World of Big Brother Blog

Important news about the World of Big Brother Blog.

The World of Big Brother Blog has now moved into the forum. Please click here to visit the new Blog -

http://forum.worldofbigbrother.com/index.php?board=10.0

Any blog posts made before 12th April 2010 can be found at here at the old blog location. Blog posts made around the transfer period will be shown at both locations.

The main reasons for moving to blog into the forum are -

1) To encourage more people to post comments to blog posts.
2) To have the blog and forum all in the same place.
3) To encourage more forum members to participate in the blog.

Each new blog post will have it’s own thread and only Official Bloggers can start a new thread (Blog Post). However, any registered forum member can reply to a post with their comments. Please keep any reply on the topic of the blog post.

If you would like to become a Blogger, please let me know which reality show you would like to blog about and I will amend your username to be able to make blog posts. At the moment each reality show will have one blogger – but we have lots of vacant shows. To express an interest in blogging, either reply to this post or drop me an email to webmaster@worldofbigbrother.com

Any questions then ask away.

Six teams remain. The leg starts off in France at the location of the leg 6 pitstop.

CLUE 1: Fly over 5,000 miles to The Sychelles, search for a marked kiosk, grap a number and the next clue.

Louie/Michael are first to depart at 12.35am. We are told that due to the remote location of the destination, all teams will be travelling on the same flight. Carol/Brandy are an hour behind leaving the start at 1.28am. Steve/Allie are third to set off at 1.57am with Jet/Cord at 2.36am. Jet and Cord can’t pronounce the name of The Seychelles correctly – Saykillies, Saychiles. Dan/Jordan are 3 hours behind the leaders at 3.36am. They also can’t pronounce the destination. Bizarrely most of the team don’t seem to have heard of The Seychelles. Last to depart are Brent/Caite at 4.36am.

Even though Brent/Caite arrived at the airport 4 hours after the leaders, they are the first team to book seats on the plane and they will be closest to the front. They are first off the plane and first at the clue box, taking ticket number 1.

CLUE 2: Go by helicopter to the Island of La Digue. The first 3 helicopters leave now, the last three leave 1 hour later. Steve/Allie get ticket 2 and Dan/Jordan number 3. Louie/Michael (4), Carol/Brandy (5) and Jet/Cord (6) must wait an hour.

Carol/Brandy arrogantly say that the strongest three teams are now all delayed by 1 hour and that Brent/Caite got lucky. I think they are talking out of their arses as Brent/Caite were just smarter to book seats closest to the plane exit. Other teams had up to 4 hours advantage on them but failed to do this.

After the helicopter ride, Brent/Caite are first to the next clue.

CLUE 3 Detour:
Turtle Toddle (chosen by Steve/Allie & Carol/Brandy) – Using a banana, lure a 100 year old tortoise down a marked lawn then carry a large bunch of bananas 1.5 miles to receive the next clue
Ox Trot (chosen by Brent/Caite, Dan/Jordan, Jet/Cord & Louie/Michael) – Fill a large cart with coconuts without losing any. An ox will pull the cart to where they get their next clue.

Caite loses a coconut from the cart without noticing, They go off to the harbour. Steve/Allie complete the tortoise run and set off with the bananas. Dan/Jordan are piling up their cart. On the way to the harbour Steve/Allie overtake Brent/Caite who are having ox trouble. The trailing 3 teams arrive at the detour and Steve/Allie are first to complete the detour.

CLUE 4: Take a boat to St Pierre Island where they will be given the next clue.

Dan/Jordan overtake Brent/Caite who are still having ox troubles. Dan/Jordan are second to complete the detour. Brent/Caite are told they don’t have all their coconuts and must take their ox and cart back to the detour start. Brent is furious and says he’s quitting the race. Of course Brent doesn’t really quit and they head back for their missing coconut.

On the boat Steve/Allie realise they have forgot their backpacks. They decide to continue without them. They had their passports and documents but will have to run the rest of the race in the clothes they are wearing.

Carol/Brandy can’t get their tortoise to go in a straight line. Steve/Allie reach their next clue.

CLUE 5, Roadblock: Dive underwater and search for a submerged case of 7 bottles. Bring up a bottle and on-shore assemble a map that will lead them to the pitstop.

Steve decides to do the roadblock. Carol/Brandy give up on their tortoise and switch to the ox detour. Jordan is chosen to do the roadblock. At the detour, Jet/Cord make the same mistake as Brent/Caite and miss a coconut.

Steve/Allie arrive at the pitstop as team number 1 and each win $7,000. Dan/Jordan are team number 2.

Louie/Michael complete the detour. Carol/Brandy also make the mistake of leaving a coconut behind. Brent/Caite have now completed the detour. Jet/Cord are sent back for their coconut. Carol/Brandy are acting smugly until they are also sent back for their missing coconut.

Brent/Caite overtake Louie/Michael on the way to the roadblock and Brent decides to do the diving. Jet/Cord complete the detour and Carol/Brandy finish it in last place.

At the pitstop, Brent/Caite are team number 3, Louie/Michael are seconds behind as team number 4. Louie predicts that the final 3 will be Louie/Michael, Brent/Caite and Jet/Cord. They want Carol/Brandy to the eliminated next as they are too negative. Brent/Caite also want Carol/Brandy out next because they are rude and mean. They may all get their wish although whenever teams I dislike finish last it is always a non-elimination leg, so I’m not confident they will go.

Jet/Cord make another mistake and swim to shore leaving their bottle on the boat. At the pitstop they are told they are 5th to arrive. Phil asks how they found the pitstop, they answer that they jogged around until they found it. Phil sends them back to the boat to retrieve the bottle.

Jet/Cord can see Carol/Brandy ahead of them. Carol/Brady arrive at the pitstop and are shocked to learn they are team number 5 as they were certain they were last.

Jet/Cord are last at the pitstop but it is a non-elimination leg (as I predicted, teams I dislike that finish last don’t get eliminated).

Leg 7 was a leg of mistakes. 5 took hours too long to book the best seats on the plane. Three teams didn’t check they had all their coconuts at the detour, Steve/Allie forgot their backpacks and Jet/Cord forgot their bottle. If a team can cut out these silly mistakes they could go all the way in this race.

Leg 8 will see the teams going to Malaysia. Jet/Cord will struggle to get back in the race and a taxi leaves without them. I’ve noticed that in the previews, the producers try to leave viewers with a false impression of what will happen – so last week they made it seem like Brent quits the race when he actually didn’t. So this week they are making out that Jet/Cord will be eliminated next – I predict therefore that they won’t be the ones to go next.

My order
1) Dan/Jordan – I just find them really funny
2) Steve/Allie – A strong, solid team who are moving up my ranking
3) Brent/Caite – Entertaining to watch
4) Louie/Michael – Just an average team
5) Jet/Cord – At least this week they raced more without their stupid hats. I half expected them to dive underwater with them on.
6) Carol/Brandy – I agree with Caite, they are rude and mean.

Next week Dan should be back to guide you through leg 8.

Leg 6 starts in France at the location of the Leg 5 pitstop. Seven teams remain in the race.

CLUE 1 – Drive 37 miles to Reims, France and find the Joan of Arc statue.

Louie & Michael are the first to depart at 7.47am. Steve & Allie leave 17 minutes later at 8.04am. Third to set off are Jet & Cord at 8.13am. Dan & Jordan leave at 8.17am, Carol & Brandy at 8.39am and Brent & Caite are 2 hours behind the leaders leaving at 9.48am.

Steve & Allie find the statue first and take the lead.

CLUE 2 – Teams are given a champagne cork.

Jordan & Jeff are the last team to start the leg at 10.28am. Jordan thinks that Joan of Arc carried all the animals, but Jeff points out to her that was Noah’s Ark.

Louie/Michael and Dan/Jordan arrive at Champagne and find the next clue at the same time.

CLUE 3, Roadblock – Rappel & Search. Rappel down 100 feet into the winery and search the champagne bottles for a specially marked bottle. Slice off the cork with a sabre to receive the next clue.

Jordan is chosen for the roadblock as is Louie. Jet & Cord have gone to the wrong town.

CLUE 4 – Taittinger. Teams must figure out that they have to go to Taittinger Chateaux in La Marquetterie.

Brent & Caite are still doing clue 1 but can’t find the Joan of Arc statue. Steve completes the roadblock in third place and Brandy does it in fourth. Jordan & Jeff are still last and have just found the statue. Cord is 5th at the end of the roadblock. Louie/Michael find the Taittinger Chateux and are in the lead.

CLUE 5 – Detour, Tower or Terra.
Tower – Use exactly 680 wine glasses to build a tower 15 levels high and fill the tower with champagne without breaking any glasses (Dan/Jordan, Jordan/Jeff).
Terra – Search an area 1 square kilometre for a tiny cluster of marked grapes (Louie/Michael, Carol/Brandy, Steve/Allie, Brent/Caite & Jeff/Cord).

Dan/Jordan are told that they have gone to the wrong town. Locals at the roadblock town are sending some teams to the Taittinger office in Reims (the town where they started the leg from) rather than the Taittinger Chateux.

Brent is doing the Roadblock as is Jeff. Steve/Allie arrive at Reims to find they are in the wrong town. Steve bumps the car which delays them further. Louie/Michael complete the Terra roadblock in first place.

CLUE 6 – Go to the pitstop at L’Orrea.

Jet/Cord arrive in Reims and are told they are in the wrong town. This is the second time they have gone to the wrong town in this leg.

Dan/Jordan decide to do Tower at the detour. Carol/Brandy do Terra.

Louie/Michael arrive at the pitstop and are team number 1. The win a holiday to Mexico.

Candy/Brandy find the grapes and are off to the pitstop. Steve/Allie decide to do Terra.

Brent/Caite are heading to the detour and see Carol/Brandy. They decide to follow them not realising that Carol/Brandy have done the detour. Brent/Caite arrive at the pitstop mat but are sent back to do the detour. