11:21am Monday 7th December 2009
Strictly v X factor
WAS the polar bear his downfall? Perhaps his cocky manner alienated the public. Or even those unkind words about diva Whitney Houston he’s supposed to have said.
Whatever the reason, Danyl Johnson failed to clinch a place in next weekend’s final of The X Factor, clearing the way for a North-East victory.
Geordie Joe – Joe McEderry to give him his proper name – must be favourite to take the £1m recording contract, a surehit Christmas number one, fame and fortune and all that sort of thing. Having fellow Geordie Cheryl Cole as his mentor will make victory even sweeter.
“How do you choose?” asked presenter Dermot O’Leary about the final four had performed in The X Factor semi-final on Saturday. The answer was simple – pick up the phone and vote, helping your favourite to victory and boosting the ITV coffers in the bargain.
After singing (murdering in a couple of cases) Michael Jackson songs, the final four – Geordie Joe, Olly, Stacey from Dagenham and Danyl – performed a song chosen by their mentor to show off their talent.
The biggest controversy wasn’t the singing, but the polar bear. Judge Louis Walsh was confused by the appearance of such a creature on screen behind Danyl during his performance. Anything to get votes, he suggested. Dannii Minogue was similarly confused, although her lack of expression always make it difficult to read her mind Mentor Simon Cowell hailed Danyl as the best singer in the competition, but secretly knew he was fighting a losing battle.
His protege’s manner – some say confident, I say arrogant – doesn’t endear him to viewers. He lacks the likeability factor.
Cowell is secretly resigned to Geordie Joe winning, noting that he’s “getting better and better and better”. And nobody has a bad word to say about him.
He has a good voice and he’s a nice chap.
A winner, I reckon. Tearful Olly (compose yourself and stop blubbing, man, it’s only a competition) and Stacey (nice girl but those post-song interviews are embarrassing) hardly constitute tough competition.
Over on Strictly Come Dancing, the judges’ table is even more crowded – with former -ballerina Darcy Bussell joining the panel for reasons presumably best known to the producers.
Having sacked Arlene Phillips, they replaced her with former winner Alesha Dixon who’s not a dancer and now have added Bussell, who also owns up to not being a ballroom dancer. So much for expert opinion.
Dear Darcy contributed little on her debut. Anyone sitting at home watching and screaming comments at the screen would have provided a more valuable, entertaining critique.
With just four couples left, the contest is even more unpredictable once you add the public vote to the judges’ marks. The judges showed themselves out of step with public opinion, putting Hollyoaks actor Ricky Whittle at the top of the leader board.
Once the public vote was in, he found himself in the dance-off with Leila Rouass and professional partner Anton Du Beke.
This week there was no way Footballers’ Wives and Primeval actress Leila wasn’t going to be sent home. As judge Craig Revel-Horwod noted: “poor posture, don’t finish lines, ugly moments, stumble, little on the clumsy side”.
The real crowdpleasers with the audience in the studio and at home were BBC Breakfast sports reporter Chris Hollins and sexy partner Ola Jordan.
HEAD judge Len reported he was “seeing signs of a dancer emerging”
in Chris but excitable Bruno worried about the look on Chris’s face that made him appear constipated. Still, he can smile that he and Ola are the only couple left who haven’t been in a danceoff.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see them waltz off with the Strictly trophy. Never mind dancing skill, they have the likeability factory (take note, Danyl).
The other remaining couple, Ali Bastian and Brian Fortuna, danced a sexy samba, although it seemed a shame to prise them apart at the end as they were obviously enjoying themselves. There was “a sexy party going on with you two,”
someone noted of a couple rumoured to be together both on and off the dance floor.
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