - I don't have much to say about "the best group in X Factor history." Some of their performances were good, usually when they were doing their soul/r&b stuff, rather than when they were fulfilling Louis' Westlife fantasies. They were decent runners-up to Alexandra, much better than Eggnog, but much like both him and Diana, I would've sent them packing WAY earlier. Or not, outside of Ruth and Alexandra this season didn't have too much going for it (or at least it didn't in my opinion). They were as good a choice as any to be fodder for the finale, I suppose. At least we got to hear Louis say, "In the words of Barack Obama, can we win the competition? YES WE CAN!"  Ah, back when we still had hopes that Obama would be a progressive.

 

Alexandra Burke - As I've already alluded to, Ruth is my favorite for this season while Alexandra is my second favorite (and then there's a HUGE gap between 2 and 3 lmao). Alex is incredible and I'm so glad that out of such an (in my opinion) lackluster final 4, the one with the world-class talent is who won. She's my favorite X Factor winner up to this point--yes, @Elliott, I do MUCH prefer Alexandra to Leona. One of the reasons being that Alex actually has an umm personality. In any case, she started the season sorta being the unfavorite behind Laura and Diana (despite being much better than both) and had her first 'moment' in week 3 with "Candyman." I don't think Alexandra ever really had a bad performance. There were some I didn't like as much as others (such as "Toxic" and "You Are So Beautiful," although to be fair nobody can make that second song good). Her duet with Beysus at the finale was shamazeballs and we weren't worthy of witnessing such a performance.  Still lol @ Alex singing with Beyonce while the other two got stuck with Louis' boybands.  Don't have much else to say! Alexandra is great and it's a shame she hasn't blown up as much as Leona did, but she still seems to be doing rather well for herself in comparison to other X Factor winners.

 

Rankings:

1. Ruth

2. Alexandra

3. Rachel

4. Laura

5. Austin

6. JLS

7. Diana

8. Daniel

9. Scott

10. Eoghan

11. Girlband

12. Bad Lashes

 

Winner Rankings:

1. Alexandra

2. Leon

3. Shayne

4. Leona

5. Steve

 

[Elliott]

I get tagged to come into this thread only to see Diana Vickers shade.

[Weedy_Speedy]

Just now, Elliott said:

I get tagged to come into this thread only to see Diana Vickers shade.

 

I like to give you both the good and the bad.  

[Elliott]

Anyway, Ruth’s sing-out reprise of Always is probably my favourite X Factor performance ever. All these years later and I see get goosebumps.

[NGM]

I see Ruth love and that's all that matters

[~Tom~]

Ruth at #1.  

 

I know that Diana isn't your favorite but the X Factor version of Borez II Men....errr...JLS above her?  

[Weedy_Speedy]

3 minutes ago, NGM said:

I see Ruth love and that's all that matters

 

#FactsOnly

 

1 minute ago, ~Tom~ said:

Ruth at #1.  

 

I know that Diana isn't your favorite but the X Factor version of Borez II Men....errr...JLS above her?  

 

JLS never had me jumping out of my chair but they were overall more consistent than Diana for me.

[Weedy_Speedy]

"I promise you guys, I will judge this sing-off based on the performances that you give tonight." - Simon Cowell, circa 2009

 

"I didn't know the result beforehand, and I would NEVER, EVER manipulate the public into sending home a contestant that is good." - Simon Cowell, circa 2009 + one week

 

Dannii Minogue: *probably planning bloody murder or something, nobody would blame her*

 

Kandy Rain - I'm not gonna knock them for their stripper past, it's 2020 and there's nothing wrong with sex work. I will agree that it's pretty ridiculous that they would show up for their performance half-naked, after whinging on how they want to be judged as singers, although that was a little rich coming from Cheryl of all people. A broken clock is right twice a day, I suppose. As singers? They were mediocre. Not the worst girl group that's ever been on the show, I will go as much to say that I appreciated the fight they gave during their sing-off performance. But they're just another forgotten group to add to the list.

