So, we are almost at the quarter violence of the X Factor and my God has this been a series full of talent, controversy and entertainment!
Gazza stormed out, as one of his 'overs' (Carolynne) went out to Rylan who let's say, doesn't have the strongest voice. We've lost three overs, two groups, three girls... but we still have all of the boys. The judges are pulling out all tactics and even getting personal in particular the 'fag ash breath comment' from Gary to Tulisa, and Tulisa's red wine guzzling comment back to Gary. Oooh and Nicole calling Gary boring for not loving Rylan. I could go on...
The diversity of the talent this year has been impressive, with most genres covered, bar reggae (maybe 2013?!) Favourites until this week's shock exit were James Arthur, Ella Henderson and Jahmene Douglas, with boyband Union Direction - sorry, Union J - in hot pursuit. Ella was voted off last Sunday which was a shock to the nation. Rylan (who definitely wins on entertainment factor) is still in the running, but how long can he hang on in there and how long can Chris Maloney last? He keeps going through each week and, according to the press, he has been winning on phone votes each week. The obvious question is how? Isn't he SO 10 years ago? Well, he's got the support of the blue rinse brigade, and they are the ones picking up the phone - not the boy band with half a million twitter followers.
Unfortunately, I have no backstage gossip to report on Maloney being a diva during my time in the studios. I haven't noticed him throwing his food on the floor or having hissy fits, or constantly on the X Factor hotline to vote himself through to the next week - all of which he's been accused of in the press, and all of which he's denied. But Louis still thinks he's a diva... so surely it must be true?!
We've had the battle of the boybands and District 3 were sent home leaving Union J - to respond to all of the screaming girls who camp outside the studios each week. Come rain or shine, they are there and they want a glimpse (no matter how far away) of their fave X Factor finalists. Its CRAZY and overwhelming to witness in the flesh, and they're not even there for me! Jahmene even told me that he's had phone calls in the middle of the night with fans demanding that he follow them on twitter. It's madness. The X Factor fans are pretty over the top when it comes to wanting to see the finalists for photos, signatures, or just to scream. We can hear the superfans screaming all day long. Do these people not have anything else to do?!
Well here's me babbling on, but who am I? Well, I interview the finalists each week on behalf of sponsors TalkTalk which is proving to be very funny, with lots of silly questions sent in via Twitter from the fans. My job involves a lot of waiting for the busy finalists to spare a few minutes to chat each week - their schedules are insane. Each week they are groomed, pampered, spray-tanned, their nails, hair, even eyebrows have to be 'done'. Is this the life of a musician/celebrity?! Yikes. They tend to rock up to our little lounge absolutely knackered and in need of a brew. They get to have a moment of chillout time - on condition that they also have a chat with me, asking questions from their Twitter fans, which tend to range from, the taxing "where would you like to go on holiday?" to some rather more silly and entertaining questions like, "if you were a chair which celebrity would you let sit on you?!" to which Kye replied "I would let Rita Ora sit on me." Nice. Its fun and light-hearted but it certainly aint BBC Newsnight and you either love it, or hate it.
We've uncovered a few exclusives - that Ella and James were writing together, Union J want to be successful "like the Sugababes" and Simone from MK1 claimed that his ideal houseparty would be a pyjama party with Lana del Rey and they could play video games... Party for two more like...! We've also discovered that Rylan is pretty good at impressions (Gary Barlow and Katie Price especially) and I feel he may well be presenting his own show after this is all over. Other gossip - Ella & George: was it on or off? Well, he told X Factor online that he "would perhaps consider dating her after the show, who knows?" She's now out but here is one of her Fila interviews as a finalist (blog post continues below...):
James Arthur surely can't be in the final two again this week... so I'm worried for Rylan and Jahmene but what do I know? Rumour has it, the TalkTalk room is cursed. If you chat to us on a Friday, you're not safe for the Sunday... (this week we chatted to Rylan, Ella & Jahmene) and Ella got voted out... Yep thats right, in my spare time I am a witch. Tune in to my interviews on Saturday at X Factor online or to be better versed in the latest news - watch the shows. You know you want to.