World of Big Brother Blog

One thing that always bugs me is people doing reviews of the year before the year has even finished. So it’s a bit hypocritical of me to be doing a Big Brother review of the year when there’s still over a day to go until the year ends. But hey, I had some spare time so you’ve got it early and if anything majorly big happens in the Big Brother world over the next 36 hours or so then I’ll do a supplemental post.

A huge milestone was reached this year. On the 16th September 2009, Big Brother celebrated it’s 10th birthday as it was on 16th September 1999 that the first ever Housemates entered the Big Brother Netherlands house. You may have missed this milestone though as to my knowledge it was not celebrated at all by Endemol. It would have been nice to have some kind of 10th birthday edition. Maybe Endemol forgot about it.

So 10 years after the first ever Big Brother, has the bubble finally burst? It would appear so as we have seen a lot less BB editions this year.

There were a total of 19 Big Brother editions launching in 2009. That is made up of 13 main editions, 5 celebrity editions and 1 All Star edition.

19 total editions is the lowest number since 2004 when there were 18 editions and is 6 fewer than last year.

13 main editions is also the lowest since 2004, when there were also 13 editions, we have to go back to 2000 for a year with fewer main editions, when there were 11. Last year there were 19 main editions.

The most worrying statistic for the future of Big Brother is that no new countries launched a Big Brother edition (ie there were no Big Brother 1′s). That is something that has never happened since BB launched in 1999.

So why after a decade of stable numbers of Big Brothers have we suddenly had a sharp decline in 2009? Well I think it is a combination of a number of reasons.

1) The state of the world economy. Big Brother is an expensive show to make. Broadcasters need to re-coup the money through advertising and in most cases phone voting. Unfortunately, companies are not paying as much money to advertise as they used to and the public don’t have as much money in their pockets to use on voting for people on a reality show.

2) Every TV show has a shelf life and after 10 years Big Brother has had a good run. Pretty much all the countries that wanted to do Big Brother have tried it now and the countries that haven’t seem to prefer making shows like Idol or Got Talent.

If we look in more detail at which countries axed Big Brother in 2009 it might give us more idea as to whether Big Brother is just suffering a mid-life crisis or a terminal illness.

In 2008 there were 19 main editions and in 2009 there were 13. 

There are a few anomalies to deal with first. Germany – they launched 2 editions in 2008 and 0 editions in 2009 because the edition that normally launches in January (2009) actually launched December (2008). They have changed back to January now, so although they were airing an edition for 5 months of 2009 it didn’t actually launch.

The next anomaly is the USA. In 2008 they had 2 editions due to a writers strike which created spare airtime for the broadcaster. This year they were back to the usual 1 editions.

The final anomaly is Canada. In Canada their 2009 edition was an All Star edition which replaced their usual main edition.

The other countries that aired editions in 2008 but didn’t in 2009 were -
Slovenia – They axed Big Brother due to the economic crisis. This is understandable as they are the smallest country ever to do Big Brother.
Australia – They axed Big Brother due to poor ratings.
Poland – Presumably due to poor ratings. Although I suspect the poor ratings for BB5 was due to overkill, having 3 almost back to back editions.
Croatia – The 2008 edition got poor ratings, even so the host said during the final that it would be back in 2009. This never happened and the show appears to have been axed for good in Croatia.
Bulgaria – The 2009 edition was axed, however, they are trying again in 2010 with a new concept called Big Brother Family which will air instead of their usual VIP edition.

On the positive side, we have main editions in 2009 some countries that didn’t air BB in 2008. In Serbia Big Brother now airs once every 2 years and so BB returned in 2009 having been absent since 2007. The next main edition will be in 2011 (they run a version of Star Academy during the even numbered years). Philippines returned in 2009 having been absent in 2008. Finally Italy launched 2 editions in 2009 – one in January and a second edition in October.

Briefly, on the Celebrity BB side, Poland and Croatia axed their Celebrity versions. But it returned to Bulgaria after being off air in 2008 and Israel launched their first ever Celebrity edition.

In 2010, we already have 9 definite main editions officially announced – Germany, Brazil, Albania, Canada, Argentina, UK, France, USA and Finland. That may be 10 if the Big Brother Family Bulgaria is classed as a main edition. I am sceptical about Argentina as their edition was supposed to launch in January 2009 but was delayed so many times it never got launched this year and has been pushed into 2010.

There were 27 voluntary Housemate exits in 2009, which is 4 higher than 2008, but 10 less than 2007. And there were a lot less ejections in 2009, only 12 which is much lower than the 20 that took place in 2008.

In March 2009, Jade Goody died, having lost her battle with cancer. As far as I know she was the only person who had been a Big Brother Housemate to die in 2009. Jade still holds the record for the most editions a person has been a Housemate on. She was a Housemate in 4 editions – Big Brother 3 UK, Big Brother Panto UK, Celebrity Big Brother 5 UK and Celebrity Bigg Boss 2 India.

There was only one Housemate swap that took place in 2009, that was between Katlin of Big Brother Finland and Cathy of Big Brother Philippines. 2010 will start off with the worlds first ever double swap between Gran Hermano 11 Spain and Grande Fratello 10 Italy.

A long-standing record was almost broken this year as Nagore in Spain’s current edition was evicted by 95.0% of the vote. This equally the record set by Aline in Big Brother’s 5th edition. Will this record ever be beaten?

Christmas Day 2009 saw 6 Big Brother editions on air, the most ever – Spain, Serbia, Italy, Israel, India and Philippines. The previous highest number of Christmas day editions was 2005 when 4 were on air.

There was a Big Brother edition running somewhere in the world every second of every day during 2009. In fact the last time there was no Big Brother on air in the world was on 12th January 2004, almost 6 years ago.

So that’s it for my 2009 review of the world of Big Brother. This has been a general statistical review. If anyone would like to write a more detailed review of Big Brother in their country then feel free to. You can write your review and send it to me by e mail to webmaster@worldofbigbrother.com

I’d like to wish all blog readers a very Happy Christmas and hope you have a great 2010.

Thank you to all the World of Big Brother bloggers for their posts in 2009. I hope you have enjoyed reading them as much as I have.

Next week, to round off the year, I will be writing my review of the year posts. The first part should be here sometime on Tuesday.

Until then, have a great Christmas.

Graham – your World of Big Brother webmaster.

The X Factor 6 UK winner Joe McElderry’s debut solo single failed to reach number 1 in the official UK singles chart yesterday. Joe was a new entry at number 2 being kept off the top by Killing In The Name by Rage Against The Machine. Joe is the first X Factor winner not to be number one at Christmas (not counting the first winner as that single wasn’t released before Christmas).

Joe sold over 450,000 copies last week which would have been enough in almost any week to reach number 1. But Rage Against The Machine sold just over 500,000 last week.

The Rage Against The Machine song is as a result of a huge internet campaign to stop the X Factor single reaching number 1. The campaign had urged people to by Rage Against The Machine, not because it was any good but purely to stop Joe from reaching number 1. And the campaign worked.

It’s very sad that half a million people bought a song that they don’t like just to stop a young lad with a great voice and a great song obtaining his dream. I guess in this credit crunch society, a lot of people have money to waste.

Some good news for Joe though, his single, The Climb reached number 1 in the Republic of Ireland chart over the weekend.

Joe still has a change at getting to number 1 in the UK next week. As I think people will now stop buying Rage Against The Machine so it is possible that Joe could climb to number 1 this Sunday. I’ll keep you posted.

EDIT 31st December 2009: Joe climbed to number one in last weekends chart after selling about 196,000 copies. Rage Against The Machine could only mange about 65,000 sales. This means that every X Factor winner has had a number 1 debut solo single.

Now that the show is over I thought I would give my opinions of this years series as a whole.

Even though The X Factor and Pop Idol before it have been running in the UK for almost 10 years, this is the first edition that I have watched. I’m not really sure why I never watched it before, I guess I just had other things to do or watch on a Saturday evening.

But this year, I found myself without internet access at home and nothing else to watch at that time so I thought I’d give it a go and see what all the fuss was about.

Having not watched previous editions, I have nothing to compare it to so I don’t know if this was better, worse or just average. On the whole I did enjoy the show, although I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it is my favourite show, nor will I be peeing my pants with excitement a few days before next years launch show. But it entertained me and filled a gap in my weekend and I will be watching again next year.

I liked that my favourite contestants seemed to change from week to week. I’m used to watching shows like Big Brother where I form opinions of Housemates that rarely change after the first week. But with this show, I guess because I’m judging on performances each week rather than someones personality that doesn’t really change. As people can put in good or bad performances so my opinion changes.

In the early weeks of the live shows I liked Lloyd, Lucie and John/Edward. It wasn’t until Joe sang Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me in week 7 that I thought wow, I really like this guy. After that he was the one I wanted to win. Although I thought Olly put in a great performance in the final and would also have been a worthy winner.

Simon Cowell
As far as the format of the show, I think the show suffers from the dominance of Simon Cowell. He is an executive producer and also a judge/mentor. There seems to me to be a big conflict of interest in his 2 roles from the show and I would like to see him step down from one of the roles. An example of this are that he made it clear during the audition process that the category that he really wanted was the over 25s, and surprise surprise, that was the category that he got.

Deadlock
The biggest problem with the format is the even number of judges. Having 4 judges means that so often the judges are tied 2-2 with their voting. Out of the 6 votes when there were 4 judges present, 5 out of the 6 ended at 2-2 and deadlock. What happens at deadlock is that it goes back to the earlier public vote and the lowest placed is eliminated. However, the problem with this is that the public vote is on the previous days performance as the voting lines closed before the sing-off, this made the sing-off a complete waste of time almost every week. A better way of doing it is to have the voting open for 2 or 3 minutes after the sing off and have the public as a 5th judge.

Percentages

http://worldofbigbrother.com/Talent/XFactor/UK/6/pics/Voting1.jpg
http://worldofbigbrother.com/Talent/XFactor/UK/6/pics/Voting2.jpg

After the final the percentages were released for every public vote. If you click on the links above you can see the 2 graphics.

