We’re into the second week of a whole new round of ‘X Factor’ auditions, and Saturday night’s show brought us a number of memorable moments, including Louis Walsh seductively biting his lip during a performance of ‘No Diggity’, the unforgettable - though tragically short-lived - reign of Queen Christina and Maria, who just wanted to tell us all about the ‘Schtreet Life’ (and bagged herself four ‘yesches’ from the judges in the process).
Let’s remind ourselves of five of the best acts on the night…
Ten Senah
Letting slip to the cameras that she thought she was “still a bit drunk” from the night before and confessed she’d not been to bed yet, Ten immediately made an impression on us before she’d even sung a note when she kicked off the audition process on Saturday night. Obviously we’re not saying that we endorse that kind of behaviour… but at the same time we’re not exactly saying we wouldn’t fancy a night out with Ten, either.
Her performance of an original song ‘15 Minutes’ wasn’t exactly difficult to listen to either, and while Mel B admitted she “didn’t mind” Ten’s love of partying, Cheryl - who might as well add ‘Spoil-Sport’ to her ever-expanding new surname - said she was going to have to buck up her ideas at the next stage of the competition.
Still, we can’t wait to hear what Ten brings to the arena stages later in the series.
Charlie Martinez
Charlie, who is in the US Air Force, wasn’t exactly short on female admirers when he showed up to his auditions, with even Mel looking a little hot under the collar. We’re not saying that we’ve got a new crush or anything, but we have already got the video of his audition saved in our bookmarked for when we’re feeling like we need to look at something pretty.
After becoming emotional when his rendition of Enriqe Iglesias’ ‘Hero’ earned him a place in the next stage of the competition, Mel practically leapt across the room to give him a hug. We can’t promise that wouldn’t have been our reaction either. Wow.
Monica Michael
Usually when the sad music starts and we can sense a sob story brewing, we’ll maybe fix ourselves a cup of tea and wait for the likes of Queen Christina to come back on. Monica, however, was something else entirely. She might have introduced herself with a sad story about her younger days, but Monica delivered one of the best auditions we’ve ever seen on ‘The X Factor’.
We’re predicting amazing things later in the competition from Maria, and admittedly we loved the emotional tone to her voice, we think she’d be just as great delivering something a bit more fun and upbeat. Definitely one to watch - we hope!
Paul Akister
Our guilty pleasure crush from last year’s series has come back for another crack at ‘The X Factor’, and he is looking even more fiiiiiine than we remembered. In the last series, Paul was axed from judges houses at the last hurdle, with Nicholas McDonald and Sam ‘Fittie McGee’ Callahan going through in his place.
We weren’t loving Louis’ decision at the time, and it seems that now Simon isn’t pleased with him either, practically forcing him to apologise for not putting Paul through after his performance of John Lennon’s ‘Jealous Guy’. With any luck, this could be his year.
Lola Saunders
So far three ‘X Factor’ winners have hailed from the North East, so when the auditions arrived in Cheryl Fernandez-Versini’s home town of Newcastle, the stakes were particularly high. A fish-monger by day, Lola closed the show with her performance of Adele’s ‘Make You Feel My Love’, which would usually be the first song we’d blacklist from the audition process given the choice.
That said, to quote the first line of ‘X Factor Clichés For Dummies’, Lola really did make the song her own, and we felt a bit emotional watching her grandparents getting teary outside the auditions room. Of course, having said that, they were probably just getting emotional thinking about the free haddock they’d be missing out on when the live shows start.
‘The X Factor’ continues on Sunday, 7 August at 8pm on ITV.