 

Rikki Loney - Poor Rikki, I think he deserved better. His "Back to Black" was pretty good in my opinion, but he got bussed with a terrible song choice the second week. Plus Cheryl cried to get Lloyd sympathy votes, forcing all the teenage girls to flock to him, sealing poor Rikki's fate. Such a shame as Rikki had much more potential than Lloyd in my opinion.

 

Miss Frank - I appreciated their presence on the season, and I agree that they were the best group (not my favorite, but we'll get there shortly). Graziella, Shar, and Shaniece are all great singers, and they definitely had style as a group. There was a problem with Miss Frank though, and that was they never put ANY effort into harmonization. It was literally three great singers singing on top of each other, pretty much being The Voice Battle Rounds: The Group. That still ranks them high for me, as this is season 6 and again, three GREAT singers. And it's a joke that they finished last in the vote after "That's Life" and then weren't saved after their sing-off, which I personally thought was just as good. Just the first example of what would be much more f*ckery to come.  

 

Rachel Adedeji - Rachel was a good singer, and I enjoyed her "Let Me Entertain You" performance. I think the reason the public never quite warmed up to her is that she didn't have a very distinct tone to her voice (you could say that about all the girls this season really), plus being a minority. Her other two forays that ended with her in the bottom two, I didn't like as much, but she definitely deserved to stick around over people that were still there. At least she was safe for "Proud Mary," that was definitely her moment and if she had given more performances that even approached that standard, perhaps she could've stuck around longer.

 

Lucie Jones - My problem with Lucie is that I never really understood who she was as an artist. The Leona cover was a good start for her, I wasn't as huge on the next three weeks ("Sweet Child of Mine" was probably the best of the three) but I felt like she was really lacking in identity. When she sang "This Is Me," however, she finally clicked for me, and I bought her as a young pop singer type that girls could relate to. It was a great performance and definitely the best of the night after John & Edward. Unfortunately for Lucie, she was on XF6,  so the public would reward her by placing her in the bottom 2 AND dead last in the vote. Which Simon would take advantage of, eliminating her in one of his most obvious publicity stunts.  This really was the year he turned on Dannii, ugh just ridiculous. I would've loved to see how Lucie could've rode the momentum of "This Is Me" and "One Moment in Time," but I guess that would've run the risk of her outlasting one of the precious Overs. Couldn't have that, now could we?

 

Jamie Archer - I thought Jamie was super lame to begin with, honestly. Both his first performance and the one on Rock week were laughable attempts at making him look like a legit rock singer. Also the afro was and still is hideous. After Rock week, though, Jamie began to win me over. I thought "Crying" was really good, a song choice that he (unsurprisingly) chose for himself. He should've made more song choices for himself rather then go along with what Simon's stupid idea of a rock singer was. And I was super into his version of "Radio Gaga," that was really the only time he sang a Rock song where I actually bought into it. But, for the third damn time this season, he'd rank dead last in the vote after his best performance, and get eliminated despite performing better in the sing-off. Whatever. I'm not so pressed with Jamie because I think we had seen everything he was about at that point, plus Lloyd decided to start being good around that time so I can live it. Any damage to Simon's ego is good, just a shame Jamie had to be a casualty of that.

 

John & Edward - Lmao whatever man, I love John & Edward and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Their cockroach survival and status as the 'joke act' didn't bother me one bit, they were entertaining as hell. This was the season that talent took a day off anyway, how anyone can boo Jedward and complain that their singing was making the show a laughing stock while Lloyd and Danyl were both STILL THERE is ridiculous to me. They were great and if anything, I would've had them last longer. Plus you know Simon loved the publicity they brought to the show (hence him saving them over Lucie), as they say there's no such thing as bad press. I applaud their thick skin, tenacity and ability to go out there and have fun, entertaining a few people while they were at it. One of my favorite groups and nobody can tell me otherwise!  

