The X Factor: Tough times at judges' houses!

The X Factor: Tough times at judges' houses!
The X Factor: Tough times at judges' houses!

The 32 remaining acts in this year's X Factor have made their final bid for a place in the live shows with their performance at the judges' houses. Saturday's show saw the remaining girls join Kelly Rowland at her home in Miami, accompanied by guest judge Jennifer Hudson, while Tulisa's groups joined her in Mykonos, Greece, where Jessie J was on hand to help her choose her final four. Louis Walsh's over 25s performed for him and guest judge Sinitta in Barcelona, and the boys made their bid for the live shows in front of Gary Barlow and his special guest Robbie Williams, at his Los Angeles home. And as always with the judges' houses, tensions were running high. Tulisa saw the groups peform first - with The Keys, 2 Shoes, Boy v Girl, Estrelle, The Lovettes, the Risk, Nu Vibe and Rhythmix all vying for a place in the last 16. The N-Dubz singer clearly had a difficult time deciding who to choose from the eight acts - four of whom were formed at boot camp from solo rejects. At Kelly Rowland's house in Miami the eight girls - Janet Devlin, Amelia Lily, Jade Richards, Sophie Habibis, Holly Repton, Misha Bryan, Melanie McCabe and Sarah Watson - all had one last chance to impress the singer. And favourite Janet, performing Christina Aguilera's Beautiful, made a particularly good showing as did Fife hopeful Jade Richards - although Kelly was heard expressing concerns about other performers such as 19-year-old Misha. At Louis Walsh's house in Barcelona Goldie Cheung was seen performing - despite having since left the show - along with Johnny Robinson, Terry Winstanley, Samantha Brookes, Joseph Gilligan, Jonjo Kerr Carolynne Poole and Kitty Brucknell. The latter - who donned a striking blue maxi dress to perform Kelly Clarkson's Beautiful Disaster for Louis and Sinitta - amazed the pair by jumping into the swimming pool once she had finished singing. "I'm hot and I waited all day to get in the pool," the 26-year-old told Dermot O'Leary afterwards. Finally it was the turn of the boys to sing for Gary Barlow - with Frankie Cocozza, John Wilding, Max Vickers, James Michael, Joe Cox, Craig Colton, Marcus Collins and Luke Lucas all bidding for their place in the top 16. 16-year-old Luke found the going particularly tough, breaking down in tears in front of Gary and Robbie after forgetting the words to his song. "This is my life," the teenager said tearfully. "Everyone back home is so proud of me and I feel if I don't get through I've let everyone down." The final 16 who will perform in the live shows will be revealed on Sunday night.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.