30th November and 1st December 2011
After last week’s double elimination, and with the end now firmly in sight, the acts had to step it up a gear, especially on a Michael Jackson themed week, which saw his mother and his three children in attendance to watch the show. Another double elimination heaped up the pressure on this week’s performances also.
Josh opened up the night with an edgy take on MJ’s Dirty Diana which worked well, but was perhaps a little safe. It wasn’t his most outstanding performance, but it was as reliable as ever from a man we expect nothing less from these days. He is destined to last the distance here it seems. As her last act sticking around, Nicole sure hopes he goes all the way.
Astro whipped out a good choice in Black or White, before Drew absolutely murdered a slowed down version of the usually stunning Billie Jean. It’s a great song, and in the UK version, Amelia Lily did a solid version of it in week one before her untimely and undeserved elimination, but this was depressing. Opting to strip it back as far as can be, and place Drew on a chair alone did not work whatsoever. Simon later admitted as much.
Rachel did an alright version of Can You Feel It? which didn’t excite as much as her usual performances, and Marcus went for a slick performance of P.Y.T (Pretty Young Thing) which was exceptional, with a full scale production really doing the track justice with his smooth vocals.
Chris Rene kept us his high standards of late with I’ll Be There, really working his distinctive voice to great effect with the melodies. Melanie then closed off with an epic Earth Song – surely that must have been the first time anyone had dared to tackle such a track on a talent show? It worked though, and was a fitting end to the night’s proceedings.
All hell broke loose the following night.
The remaining acts took to the stage for a group performance of Man In The Mirror (the second outing for this song in the series) and Tinie Tempah continued his quest for American domination with an electric Pass Out.
The first act to leave the competition, receiving the lowest number of votes was Astro, the support of his Astro-nauts not enough this week to keep him in the show. He handled it much better this time out though, and he still has all the credentials to be a really big star. The kid has so much talent, and he deserves a lot of credit for the original lyrics he came up with every week. L.A. Reid pushed him hard, and he is all the better for it. He really came on leaps and bounds.
Then came the biggest shock of the season thus far.
Drew found herself in the bottom two for the first time, alongside a Marcus Canty who thought that his time was surely up. His expression said it all, and even as he sang Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye) by Gladys Knight and the Pips, you could see the look of defeat in his eyes. He clearly thought his time was up.
As Drew wowed all before her once again with a stunning performance of Roxette’s Listen To Your Heart, the departure of Canty looked more and more likely.
But it was not to be. Canty’s emotional performance clearly won over Paula and Nicole, and along with L.A. Reid’s vote as his mentor, left them to gang up on Cowell’s act, and eliminate one of the favourites to win the series much sooner than expected.
Cowell was left to rue to the decision to get Drew to sing Billie Jean on a chair, and was furious at her being unceremoniously booted out by his peers. Canty lived to fight another day, but as Drew broke down in tears, and Cowell refused to talk to Steve Jones post-result, his anger and frustration was evident.
Tensions ran high throughout, and with one of the acts who had always been destined to finish near the top out of the show, it was clear that nobody was safe. Next week is going to be very interesting indeed.
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