 

Lloyd Daniels - Did you all know? That Lloyd and Danyl were sleeping together during the competition? This kid is the ultimate example of a pretty boy skating by week after week based solely on his looks. He's lucky he was on the year before One Direction, lmao nobody would've given this kid the time of day if he were on a later season. Thousands of teenage girls creaming themselves over an obvious closet case notwithstanding, he was generally terrible the first few weeks, with special mention going to "Bleeding Love" and especially "I Kissed a Girl," one of the biggest outright lies a contestant has ever told during a performance LOL. He did improve around the midway point, I'm glad he decided to not completely stink up the joint before he was finally kicked off. Still should've left in Rikki's and/or especially Rachel's place.

 

Danyl Johnson - God, f*ck this D-I-V-O. Have you all ever had a contestant whose performances made you feel physically ill? Danyl is that contestant for me. Between his inability to control his voice, constant tuning problems, OTT theatrics, and decision to sleep with teenage boys, it all adds up to one of my least favorite contestants of all time. Add on Simon's disgusting overpraise and that's just the cherry on top of the sh*t sundae.  It was a misery suffering this guy for nine weeks, he definitely should've been kicked off week ONE and he would've been if it was my world. At least I have his performances scored now so I never have to watch him again ugh. I guess if I were to give a positive, his "Man in the Mirror" was legitimately good, if you were to hold a gun to my head and force me to listen to a Danyl performance on repeat I'd choose that one. Just keep me away from the horrors of his Whitney/Aerosmith/Elton John covers. *shudder*

 

Stacey Solomon - Stacey is one of the two contestants who were legitimately good and actually got to last the entire competition. I wasn't a fan of everything she did, she definitely had her fair share of underwhelming performance. At least she had her personality to win fans over from the beginning. Her best performances rank as some of the finest of the season, with special mentions going to "Rule the World," "Somewhere" and of course "Who Wants to Live Forever." She was great and definitely deserved to last to the end.

 

Olly Murs - To my surprise, I found myself actually enjoying Olly a lot in the early points of the competition. Some of my favorites from him came early on, such as "A Fool in Love" (a legitimately brilliant song choice on Simon's part) and even "Come Together." Around the midpoint of the competition though, he began boring me, as he and Simon insisted on just delivering the same exact performance every week. It was honestly a blessing once he landed in the bottom two and reminded me that he legitimately could sing with "Wonderful Tonight," another one of my favorites from him. Would I have had him in the finale? No, but at least it wasn't Danyl. Still should've finished third and allowed Stacey to claim the runner-up spot. I do enjoy his personality and it's nice that he's crossed over into more of a presenter-style work in later years. Never forget the time he told Monica Michael that she was eliminated too early.  Iconic moment!

 

Joe McElderry - Joe was my favorite from week one and he remained my favorite the entire season. He definitely had the most consistent journey of all the contestants this year, always delivering top-notch performances sprinkled with a 'moment' here and there. Even my least favorites of his I wouldn't say were bad as much as they were boring. I liked his early journey because the songs he performed were different enough from each other to make them stand out, from "No Regrets" to "Sway" to "Don't Stop Believin'" (which is my favorite performance from him). I always enjoy a contestant who can show variety because it keeps me interested in them. Near the end though, Cheryl started pouring on the ballads and it all just got a little too David Archuleta stage school for me. He was the clear winner though by the time top 6 week rolled around and it's always nice to have a season where my favorite from the beginning ends up winning the whole thing. If only his winning single wasn't a Miley Cyrus cover...what am I saying, this is XF6, ofc it was lmao ugh.

 

Rankings:

1. Joe

2. Stacey

3. John & Edward (yes, this high)

4. Miss Frank

5. Lucie

6. Rachel

7. Jamie

8. Olly

9. Lloyd (his last few weeks helped him rise in my rankings, without them he'd be 2nd-to-last)

10. Rikki

11. Kandy Rain

12. Danyl

 

Top 10 Favorite Performances:

1. Stacey Solomon - "Who Wants to Live Forever"

2. Stacey Solomon - "Rule the World"

3. Joe McElderry - "Don't Stop Believin'"

4. Stacey Solomon - "Somewhere"

5. Joe McElderry - "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"

6. Rachel Adedeji - "Proud Mary"

7. John & Edward - "Oops I Did It Again"

8. John & Edward - "Ghostbusters"

9. Jamie Archer - "Radio Gaga"

10. Joe McElderry - "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" (Duet with George Michael)

 

Winner Rankings:

1. Alexandra

2. Joe

3. Leon

4. Shayne

5. Leona

6. Steve

[Solaris]

agreeance about Who Wants to Live Forever and Rule the World as #1 and #2

[~Tom~]

I'm glad to see Rachel, Lucie and Miss Frank all rank high. Having all three of them go back to back killed my enjoyment of that season and to this day I haven't seen some performances from it. Rachel's second sing-off was my favorite from her though, and I found her tone the most distinct out of the three girls easily, whereas Stacey and Lucie sounded kinda similar.

 

I was never even blown away by Stacey's best performances, even they were pretty basic to me.

 

I too enjoyed Ghostbusters. I would have remembered them much more fondly if they had simply gone home instead of Lucie. Lloyd also proved difficult to get rid of in the XF rankdown, and Danyl also didn't leave as soon as he should have. I'm surprised Dannii's comments after his week 1 performance didn't get a mention from you.  

 

Joe was a deserving winner!

[Weedy_Speedy]

33 minutes ago, ~Tom~ said:

I'm glad to see Rachel, Lucie and Miss Frank all rank high. Having all three of them go back to back killed my enjoyment of that season and to this day I haven't seen some performances from it. Rachel's second sing-off was my favorite from her though, and I found her tone the most distinct out of the three girls easily, whereas Stacey and Lucie sounded kinda similar.

 

I was never even blown away by Stacey's best performances, even they were pretty basic to me.

 

I too enjoyed Ghostbusters. I would have remembered them much more fondly if they had simply gone home instead of Lucie. Lloyd also proved difficult to get rid of in the XF rankdown, and Danyl also didn't leave as soon as he should have. I'm surprised Dannii's comments after his week 1 performance didn't get a mention from you.  

 

Joe was a deserving winner!

 

Lmao you're probably not missing much from whatever you haven't seen, I'm sure people have already told you by now which performances are worth your time. The only reason I finished the season is because I'm trying to complete my WNTWeedy database for X Factor.  

 

Neither Lucie or Jedward had any business being in the bottom 2 that week, but you know it was season 6. Everything was backwards. Based on the sing-off between the two, Jedward definitely should've gone. And yes I've read the X Factor rankdown and the rankers electing to cut Leon over Lloyd definitely earned a "typical IDF" scoff from me. I don't agree with outing people (even if she meant no harm) so I don't think that was Dannii's best moment, but oh well...she's still the best judge on this panel lol. Did you know that evidently Simon wanted her back for season 9 but she hard-balled him because she was sick of his bs? Queen  

Edited August 25, 2020 by The Ghost of Weedy Speedy

[~Tom~]

22 minutes ago, The Ghost of Weedy Speedy said:

 

Lmao you're probably not missing much from whatever you haven't seen, I'm sure people have already told you by now which performances are worth your time. The only reason I finished the season is because I'm trying to complete my WNTWeedy database for X Factor.  

 

Neither Lucie or Jedward had any business being in the bottom 2 that week, but you know it was season 6. Everything was backwards. Based on the sing-off between the two, Jedward definitely should've gone. And yes I've read the X Factor rankdown and the rankers electing to cut Leon over Lloyd definitely earned a "typical IDF" scoff from me. I don't agree with outing people (even if she meant no harm) so I don't think that was Dannii's best moment, but oh well...she's still the best judge on this panel lol. Did you know that evidently Simon wanted her back for season 9 but she hard-balled him because she was sick of his bs? Queen  

Yeah I've seen Stacey's two best and most of the rest of Joe's and that's about it.

 

What I find most annoying is that when Lucie finally did a younger pop song that suited her, the viewers put her in the bottom 2 for it. Maybe she should've stuck with the power ballads to get votes.   I hope you appreciated my repeated Jahmene saves there too. I thought his being gay was common knwledge then but I guess not? And lol amazing. She was more confortable on XFAus, I'm sure. 

 

 

[Weedy_Speedy]

4 minutes ago, ~Tom~ said:

Yeah I've seen Stacey's two best and most of the rest of Joe's and that's about it.

 

What I find most annoying is that when Lucie finally did a younger pop song that suited her, the viewers put her in the bottom 2 for it. Maybe she should've stuck with the power ballads to get votes.   I hope you appreciated my repeated Jahmene saves there too. I thought his being gay was common knwledge then but I guess not? And lol amazing. She was more confortable on XFAus, I'm sure. 

 

 

 

Lbr, they clearly weren't interested in pushing the Girls category in season 6 (all the Overs were guys) just like they weren't interested in pushing the Boys in season 7...and Dannii got the categories both times, hmm. Perhaps Lucie would've been a better fit in season 7 or 8, where they were going more for a ~hip~ ~and~ ~young~ ~and~ ~cool~ angle for X Factor. I certainly would've preferred her to something like Cher's "interpretation" of Shout that I've just watched. And yeah IDF has never liked Jahmene which of course has never been any surprise. Someone was legit trying to get rid of him from the word "go" and yet Cher makes top 20, lmao ridiculous. Even post-apocalypse this site really hasn't changed and yeah I agree, Dannii probably was much more comfortable on X Factor Australia. She's on the panel of Oz Masked Singer now, too.

[Weedy_Speedy]

Series 7 is the first one that I watched live. I know it gets remembered as one of the better ones, but I think that's total revisionist history thanks to 1D's success. For me at least? Series 7 is one of the worst of them all.  A terrible elimination order, awful contestants making it to the end, supreme bussing of my favorites, and Cheryl's and Simon's egos being at an all time high made this season insufferable for me to get through. I kid you not, certain episodes of this series were so bad watching them gave me a migraine. Just awful.

 

Nicolo Festa - Dannii very rarely dropped the ball as a mentor, but Nicolo is the one contestant that stands out where she did. She referred to him as her "big risk," I guess because he was more of an entertainer than a vocalist. But the "Just Dance" song choice was a complete misstep that just made Nicolo out to be a mediocre karaoke singer. I don't think he deserved to be eliminated first, but I guess since he was an international contestant (he was from Italy) he didn't have the support to make it in the vote. Too bad.

 

FodderYD - Lol @ this, as James used to put it, "quintet of David Hernandezes." They were put through to go out the first week and succeeded in their destiny. They did surprise me though, because I predicted that they'd get the lowest number of votes, but I guess the overall voting power of their family & friends were enough to push them ahead of the Italian and Weasel (who probably had votes stuffed in by production to keep her from ranking last). Kudos for surpassing my extremely low expectations, boys.

 

Storm Lee - Poseur trash that was somehow even worse than Cher and Katie. At least he left early, unlike them.  

 

Diva Fever - They were fun, and actually pretty decent singers as their sing-off proved. Their "Barbra Streisand" performance is definitely a guilty pleasure, probably the gayest performance ever.  I think Simon gave them the wildcard thinking they'd receive some Jedward-lite support, but that ended up not happening thanks to Wagner. The wildcard twist for this season seems super odd in retrospect. They didn't end up pushing any of the contestants that were brought back, so why did they bother?

 

John Adeleye - John was a good singer, definitely the best of the Overs after Mary. His "A Song for You" performance was legitimately very good. Unfortunately for him, an Over black male singer wasn't ordered in the season's script, so he received the "Zoom" hatchet job in order to kick him out of the competition. Such a shame as he was definitely talented, and maybe would've even done well if he had been on in the early years.

 

Belle Amie - Just yet another terrible girlband to add to the pile. They received some sort of push, since they were one of the manufactured groups, and Simon never wants any of his projects to be complete disasters. Once he saw all the $$$$$ One Direction were gonna bring him, though, he swiftly dropped these girls. Oh well, they weren't great and obviously didn't even want to be in a group as their lack of chemistry showed. "Big Girls Don't Cry" was their one good performance, everything else was kind of wretched.

 

Treyc Cohen - I like Treyc, although not as much now as I used to. Back when the show was airing, she was my favorite after Mary, and there was a time when I considered her "Relight My Fire" performance my absolute favorite of the season. Talk about completely overrating somebody.  I still think she's good, but in hindsight I definitely see why she was sort of in Rebecca's shadow throughout the season. Treyc was lacking in charisma, and the show lost complete interest in pushing her once she landed in the bottom 2 early on. Still better than all the season 6 Overs, let me remind you all that Simon put through Danyl over this girl at Judges' Houses.  I think that's why she never ended up "working" in the long-run since Simon will never admit he was completely wrong about someone. Still robbed by Weasel.

 

Aiden Grimshaw - I love Aiden and he's my favorite male contestant of the season. He was inconsistent, but his voice was just so interesting. His version of "Mad World" is my absolute favorite of all the people that have done it, more than Joey and Adam. True, it was the Gary Jules version that I'm sick of at this point, but Aiden brought the intensity of the Tears for Fears version which is what sells me on the song in the first place. "Diamonds Are Forever" and "Nothing Compares 2 U" were also very, very good. I loved his awkwardness during interviews and the weird faces he'd always make to the cameras lmao, definitely someone who sort of marches to the beat of his own drum and I just always have a soft spot for those kinds of contestants. I was beyond livid when he was shtcanned after Katie's fourth trip to the bottom and him leaving was an absolute joke. Simon's obsession of making headlines around this time was f*cking revolting.

 

Paije Richardson - I like Paije well enough, as a person at least. His singing tended to irritate me a bit. I don't know if it was his tone, his tendency to go off melody at times, or if he was just ever so slightly off key, but for whatever reason the bulk of his performances tended to fall flat in my opinion. Still, him getting canned for Cher's benefit was enough to make me stop watching the season back when it was airing. Louis would've never legitimately voted to save Cher over Paije, he was the one who championed Paije from the very beginning.  F*ck Weasel for deciding to be good that week because a Cher/Katie bottom 2 would've been an absolute dream that would've almost redeemed the series for all the blatant manipulation and rigging. At least karma finally came around for Simon when XFUS turned out to be a complete embarrassment.  

 

Katie Weasel - I don't think I need to say too much about her, because we're all in agreement about how terrible and famewhorey this contestant was. She got far solely because she brought in headlines and for other potential reasons that I wouldn't be surprised about, but am not gonna vocalize here. It is COMPLETELY hilarious in hindsight how she came out for the first live show wrapped in f*cking aluminum foil with multiple visors pinned to her head, with Simon and Cheryl gushing about how that's ~so her~.  Lady Gaga made these shows try some truly bizarre things. She earns a little bit of respect from me due to stopping with the crazy antics her last two weeks and for slagging Cheryl in the press in the post-XF world. Outside of that, she deserves her legacy as one of the worst contestants of all time.

