The Return of the X-Factor according to me - The Round Up!

X-Citing! X-travagant! X- traordinary! X-Rated! X-Centric! X definitely marked the spot on Saturday night! The return of the X-Factor never failed to impress and it undoubtedly proved to be bigger and better than ever! From mooning to crooning, there was nothing short of entertainment during the first instalment of the search for a superstar. With a newly revamped panel consisting of Kelly Rowland , Tulisa and Gary Barlow as well as the return of long-standing judge and music manager Louis Walsh, this marked a new generation for the long-running music show. This new line-up 
failed to disappoint and proved that the X-Factor can be successful minus Simon Cowell on the panel, even though he is sorely missed by many fans out there. Sorry, what? Simon who? Cheryl who? Dannii who? In my honest opinion, I don't think there could have been a better line up with Kelly being known as one third of the biggest and best girlband the world has ever seen, Gary Barlow who looked rather yummy, being part of Take That (need I say more?) and Tulisa, one third of one of the UK's biggest urban acts N-Dubz, who are highly regarded for being very hands-on with the production of their music and their image. And above all, there was the return of the wonderful Dermot O' Leary, who was on hand backstage reassuring the contestants!


As for the contestants, we pretty much saw everything the other night ... and I mean, literally, everything!!!!


The Good ...

First of all, 18-year-old Frankie gave us an eyeful by showing a list of 7 girls' names tattooed on his derrière, which is the craziest thing ever, and subsequently proved to be a mini-Robbie with his rendition of the Zutons' Valerie with his cockiness edginess and too-cool-for-school attitude, which went down a storm with the four judges (and received a lukewarm reaction from myself) who put him through to the next round.

Then we saw 16-year-old Janet, who proved to be a favourite after just one week, gave a breathtakingly brilliant rendition of Elton John's Your Song which moved the judges and audience. She seems like the next Diana Vickers or Ellie Goulding with her laid-back style. She could win just on cuteness alone - she's like a little doll you just want to pick up. You can't not love this girl and her amazing singing voice.

The Very Bad...

It wasn't long before things began to heat up when 19-year-old George, who had previously auditioned as one third of ill-fated group Triple Trouble back in 2009 and shouted at the judges and audiences and furiously chucked the microphone on the floor, initially planned to redeem himself and prove that he had matured and had become a changed man after his obnoxious behaviour towards the judges during his previous stint, but it turned out he failed miserably. With his abysmal rendition of Pitbull and Ne-yo's monster summer hit Give Me Everything, where he sounded like a corpse and started strutting around the stage like a demented, singing zombie, he then gave a rather intimidating stance behind Tulisa, showing a lot of angst and aggression. The audience also showed their disdain for him and made it very clear that they disliked him and that he created a bad atmosphere and a negative energy. He proved himself to be anything but a popstar, embodying all of the negative qualities you would not  want to find in a popstar. He then started to get personal by going against everything he previously said about being deceitful and wanting to cause Quadruple Trouble 'maturing' and gave Tulisa a mouthful of verbal abuse by branding her a "scumbag from the block [ ... ] trying to replace Cheryl" to which Tulisa proved she could stand her own ground by not taking any sh*t and then the obnoxious teen gifted the judges with obscene finger gestures whilst being escorted off stage by security. You know things are going badly when the chivalrous-as-ever Dermot is trying to calm him down and tell him off as George showed no signs of stopping his vicious outburst backstage. His behaviour was disgusting and I strongly believe that if Cheryl, Dannii and Simon ever witnessed that then they would be extremely disgusted too. It became extremely evident that George hadn't changed at all and consequently made himself look even more pathetic as his second stint on the X Factor proved to be a million times as disastrous and an even bigger car crash than before.

The Weird Hmmm ...

Goldie - the female equivalent of Wagner? Errrrm ... NO. Goldie's audition was one that I just found extremely confusing rather than entertaining. She suffered what looked like extreme stage fright when she chundered in a plastic bag then went on stage and performed a song nobody had seemed to had heard of and no one could understand a single word she was singing. While she was at it, she also gave Gary a lapdance (let's hope his wife wasn't watching!) and started gyrating scantily-clad across the stage like a madwoman. She (seemingly) impressed all the judges except for Gary. It seems not even a saucy lapdance was enough to convince him. This was where we saw glimpses of Simon Cowell coming out. But I can guarantee that she won't get very far in the competition or bring the same weirdness "magic" Wagner brought to last year's series. It will only be a matter of time before Goldie will start to get rusty and lose her lack of shine. On the plus side, she had an amazing body and was definitely in good shape for her age!

And the 'On the Fence' ...

A self-absorbed, Leann Rimes look-a-like drama queen in the form of Kitty also auditioned, belting out a rather impressive rendition of Lady Gaga's The Edge Of Glory which blew both the audience and judges away. Just as well, as I was hoping she would be good after her little dramatic monologue, but then she came across as rather pretentious in my opinion where she sat on the edge of the stage and just wouldn't shut up. On one hand, I reckon she has a good voice, but on the other I'm not sure if she'll go very far in the competition. For me, this is just a big, fat, black, bold question mark. We'll just have to see what happens, methinks ....

So far so good! Good to have you back, X Factor! Cannot wait for the US version, let's see how they both compare ...

So what did you think of the X Factor? Have a favourite yet? Thoughts????