It’s official: We have one more hour of auditions to go before we get to the interesting part of X Factor UK! Seriously though, the audition episodes haven’t been bad. In fact, some of them were great. But they are still my least favorite part of every season. And I’m excited to see the Six Chair Challenge. Starting at 3 PM EST, I’ll be live-blogging the good, the bad, and the ugly, with judges Simon Cowell, Louis Tomlinson, Ayda Williams, and Robbie Williams, and host Dermot O’Leary. Join me in the comments then!
The X Factor UK 2018 Spoilers: Top 24 Contestants (Six Chair Challenge) VIDEOS
The judges talk about which categories they want, and Simon says the overs are interesting “for the first time” this year. I loved Ben Haenow, Sam Bailey, and Olly Murs, so I’m disappointed Simon would say that.
Thomas Pound is the first act up tonight. He’s 20 years old and he was a drag queen. Let’s see if he’s anywhere close to Ada Vox. When he’s a drag queen, his name is Lady Frieda Wilde. Robbie asks how many times he’s performed as himself, and the answer is three times. He sings Tina Turner’s Simply the Best and I love his tone. He’s great. We only get about 20 seconds of that song though. Simon says he’s good but he wants Thomas to come back in drag.
Next is Chloe McAllister. She’s 18 years old from a tiny town that, thanks to her accent, I can’t say the name of. She’d be happy with three yeses. She sings Say You Love Me because she loves emotional music, and Ayda says Robbie dumped her three times. Ok then. Chloe plays piano and she’s great. A lot like Grace Davies from last year in that she doesn’t have the strongest voice but she’s clearly an artist. Robbie is crying, but Simon says he was bored. Louis disagrees and was with her the whole way. Ayda thought it was amazing. Robbie talks about his daughter and how Chloe reminded him of her, she’s the person he wants his daughter to be like. Simon says he hates himself. Four yeses, clearly Simon felt he couldn’t say no after Robbie’s comments. Simon knows people will hate him for that.
Blaise Duncan is up next, and he’s 16. His biggest idol is his granddad Rudolph. He sings Bailando by Enrique Iglesias. He’s ok but he’s nothing special. Robbie and Ayda like him. Louis says he’s different from everyone else they’ve see. Simon would love to work with him. Four yeses. Simon says he should be in a group.
Jon Guelas is up next and Ayda loves his dimples. He’s from Cambridge and he’s 18 years old. Robbie says he shouldn’t study marketing. He sings the infuriatingly bad song 7 Years and he’s also ok but nothing special. I don’t get why there was a piano on stage – clearly he did two songs. Robbie says he needs to project his personality more. Louis likes his tone but says he needs direction and development. Four yeses and more comments about how he should be in a group.
Elliot Horne is up next. Girls in the audience are screeching for him and Ayda says he’s three seconds from having knickers thrown at his head. Everything for him is music, it’s all he wants to do. He sings Lost in Japan by Shawn Mendes. And like the previous two, he’s ok but nothing special. Louis says he needs development. Ayda says he’s got charisma. Four yeses. Clearly these three will be in a BOYBAND.
ATTY are up next and they are a family gospel group. Two members are married, and the other two are also family. They pronounce their name Ay-tee-tie, FYI. They want to touch some hearts with their music. Ugh. Don’t like gospel. They sing Mercy by Shawn Mendes and they have mediocre-to-good voices individually and they don’t blend at all. I don’t get this one at all. All the judges stood for that? Wow. We officially have a low bar. Louis says it was a moving audition. Robbie calls them powerful. Ayda was lost in the magic of what they all do together. Simon preferred that version to the original. Four yeses. I didn’t like that at all.
Thomas Pound is back and he’s in drag now! Very cool. As Lady Frieda Wilde, he sings Proud Mary. He immediately does the splits. I liked the first performance a lot better as he had more control over his voice when he wasn’t moving around. This was a bit of a mess honestly. But still, Simon and Robbie stand. Robbie says Simon seldom gets it wrong, he loved it. Louis says it’s worth showing how good a singer he is as well. Simon says he’s got balls, it could have gone horribly wrong, both Thomas and Lady Frieda get a yes. Four yeses.
Simon thanks the judges and the audience. Auditions are officially over. The next stage is the six chair challenge, no bootcamp this year. Judges will review all of the auditions and only half of the acts will make it to the six chair challenge.
The judges watch the acts back on TV and see how they sounded on the air. They debate over the acts. The girls first, the boys second, the groups third, and the overs last. Scarlett gets some mixed feedback from Robbie. Misunderstood and Janice Robinson got quite a bit of screen time – that’s good, because I liked Misunderstood a lot.
After the break, we see teary eyed acts as the decisions are made. Two rooms. Room A is a no. Several acts from tonight got cut. Room B is a yes. Janice is being featured really heavily.
Time to find out which category gets each mentor. Louis wants the boys. Ayda wants the overs. Simon wants the girls.
Simon got the girls so he’s happy. Scarlett and Shan are happy. Ayda got the overs, so she’s happy too! I love Panda. Louis thinks the groups would be the most difficult. Lucky for him, Robbie has the groups so he’s excited! And Louis has the boys. All the judges got the categories they wanted this year. So that’s good I guess.
Next weekend, the Six Chair Challenge begins!
