Begins 30th August, time currently unknown.

The judges already know their categories:



That six chair challenge thing started yesterday.

This will be the first year that the X Factor UK will air here in the USA. Our own version was axed last year.

Start time has been confirmed.

Saturday & Sunday August 30th & 31st at 8pm.

Well, no one completely blew me away in the first episode, only a couple were decent.

I only caught last 20 mins and I was bored.

Well, I saw last weeks first one and already it's turned into the Simon and Cheryl show.

Just exactly as I feared it would be...watch out for Series 7 manipulation standards rising in the next several weeks and months.

Very predictable choices from Louis to put into the live shows

Boys looking pretty straightforward as well, so Saturday's show should be a formality

The final 12 are now known...

Next week we will find out who the wildcards are, which I expect will be revealed before then.

I assume we are going to be doing predictions again this year once the wildcards are sorted out?

Very surprised at Mrs Versini's choices tonight, really thought Emily was going to be going through

Steph was a surprise as she wasn't all that good

I promised myself I wouldn't be interested at all in X Factor this year, especially now Mr and Mrs Smug are back... but after seeing bits of it and finding out who the top 12 are, sod it, I'm gonna have another go at predicting this year.

So this is how I think it'll go, including my predictions for the wildcards (yep, going hardcore this year)

THE BOYS
Andrea - He's a good singer and a likable dude, but probably isn't marketable enough for Simon and he's not from Britain so may struggle with the votes... I think he'll be the shock eviction of the series. 10th
Paul - Very good singer, also people will probably give him sympathy votes for not getting through last year, so I reckon he'll do well. 4th
Jake - Isn't he the interviewer guy from Chart Show TV? Wonder why he gave that up for this... never mind. Don't remember seeing much of him so I think he'll be out early-ish. 12th
Wildcard: Jack - Weren't really paying attention to the boys category this year so I've just took a wild guess at this guy lol. 15th

THE GIRLS
Lauren - Best of the girls by far and I think that'll bode well for her. 2nd
Steph - She's had her chance to make it already, on Britain's Got Talent... and it didn't go all that well IIRC. I don't think the public will want to vote for her again on that basis. 11th
Chloe - It's Waissel all over again Well, to be fair, I do quite like her style of singing, but she'll end up in the bottom 2 all the time because of the media stories and whatever, and will survive each time, then get disposed of when "the chosen one" is at risk of going home. 7th
Wildcard: Lola - Her or the Scottish girl I reckon, but I think it'll be this girl as the Scottish one's a bit young to go through. will last until about halfway, as people might get a bit annoyed by her crying all the time 9th

THE OVERS
Fleur - Best of the overs for me, I think she has a very good voice and could go quite far. 5th
Ben - Again, very good voice, will get support from female voters I would imagine. 6th
Jay - Eh, not too keen on this guy's singing personally, but everyone else seems to like him... and the fact that he was in the navy will guarantee a lot of votes probably... so on that logic I predict he will win. 1st
Wildcard: Stevie - From what I heard, Louis gets to pick Simon's wildcard... so this guy will probably go through, and be this year's "entertainment", and hang around until before the quarter finals or something. 8th

THE GROUPS
Only The Young - I quite like this group and hope they do well, but Louis probably won't know what to do with them so they won't last very long unfortunately... 14th
Blonde Electric - Oh god, Jedward are back I don't think these two will be very likable though, and if Stevie becomes the Overs wildcard, he'll steal their "fun factor" votes, leaving them with nothing. 16th
Manufactured Boyband - Got quite a few members haven't they? No matter how good or bad they are, they're a boy group that the show put together, so I expect they'll reach the finals at least... 3rd
Wildcard: Manufactured Girlband - And I expect this group will go through, otherwise the show will have wasted their time putting them together... don't think they'll get far though, judging by Louis' track record with girl groups. 13th

So there we are. Pleeeeeeease let me get at least one prediction right this year...

Song choices for tonight, wildcards not included

Here we go...

Not spectacular so far, some decent performances but nothing brilliant.

My Rankings:-

1. Lauren Platt
2. Ben Haenow
3. Andrea Faustini
4. Only The Young
5. Stevi Ritchie
6. Paul Akister
7. Lola Saunders
8. Stephanie Nala
9. Jake Quickenden
10. Stereo Kicks
11. Jack Walton
12. Fleur East
13. Jay James
14. Blonde Electra
15. Chloe Jasmine
16. Overload Generation

So Overload went out first then, against Steph in the sing-off. What a waste of a wildcard they were.

Poor Louis, two acts of his go in the first live show. Doesn't look like he's got a chance of winning this year.

Oh two acts went? I didn't know that, I only caught the sing-off at the end... who was the other act that went?

Blond Electra were straight out

Overload Generation went in the sing off after it went to Deadlock

It was pointless bringing Overload Generation back - didn't deserve to be there anyway as they didn't even get to Judges Houses. Onwards and upwards with two of my three least favourites gone already!

Wow, absolutely no posts on last weekend's episode... you can tell people have had enough of this show now. And Cowell thought him and Cheryl coming back was all they would need to get everyone interested again...

Anyway, Steph and Chloe went out apparently. Don't know who's going to win yet...