The early public favourite was Danyl who won the vote in week 1 withover 27%, twice as many as Stacey who came second. However in week 2 Danyl had slipped down to 7th place and it was Stacey who won the vote, but very little separated the top 4.

By week 3 Danyl had slipped to 9th place andwas in the bottom 2. Amazingly Rachel won the vote even though she had been bottom 2 for the previous weeks. In week 4 it swung round again with Rachel going from first to last and Danyl going from last to first.

Danylwon the vote again in week 5, but each week Joe was slowly increasing his vote, coming second this week. Week 6 went to Stacey andthen came week 7. This was the week that Joe turned it around his performance of Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me won over the public and he got 34% – twice as many votes as Stacey. He never lost another public vote. Week 7 was the only week of the competition that the bottom place act wasn’t eliminated. John and Edward were eliminated by the judges vote. Had it gone to deadlock Olly would have been the one to leave.

Joe won week 8 with 37% and easily won week 9 with 42%. This was the week where 4 remained and Danyl was eliminated. The vote was extremely close with less than 1% separating Danyl in last place and Olly in 2nd place.

Down to the final 3 and Joe hit 52%, Olly got 28% meaning Stacey was eliminated 1 day before the final with 20%.

In the final Joe was the clear winner with 61.3% to Olly’s 38.7%.

The only question left to be answered is will Joe’s single be Christmas number 1 on the singles chart. All 5 previous winners singles have reached number 1, will Joe keep this record going? We will find out on Sunday.

Sunday 13th December 2009

With 2 contestants remaining – Joe and Olly – each will perform two songs this evening, meaning there will likely be a lot of padding in the 2 hour long final.

The first performance of the night was all 12 contestants back together singing Never Forget by Take That.

Round 1: Contestants choice (the contestants chose their favourite song that they had previously performed)

1) Olly Murs (sang Twist And Shout by The Beatles, previously performed in week 5)

Louis: You’re bubbly and sexy and will have a great career.
Dannii: You are a great entertainer
Cheryl: I enjoyed that performance
Simon: There could be an upset tonight, that was brilliant
Me: This song would have been my choice as will. A great all-round performance.

2) Joe McElderry (sang Don’t Stop Believin by Journey, previously performed in week 4)

Louis: You have everything and you have a great future
Dannii: The best voice on this stage tonight
Simon: I’m proud of what you’ve achieved, brilliant
Cheryl: Everyone believes in you, you can do this
Me: Not his best and not the song I’d have chosen. A good solid performance.

My order after round 1:
1) Olly
2) Joe

Louis’s order:
1) Joe
2) Olly

Dannii’s order:
1) Joe
2) Olly

Next up is a joint performance by Alexandra Burke (last years winner) and JLS (last years runner-up). After that Leona Lewis (The X Factor 3 winner) performed.

Round 2: Theme – The winners song (Each finalist performed the song that the winner will release as their debut solo single).

1) Olly Murs (sang The Climb by Miley Cyrus)

Louis: You look confident, I like everything about you
Dannii: I have never heard you sing like that before [note - she said it in a complementary way]
Cheryl: A beautiful version of that song
Simon: I really hope people get behind you after that
Me: What a great performance, I loved that

2) Joe McElderry (sang The Climb by Miley Cyrus)

Louis: A note perfect performance, better that Olly
Dannii: A beautiful performance, I loved it
Simon: I saw your nerves. The first half was shaky but the second half was brilliant
Cheryl: I hope tonight you achieve your dream
Me: The song suits his style and voice, but I didn’t think he did it as well as Olly.

My order after round 2:
1) Olly
2) Joe

So I think Olly has been the best tonight, but I think Joe has been the best over the series as a whole. I won’t be disappointed whoever wins.

George Michael is the next person on stage to perform.

Paul McCartney and all 12 contestants do a joint performance which is followed by a Paul McCartney solo performance.

We are told that the voting has now closed. And there have been over 10 million votes cast.

The winner of The X Factor 2009 is…… Joe. Which means that Olly is the runner-up. Joe looks in total shock.

Joe then performs his debut single The Climb which is released at midnight. The performs ends the show and the series. The X Factor 7 will be back in 2010.

It’s very confusing with calling the 12 contestants “finalists”, then calling the final 4 “semi-finalists” and the final 3 “finalists”. It gets even more confusing when after last weeks Semi-Final, they have a last minute change of plan and have the Semi-Final this week and so making last weeks Semi-Final a Quarter-Final. Totally confusing!!!!

Saturday 12th December: The Semi-Final
So we are down to the last 3 – Joe, Olly and Stacey. Each will perform 3 times tonight and the one with the least public votes will be eliminated tonight.

The first round of songs is themed “Audition Songs”, and the contestants perform the song they originally sang at their first audition.

1) Stacey Solomon (sang What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong)

Louis: Love your voice, love your personality, you’re great
Cheryl: You looked comfortable and I enjoyed it
Simon: Singing beautifully, you continue to surprise me
Dannii: I’m very, very proud of you, well done.
Me: A great performance, has set the bar high for the rest of the evening.

2) Olly Murs (sang Superstition by Stevie Wonder)

Louis: You definitely have The X Factor, I loved you
Dannii: That was great
Cheryl: You are an entertainer
Simon: That was the performance of your life
Me: A good solid performance from Olly

3) Joe McElderry (sang Dance with My Father by Luther Vandross)

Louis: You have an incredible voice
Dannii: Brilliant performance, amazing voice, you are an adorable young man
Simon: A great example, you deserve to be in tomorrow’s final
Cheryl: You stole me heart, I pray you are in tomorrow’s final
Me: Joe has improved so much over recent weeks, although this wasn’t his best performance.

My order after Round 1:
1) Stacey
2) Joe
3) Olly

The round 2 theme is Celebrity Duets. Each contestant sings the first part of a song solo and then is joined by a celebrity to duet the second half. There were no judges comments for this round.

1) Stacey Solomon duet with Michael Bublé(sang Feeling Good by Michael Bublé)

Me: Stacey is putting in the best of her performances tonight, this was her best yet.

2) Olly Murs duet with Robbie Williams (sang Angels by Robbie Williams)

Me: I thought Olly sand it better than Robbie did.

3) Joe McElderry duet with George Michael (sang Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me by George Michael & Elton John)

Me: This was just awesome – best performance of the night.

My order for Round 2:
1) Joe
2) Stacey
3) Olly

Round 3 was themed “Best Previous Performance” where the mentor chose what they considered to be the contestants best performance in the series so far.

1) Stacey Solomon (sang Who Wants to Live Forever by Queen, originally performed in week 6)

Louis: Vocally incredible, I hope you are in the final
Cheryl: You looked and sounded incredible
Simon: You smashed it
Dannii: Another incredible performance
Me: I loved this the first time she sang it and I loved it again this time

2) Olly Murs (sang A Fool in Love by Tina Turner, originally performed in week 2)

Louis: Sexy and soulful – I hope you are in the final
Dannii: Your best performance of the series
Cheryl: You have improved so much since the last time you sang that
Simon: You have been a pleasure to work with, I’m so proud of you.
Me: A strange song choice, I thought he had done much better performances over the weeks.

3) Joe McElderry (sang Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word by Elton John, originally performed in week 8 )

Louis: You’ve got the voice, you deserve to be in the final [note Louis has not said he thinks all 3 should be in the final]
Dannii: So beautiful, you need to be in the final
Simon: You are really special, you have had an incredible night
Cheryl: I adore you. You have to be in the final
Me: Perfect, that was just perfect.

My order for round 3:
1) Joe
2) Stacey
3) Olly

My overall order for tonight:
1) Joe
2) Stacey
3) Olly

So we come to result time. First of all (in no particular order) Olly is told he is in the final. That leaves Joe and Stacey. The second finalist is…… Joe, which means Stacey has been eliminated.

I was surprised by that result, I had expected Olly to be eliminated.

So Joe and Olly are in tomorrow’s (Sunday) all male final. My blog for the final will be posted on Tuesday.

Episode 20: Monday 7th December
No, the Coming Out show wasn’t about celebrities coming out of the closet, but rather coming out of the jungle.

The show showed each of the 13 celebrities exits with behind the scenes footage and interviews.

The show starts with Gino being crowned king of the jungle and the hosts introducing the show. They tell us that 3 voluntary exits is a record for I’m A Celebrity UK.

Camilla walks – Says she feels she let everyone down and won’t ever be able to watch the show back.

Katie walks – Katie is told that her boyfriend has been doing deals with the newspapers and so she dumps him.

All the friends and family of the 11 celebrities in camp gather to watch the first elimination.

Lucy eliminated – She is re-united with her husband and daughter. Later she meets up with Katie who tries to give her advice about making money from the press.

Colin eliminated – Colins mum says she’s really shocked it was Colin voted out.

We go back to Katie who says she’s going home and not staying for the final. She finds out that Alex (her ex) has been seen at her hotel.

Sam eliminated - Sam’s girlfriend is there to meet her

Joe eliminated – Says he was beaten fair and square in the challenge with Stuart. Joe surprises his wife at the hotel as she didn’t know he’d been eliminated. He embarrassed his wife by saying on camera that he is looking forward to having sex with her later that night.

George walks – George shocks his girlfriend who thought he was still in the jungle. First thing he does is go to the bar for a drink.

Sabrina eliminated – She says the memory trial with Jimmy was the best thing as it was so fun.

Stuart eliminated – He’s thrilled at the luxury of his hotel room and jumps on his bed.

Justin eliminated – Colin says Justin looked so good in leather during the trial. Justin tries to get Sabrina and Stuart to admit they want to start a romance.

Jimmy is 3rd – He is greeted by his wife. He says he will never go camping again in his life.

Kim is runner-up – Her best friend is there to greet her.

Gino is the winner – He is re-united with his 2 boys and his wife. He says it was an amazing experience and he never for one minute thought he would win. He shows us how he smuggled sachets of salt inside his shoes.

The show ends with the hosts saying they will be back in Australia next year for a 10th season.

Here is the next ranking of the winners & seasons of The Amazing Race:. Yes, this time, they are together, and the words being said about them are a lot less.

Winners:

1. Flo/Zach (TAR3) – He was really nice, She was really horrifically entertaining. It couldn’t get better for them.

2. Uchenna/Joyce (TAR7) – They beat Rob/Amber, that’s why I rank them so high. How much better could they be?

3. Tammy/Victor (TAR14) – A dominating, intelligent, witty team I still loved to root for and see win last season.

4. Chip/Kim (TAR5) – I remmeber liking them in seasson five, especially when they beat the other TAR5 teams.

5. Tyler/James (TAR10) – They were a good team, and I loved to see them win, except they had little competition.

6. Rachel/TK – I loved them too, and they were a nice couple who raced well, and was glad to see them win.

7. Freddy/Kendra – I liked them, and will easily defend Kendra’s comment on Africa not being a truely bad comment.

8. Nick/Starr (TAR13) – Starr was the star of the show, but Nick was bland, but they did dominate the season a whole lot.

9. Meghan/Cheyne (TAR15) – Were not my favourties, a bit bland, but did race as well as Nick/Starr.

10. Eric/Danielle (TAR11AS) – Would’ve been a beter team if it was Jeremy there, and not Danielle.

11. Rob/Brennen (TAR1) – They were a nice team, and did okay, but I wanted Frank/Margarita to win.

12. Chris/Alex (TAR2) – I clearly don’t remember them that much, so I don’t have anything else to say.

13. BJ/Tyler (TAR9) – Rewatching TAR9 last weekend, they kind of grew on me, just a tad little.

14. Linz Family (TAR8FE) – They were arrogant, especially to the Weavers, and not very good, really.

15. Reichen/Chip (TAR4) – Just winners, that I didn’t like.

Seasons:

1. TAR14 – Entertaining challenges, interesting teams that didn’t fight so much, and one of the best winners.

2. TAR11AS – One of the most competitive seasons ever made, thanks to Eric, Charla/Mirna, and Dustin/Kandice.

3. TAR12 – Had a lot of interesting, unexpecting, diverse teams make it very far that made the season very good.

4. TAR7 – They had a lot of good teams who made the race competitive, which is always a plus. Also, it was good seeing Romber lose.

5. TAR1 – It was a very good classic for a good show like TAR. It had good teams, a lot of which we’ll remember forever.

6. TAR15 – It was a good season, that had a lot of okay teams, in which it was still a good season.

7. TAR10 – It was very good, that had a nice first major plot, the 6-pack alliance and Dustin/Kandice & Tyler/James.

8. TAR5 – It had a lot of competitive spirit, and went to some amazing places like Phillipines, Egypt & Canada.

9. TAR9 – It had Hippies, Frats, and Mojo who made it very competitive, and they went to some good places, too.

10. TAR3 – It had Flo/Zach who were my all time favorites, which was just about the best memorable thing there.

11. TAR6 – It had a lot of dramatic teams, but they still went to interesting places like Norway & Iceland.

12. TAR13 – They had all the teams we wont remember, and it was stable due to Nick/Starr there.

13. TAR2 – Easily the season I hardly remember anythign from, probably since I didn’t see it all yet.

14. TAR4 – Had a good start, loved Tian/Jaree,m but fell apart due to a bad, boring ending.

15. TAR8FE – Had an okay concept, but why  again did they gang up on the Weavers?

Note – This blog was written as the show was being aired, therefore my comments and predictions were made before I heard the judges comments and the actual result.

The Saturday Performance Show
We have reached the semi-final stage of The X Factor. Four contestants remain, but only three of them will make the final. The contestants will perform two songs tonight. Their first song will be a Michael Jackson song and their second song will be an open choice by their mentor.

1) Olly Murs (sang Can You Feel It by Michael Jackson)

Louis: Talented, can sing, can dance, deserves to be in the final
Dannii: Has the whole package, has to be in the final
Cheryl: You’re an entertainer and show be in the final
Simon: You have the presence of a star and must be in the final
My comment: A great all round performance, worthy of a finalist

2) Joe McElderry (sang She’s Out Of My Life by Michael Jackson)

Louis: An amazing tone to your voice, you have the talent to sell millions of records
Dannii: A superb performance, you have to be in the final
Simon: Getting better and better, one of the best versions of that song I’ve heard
Cheryl: I couldn’t be prouder, your best performance
My comment: It was a beautiful performance, he sang it with emotion and made the song believable

3) Stacey Solomon (sang The Way You Make Me Feel by Michael Jackson)

Louis: I wasn’t crazy about it, thought it was the wrong song choice
Cheryl: I disagree with Louis, I really enjoyed it
Simon: It was fine, but it just wasn’t you. Wrong song choice which affected your vocals
Dannii: The look suits you and you did it well
My comment: I don’t think the song suited Stacey, she would have done better with a ballad

4) Danyl Johnson (sang Man In The Mirror by Michael Jackson)

Louis: Incredible, I loved everything about your voice
Dannii: A really good performance
Cheryl: Really good, gave it 110%
Simon: Absolutely incredible, brilliant
My comment: He did the song well but not good enough to win me over

At the halfway point my order is -
1) Joe
2) Olly
3) Danyl
4) Stacey

5) Olly Murs (sang We Can Work It Out by The Beatles)

Louis: Another great performance, really, really good
Dannii: The song didn’t show the best of your ability, but I would still vote for you
Cheryl: I can see people voting for you
Simon: Taking everything into account you deserve to be in the final
My comment: I wasn’t convinced by that performance, maybe it was the wrong song, something just didn’t click for me

6) Joe McElderry (sang Open Arms by Journey)

Louis: If you recorded that tomorrow you’d have a number 1
Dannii: We all love you, you have to be in the final
Simon: You’re mentor chose a song that no-one knows, but it was 100% the right song choice. You’ve listened and learnt and deserve to be in the final
Cheryl: I pray to God that people vote for you
My comment: Top marks again for Joe, he is better than most professionals, a must for the final.

7) Stacey Solomon (sang Somewhere from West Side Story)

Louis: That was incredible, well done
Cheryl: That gave me goosebumps, the best you’ve been
Simon: You are back in the game, that was the Stacey I really like
Dannii: A perfect performance, world class
My comment: This was the perfect song for Stacey’s voice. I hope this makes up for her first performance. she deserves to be in the final.

Danyl Johnson (sang I Have Nothing by Whitney Houston)

Louis: Totally deserve to be in the final, you have the talent
Dannii: A good performance, but I didn’t love it
Cheryl: I wish you the best of luck
Simon: I believe you 100% deserve your place in the final
My comment: A solid, but unspectacular performance

My order based on part 2 songs -
1) Joe
2) Stacey
3) Danyl
4) Olly

My overall order -
1) Joe
2) Stacey
3) Olly
4) Danyl

My prediction -
I think Joe and Stacey are certainties. My guess that the ones at risk will be Olly and Danyl (who are the ones that have previously been in the bottom 2). My prediction is that Olly will be eliminated.

The Sunday Results Show
The first 45 minutes consisted of lots of voting number reminders a performance by Lady GaGa and a performance by Janet Jackson. The 4 semi-finalists also did a group performance of Wanna Be Starting Something by Michael Jackson.

The we come to result time (announced in no particular order) -
The first person into the final is….. Olly – when he name is announced, he is overcome with emotion and starts to cry
The second person into the final is…. Joe
The third person into the final is….. Stacey

Meaning that Danyl has been eliminated. Danyl closes the show with his performance of Man In The Mirror by Michael Jackson.

So we have the three finalists – Joe, Stacey and Olly. Danyl being eliminated shows once again how rubbish I am at predictions, although I’m pleased to be wrong as I agree with the public vote.

Also this weekend we had official confirmation that The X Factor will be back in 2010 – although this was never in any doubt given the huge ratings this show has been getting. Casting is now open at the official website.

So who do you want to win the final of The X Factor next week? Please vote in the poll and also leave your comments.

 Loading ...

TAR 15 ended last night, and we have our winners, Meghan & Cheyne, and they have won seven out of twelve legs this season, making it a tie for the most legs won, as they are tied with Nick & Starr of season thirteen.

In this race, teams had to make their way to the Graceland wedding chapel where an Elvis Impersonator will hand them their next clue. Then, the teams were at their roadblock: The Mandalay bay, where one member had to rappel down. At the Mirage, the teams had to harness in a bungee cord and be lifted up high enough to grab a bouquet of flowers and hand them to a hippy actress. Then, teams had to figure out their next destination was the Monte Carlo, where they had to count $1,000,000 of poker chips to recieve their next clue. Then, finally, teams had to make their way to the MGM Grand, where teams had to find Mr. Las Vagas, or Wayne Newton, to tell them their finish line spot. The finish line was in Wayne Newton’s house, or Casa De Shanandoah. Here is the recap of how the teams performed in reverse placing order:

Brian Ericka (3rd place) – Brian/Ericka started off with the best of the three taxi drivers, and Ericka completed the roadblock first, before Meghan/Cheyne or Sam/Dan. They fell behind at the Bouquet task, when Ericka couldn’t get the bouquet easily, as they got very frusterated, especially Ericka. They failed to figure out the chip counting twice, which pretty much put them in third place. I really had fun rooting for them, and enjoyed them he most throughout the race.

Sam/Dan (2nd place) – They started off with the slowest of the taxis, and were the last at the roadblock. They were going to follow Meghan/Cheyneat the wrong hotel, but easily found out they needed to go to Monte Carlo. They got the chip count wrong the first time, in which this got them second place. They really only bickered on the chip count, but not as bad, since there was no detour.

Meghan/Cheyne (1st place) – Meghan/Cheyne started on the roadblock, with Cheyne competing, andthey finish just behind Brain/Ericka. Then, after they finish the bouquet challenge, they ended up driving to the wrong hotel, in which they let Sam/Dan in first place. Then, they finished the chip counting first and arrived to the finish line first, becoming the first team to arrive, winning The Amazing Race’s 15th season. I fairly agree they were good racers, and were probably one of the best racers on the race to win, ever, simply because of their good first place finishes.

Now, we have season sixteen to look after for, in which one team we’ll always remember from that season is Jeff/Jordan from Big Brother US 11. Also, we have discovered another beauty queen, Miss Teen 2007, Caitlyn Upton, who the first underaged contestant to break the must-be-over-21 rules. TAR always has a lot of beauty queens, as it seems that is the present obsession for TAR. Check in later to see my rankings of Seasons & Winners of TAR.

Episode 19, Day 22, Friday 4th December
After three weeks in the jungle we have reached the final.

The group react to Justin’s eviction and the realisation that they are in the final. Kim says she is in shock but very happy. Gino says it is unbelievable and Jimmy is overwhelmed.

The celebrities are shocked when they hear that they will each be doing a buck tucker trial today. They thought that there were no more trials – haven’t they seen the show before? the individual bush tucker trials for the final 3 happen every year.

Kim’s Trial is shown first. Her trial is called John Travolting. A part of her body is covered in insects. After 2 minutes a second part of her body is covered in insects and this continues until she has 5 parts covered. First her right leg has cockroaches and crickets, then her left arm has green ants that bite. Next her head is covered with large spiders. Her left leg with yabbis and finally giant stick insects on her right arm. She survives the 10 minutes and wins 3 fully prepared starters for evening meal and 2 special treats.

Now it’s time for Gino’s trial which is called The Bushtucker Bonanza. Gino must eat 5 things in order to get 5 stars.
1) A fermented duck egg (which he says is disgusting)
2) A rhino beetle
3) A live cockroach, a widgety grub and a handful of mealworms
4) Some beach worms
5) A crocodile tongue
He eats them all and wins 3 fulls prepared main courses for evening meal and 2 special treats.

Finally it is Jimmy’s trial and this one is called Flash Flood. He is chained up and put into a chamber. He must get 5 keys that are dropped in the chamber and use them to unlock the chains. The chamber will be filling up with water and other things like yabbis and water spiders. He gets 4 out of 5 within the time limit and wins 3 fully prepared desserts and 1 special treat.

After we are shown the bush tucker trials, the voting is frozen for a vote count.

Whilst the votes are counted we are shown more highlights of the previous day where they have a jungle awards ceremony.

After the the hosts go into camp and reveal that Jimmy has finished in third place. The voting re-opens for the winner which will be either Gino or Kim.

Back to the highlights and the 3 finalists enjoy their last dinner in camp and they get letters from their loved ones.

The hosts go back into camp to chat with Gino and Kim. Gino says that winning would mean that his 2 sons would be princes of the jungle. Kim says that winning would inspire other “old birds” out there. The phone lines are closed for the final time.

We are shown highlights of the whole 3 weeks and after an advert break it is time for the result.

The winner is…….. GINO.

Runner-up Kim is interviewed and says she is pleased to be runner-up as she didn’t expect to get to the final. She described camp as a hell hole.

Finally it’s Gino’s turn to be crowned King of the jungle. He says he really enjoyed every moment of it. His two little sons are brought on to hug him and sit with him on the throne. Last years winner Joe Swash hands over the crown to Gino and the show is over for another year.

Out of the three finalists I was pleased that Gino won. Kim was rather annoying and Jimmy was not as entertaining as Gino. I actually wanted Justin to win, but after he went my support went to Gino.

Episode 17: Wednesday 2nd December
There’s a snake in the camp and the experts come in to try and catch it but they have problems getting it. We aren’t shown if they do eventually get it or not. As this is happening the hosts have entered camp to tell them that Sabrina has been eliminated.

Today’s bush tucker trial is called Off Your Trolley and is done by Justin and Gino. Gino rides inside a shopping trolley and Justin pushes him around. They must find stars hidden in rotten food. Gino gets very messy during the trial with all kinds of rotten fruit and veg and bugs poured over him. They do OK getting 3 out of 5 stars.

Later in the day the contestants are given a task where they have to make a promotional video about camp.

The Celebrity Chest today was done by Kim and Jimmy. They had to find golden eggs hidden in a large cage of feathers. They get the chest, take it to camp and they finally get the question right and win a cream tea. When the cream tea arrives it is just 3 scones to share between 5 of them. The celebs are furious at this as they insist that cream tea for 5 people does not consist of 3 scones. They start a revolt and remove their microphones (although Kim is such a loud mouth that it makes no difference). In the end the producers back down and give them what they asked for.

Next the celebs weight themselves to see how much weight they have lost during the last 2.5 weeks. Stuart has lost 16 pounds, Gino 18 pounds, Justin and Kim both lost 21 pounds and Jimmy lost 22 pounds. They then have a conversation about if their penis will have shrunk because of the weight loss. Gino is concerned and goes off to the toilet to check it out.

Justin is then chosen by the producers to do an overnight challenge to win a luxury breakfast for camp. He had to spend the night alone in a cage. Just as he was about to fall asleep thousands of cockroaches were put in the cage with him. He makes it through the night and wins the prize for the group.

It’s elimination time. Jimmy and Stuart get the least public votes but it is Stuart who has to leave. In his interview he says he wants Gino to win.

Episode 18: Thursday 3rd December
The episode starts with them eating their luxury breakfast that Justin won in yesterdays episode. We are then shown their reaction to Stuarts eviction and Kim says she is shocked to still be there.

Today’s bush tucker trial is called Hell Hill Extreme. It’s basically the same trial they do every year when they are down to the final 4. All 4 celebs should do it, but Kim is ruled out on medical grounds (ie shes too old). They have to carry a star up a hill and reach a pole. They must remain there until all three are touching their poles. Jimmy goes first and reaches his pole with easy as does Justin who is next. Finally Gino climbs they hill. Just as he is almost at his pole a huge torrent of water rushes down the hill and washes him to the bottom. He quickly makes his way back up the hill and they win 4 out of 4 stars. The hosts said they did it in a record time, although that’s not surprising as there are usually 4 celebs doing this trial.

When they get back to camp they are told that there are 4 ice creams hidden in camp and they must find them before they melt. Kim has a strop saying she doesn’t want to do it as it is childish. But it didn’t stop her from eating an ice cream when the others had found them.

Kim and Justin do today’s Celebrity Chest. They have to milk goats to get a key. They complete it and again get the question wrong.

Next we are shown a compilation of each of the 4 semi-finalists time on the show and after that the celebs play a guess the newspaper headlines game.

Kim is given a secret mission where she has to have a conversation with each of the others using the word discombobulate. She is successful and wins them a bottle of champagne.

The celebs talk about how they hope that they will all remain friends forever. The hosts arrive to reveal the result of the public vote.

Gino and Kim are through to the final.
Jimmy and Justin are in the bottom two.
Justin is bottom and is eliminated, so Jimmy is in the final.

The final will take place today (Friday) and Gino, Kim or Jimmy will win the show. I think it’s safe to say that Jimmy will be 3rd place as he has been in the bottom 2 a number of times. I think that Gino will emerge as the winner.

Episode 15: Monday 30th November
At the start of the show the hosts tell us that George has walked out of the jungle. This means that today’s eviction is cancelled and instead the public vote will be nominations.

The first compilation of highlights shows George telling Kim he’s thinking of leaving. Later, George tells the camp that he will leave that evening after the meal. Everyone says they will miss him a lot. His reasons for leaving are that he likes everyone to leave and doesn’t want to win the show or survive an eviction over someone else.

Today’s bushtucker trial is Buzz Off. Sabrina and Stuart are chosen by the group. Sabrina has to wear a bee costume and walk along an obstacle course. If her helmet touches the rail then Stuart will get an electric shock and something dropped on him. Three shocks in a section of the course means they lose that star.

When Sabrina touches the rail for the first time Stuart gets a shock and yellow liquid falls on him. They lose the first star as Sabrina is not very good at this. They also lose the second star. They get the third star, but by now Stuart has green ants dropped on him and they are biting him. In the end they only manage to get 3 out of 7 stars.

We are taken back to camp and shown clips of George giving the men his wisdom about women and also we are shown some of the crazy things the celebs have been doing.

Today’s Celebrity Chest was done by Justin and Gino. They have to climb a high ladder to get the key. It is made difficult as there are wasps around them and they are both scared of heights, it also starts raining which doesn’t help them. They succeed and take the chest back to camp, but as usual the question is answered wrongly and they don’t get the prize.

The camp mates are given a challenge where they can win a chocolate cake. Each have a question to answer. If they get more than one question wrong then the cake drops into a box full of cockroaches. Everyone except Gino gets their question right so they win the cake.

In the evening, Sabrina sang a farewell song to George. They all say their goodbyes to him and he leaves camp. In his interview with the hosts he says he wants Gino to win.

The hosts then go into camp to tell them that the celebs with the least votes and nominated for eviction are Justin and Sabrina. One will be eliminated tomorrow.

Episode 16: Tuesday 1st December
The celebrities talk about how strange it is without George in camp.

Today’s bush tucker trial is called Memory Misery. The group choose Jimmy and Sabrina to do it as they have done the least number of trials so far.

They have to memorise the pictures behind 16 numbered blocks. The blocks are then turned around and the host asks them what picture is behind a particular number. If they get it right they win half a star, if its wrong then the other celebrity is gunged. Neither of them are any good at this and it ends up with them being gunged a lot and not winning many stars. It was probably the funniest trial so far. They ended up with just 1 out of 6 stars.

Back at camp the celebrities are concerned about the lack of food supplies and only winning one meal in the trial means they will have to skip lunch.

Today’s Celebrity Chest is different to usual. They all take part and have to balance a ball on 2 sticks. They win 2 tokens and can exchange them for a selection of items – they choose beans and salt.

Next it is the letters from home bit that they do every year so we can see them all crying. After that we are shown clips about them showering and keeping clean.

They are then given a quiz. The team of Sabrina, Gino and Stuart win the quiz and can leave camp and have a Karaoke with beers and peanuts.

At the end of the show the hosts reveal that out of Sabrina and Justin, it is Sabrina who the public have eliminated. She leaves camp and says in her interview that she is sad to leave the group but happy to be out of the jungle. She is asked if there is a romance between her and Stuart but she insists they are just friends. When asked who she wants to win she starts to answer Kim, but then changes to all of them.

So only 5 remain – Jimmy, Justin, Gino, Stuart and Kim. Assuming no-one else walks we will have an elimination on Wednesday and Thursday leaving 3 left for the final on Friday.