 

Wagner - You all know that I tend to enjoy the joke acts, so it may surprise you that I never really bought into Wagner. His best performance was definitely his first one, but he was definitely a one hit wonder for me. It actually kind of irritates me that he somehow managed to make it all the way to the quarterfinal without ever being in the bottom 2. Jedward and Chico couldn't manage that, and they're both much more entertaining than him. I will say though that while I may not have enjoyed his performances, he was definitely a great television personality. Always gushing about his beautiful dancers, and "If I happen to sing out of time or out of tune, well I'm only human."  And alsowhen he slagged Cheryl in the press, he managed to come out of her confronting him about it looking like gold lmao. Anyway, he lasted too long, should've been Treyc/Aiden/even Paige instead, etc. At least he still managed to outrank Katie, despite all the manipulation and fix attempts by Simon.  

 

Mary Byrne - I love a good belter, so it shouldn't surprise you all that I love Mary Byrne. Her version of "It's a Man's World" is BY FAR my favorite and is one of my favorite performances of all time. It's one of the few that I've ranked 100 out of 100.  She definitely had a few misses throughout the competition, like that godawful "There You'll Be" song...wtf is up with that song btw? It seems to show up on X Factor every few years and I have heard it absolutely nowhere else in my life, but I digress. For me, Mary had way more hits than misses. "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" was almost as good as her first performance, "Could It Be Magic" was a lot of fun, "Something" was a great return to form after a few weeks where she underdelivered, and I enjoyed both of her performances on rock week + her sing-off. I also have sort of a sentimental attachment to Mary as that's also my mother's name and she's of similar age to Mary Byrne/is kind of heavyset/deals with arthritis. So, it was sort of like watching my mother go out and slay in a singing competition, which may sound a bit weird but whatever, we all have contestants we hold sentimental attachment to. She definitely deserved to be in the finale over Cher and I'm still pressed by them rigging her out on top 5 and no I don't care that it was 10 years ago either. You go Mary, for getting to live out your dream.  

 

Cher Lloyd - Shouldn't surprise any of you that Cher would also be on my "most overrated contestants" list or even that she would be #1. I think she is terrible and to this day, it still amazes me how many people buy into her act, seeing as she's nearing the top 10 in the XF rankdown. You all want a good contestant who can sing and rap? Watch Misha B in the next season, she's an example of a good urban artist, not Cher's white appropriation garbage. She and Cheryl truly were a match made in hell (i.e. perfect for one another). Definitely one of my most hated contestants of all time, when you get shown up by will.i.am of all people in your finale duet you know it's bad LOL.

 

One Direction - It's kind of funny, because rewatching some of 1D's earliest performances I kept saying to myself, "Wow, this is a lot better than I remember it being!" I remembered "Viva la Vida" being terrible but it was actually decent, I thought "My Life Would Suck Without You" was a mess and...it was lol, but still not as bad as I remembered. "Nobody Knows" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" were both really good, and I always liked "Kids in America" because it was one of the few times Niall took lead vocals. After those first few weeks, I kind of stopped caring, as Elton John and Beatles weeks were both godawful outside of Matt/Rebecca/Mary in the latter case, and their performances in the last few weeks didn't receive the same glow-up from me as their early ones did. "Torn" was their overall best performance and one of my top favorites of the season in general. Not bad, baby 1D. You still should've let Niall take point more often, since day 1 he was the best member which he basically has proven with his solo career.  At this point I'll rank them as one of the best XF boybands, still prefer Union J and probably Stereo Kicks on a personal level, but I'll admit even from the beginning this quartetaside for Louis were something special.

 

Rebecca Ferguson - Aka the one of Cheryl's three choices from judges houses that was actually talented, to the extent that of the three Rebecca was the only one who finished her performance there.  I always knew Rebecca was good, but I didn't appreciate her much at the time, largely due to being associated with Cheryl. Which I know isn't Rebecca's fault, but you know a mentor being a c*nt is hard to overlook at times, like with Gary/Marcus in season 8. Judging in hindsight? DAMN was this girl good! Her tone is absolute money and with the right song, allowed her vocals to absolute soar. "Wicked Game," "Why Don't You Do Right," "Candle in the Wind," "Feeling Good," all incredible performances.  Rebecca was a true class act and was the only pimped contestant of the season who actually deserved it.

 

Matt Cardle - I've always remembered Matt as that white dude who sang girly ballads that ended up winning the show. I was fine with him winning, but make no mistake about it: that's purely for Dannii. She deserved to win after being treated like trash the entire series in a bid to make Cheryl look as heavenly as possible for XFUS execs. A lot of good that did, huh?  As for Matt himself, for me he's the ultimate example of a caucasion male accompanied by string instrument winning in the height of the WGWG era. I don't think he was ever completely awful, but with the exception of "Nights in White Satin" (which was incredible) I honestly just didn't care. There have been better WGWG winners, which to be fair there's also been worse, so Matt ranks in the middle for me. Still, way to pull it in clutch for Team Minogue, he'll always get snaps for that.  

 

Rankings:

1. Mary

2. Rebecca

3. Aiden

4. Treyc

5. Matt

6. One Direction

7. Paije

8. Diva Fever

9. John

10. Wagner

11. Belle Amie

12. FYD

13. Nicolo

14. Katie

15. Cher

16. Storm

 

Top 10 Performances:

1. Mary Byrne - "It's a Man's Man's Man's World"

2. Matt Cardle - "Nights in White Satin"

3. Aiden Grimshaw - "Mad World"

4. Mary Byrne - "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me"

5. Rebecca Ferguson - "Wicked Game"

6. Mary Byrne - "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" (Reprise)

7. One Direction - "Torn"

8. Aiden Grimshaw - "Diamonds Are Forever"

9. Rebecca Ferguson - "Feeling Good"

10. Mary Byrne - "This Is My Life"

(Honorable Mention) 11. One Direction - "Kids in America"

 

Winner Rankings:

1. Alexandra

2. Joe

3. Leon

4. Shayne

5. Leona

6. Matt Cardle

7. Steve

[1234567890]

I missed The X Factor Series 7 review? Was it in one post? I love Mary as well. I love that you have her at #1.

[Weedy_Speedy]

1 minute ago, 1234567890 said:

I missed The X Factor Series 7 review? Was it in one post? I love Mary as well. I love that you have her at #1.

 

Nah you just saw it, I'm only doing one post per series now.  I'm glad you love Mary, although I'm not surprised as you have excellent taste.  

[1234567890]

The riggage to get Cher into the final and oust Mary will always be a crime because there wasn't supposed to be sing-off. It was only implemented to save Cher.

[1234567890]

Just now, The Ghost of Weedy Speedy said:

Nah you just saw it, I'm only doing one post per series now.  I'm glad you love Mary, although I'm not surprised as you have excellent taste.  

She was my original #1 until you know who came along. She was definitely my second favorite of the series after 1D.

[Weedy_Speedy]

2 minutes ago, 1234567890 said:

The riggage to get Cher into the final and oust Mary will always be a crime because there wasn't supposed to be sing-off. It was only implemented to save Cher.

 

Absolutely, I still remember arguing with people on here about it back when it happened. The defense force for Cher were extremely obnoxious but I think Mirielle and I handled them well. Mary deserved to be in the finale and it would've been the only time other than series 2 where each judge had an act in the final, too.

 

1 minute ago, 1234567890 said:

She was my original #1 until you know who came along. She was definitely my second favorite of the series after 1D.

 

Lol, well I hope you appreciate how 1D grew on me in regards to their X Factor journey. Factoring in international sensation 1D, they'd rank fourth of the series for me. Also I appreciate you bringing back Rebecca Ferguson in the X Factor rankdown, whomever kicked her out early can get bent tbh.

[1234567890]

5 minutes ago, The Ghost of Weedy Speedy said:

Mary deserved to be in the finale and it would've been the only time other than series 2 where each judge had an act in the final, too.

That's another reason I wanted her in the final. Each act would have been a much better outcome imo.