Tonight is the end of this very tense and tedious semi final and in this grand final decider, either Johnny Ruffo, Reece Mastin, Andrew Wishart or Three Wishez will be sent packing just short of that sweet, sweet privilege of finals fame!
Luke Jacobz comes on stage to welcome us to the show and straight away asks who will go through to the grand final- Andrew, Johnny, Reece or Three Wishez! After a run through the massive guest list tonight, we re-meet our judges- Ronan Keating, Mel B, Guy Sebastian and Natalie Bassingthwaighte.
Luke runs through the amount of artists this season has featured before introducing the top four and Stevie Nicks with tonight’s opening song. A fairly good opener right there and a wonderful performance of songs by the magnificent Stevie Nicks. Reece and Johnny I believe were the stand outs there.
And trust X Factor to go heavy good on the fireworks. Stevie Nicks will be performing later into the show.
Luke reminds us of Simon Cowell’s ultimatum, cueing a recap of last night and a few comments from the contestants.
After all that, Luke reminds us that the judges won’t be deciding anything tonight before he turns to them and talks about the prospect of another of them losing an act. Ronan is nervous, threatening to leave if his group leaves.
Natalie really wants this for Andrew, but she calls them all crazy good before saying Andrew getting to the next stage would be huge.
Guy says it is possible both of his boys will get through before mocking Natalie’s crying from last night, saying they are all so good, in a bid ‘to get votes’.
Actless Mel thinks Reece and Johnny will be going through and with Natalie’s sobfest last night should ensure Three Wishez’ departure.
After the break, Luke reminds us that the final is but a week away before introducing our first guest for the night- the wonderful Florence + the Machine.
The stage set up is magical with those wonderful metal drapes. There’s something about Florence that is so captivating; her whole presence is warm.
Afterwards, Luke asks Florence what advice she can give them to calm their nerves, but she says she’s trying to calm her own nerves, so she doesn’t know what she can give. After that, it’s just your typical stock standard interview. An X Factor exclusive (although Florence doesn’t know if it is), they will be touring Australia!
After the break, it is time to the first part of tonight’s decider! Who will get a speedy entrance into the finale? I’d love to be put out of my misery in this situation. Out comes Ronan Keating and his group, Three Wishez; Guy Sebastian and his boy’s Reece Mastin and Johnny Ruffo and Natalie with her over 25 Andrew Wishart.
Here we go. Their job was to find an international superstar and it is time to find out who the first two finalists will be.
The first finalist for The X Factor 2011 is… (after announcing what they win if they win) Andrew Wishart!
Natalie is safe and will be one of the representative finalist mentors. Guy will definitely have an act in the bottom two. Natalie tells anyone who thinks he got through based on her tears, ‘screw you’.
Now, the second finalist for The X Factor 2011 is…Johnny Ruffo!
This means Reece Mastin and Three Wishez will be in the bottom two vote getting positions tonight.
Luke gathers the two bottom contestants together to interview them. Three Wishez have no words, nothing to say. Ronan sees the possibility of losing out tonight.
Reece says it isn’t a fun place to be but knows the competition. Guy says it is definitely not the time for Reece to go. Despite his bias, he thinks Reece did the best job of the night but we are at ‘that end’ of the competition.
Apparently, Luke is about to announce the third act. Surely not this early? The third finalist for The X Factor 2011 will be…will be revealed later in the show as I thought haha.
After the break, it is time for the second guest performance of the night, by budding Briton Ed Sheeran.
Captivating as always, but somewhat plagued by a few voice drop outs (probably pulling his mouth away from the mic too far). It was very intimate nonetheless, as if you were at the local pub. The drapes of light are a brilliant touch on stage.
After the break, it is time for Stevie Wonder as the final guest performer of the night. As the announcer says, she is incomparable. She looks a little drunk actually, haha. Still, her performance is very notable and the stage, as always on this show, is spectacular in design. Is it just me, or was her voice a little off through some of that?
Luke interviews Stevie who tells us that her advice is that they can have it all, and remember that their situations can work in their favour (like Reece and Andrew’s age).
With that, we have a look at the X Factor contestants at a Sydney McDonalds for McHappy Day (the 20th anniversary of which) on Saturday.
They don’t seem to be big pros in the kitchen but no worries, neither would I, haha! Apparently, $3m has been raised on the day.
After the break, they can’t drag this out no more with Reece and Three Wishez called back out on stage with their mentors. Who will make it through?
Luke tells us that this is not a bottom two situation as the person leaving got the least votes but the other three were in no particular order.
And with that, the final act to become a finalist for The X Factor 2011 is…Reece Mastin.
And with that, Three Wishez have been sent home as Ronan’s final act. Ronan will not be achieving back to back wins.
We see a look at their journey before the episode ends.
Well the good news is that the show ended pretty much on time- much better than last night. Despite the calibre of tonight’s guest performers, the show just looked like it was trying to fill time. The show was scheduled to run five to ten minutes longer than an hour. I ask why that is when they should be trying to make the show less than an hour in length. I know ratings is an issue, but I can’t see many fans being too impressed to find out they have to watch an entire hour of at the end of the day, non-contributing guest acts just to find out who will be competing against who.
The production was great- less banter amongst the judges was also a good relief and there was plenty of well thought out content in between.
Courtney’s Verdict: 9.0/10
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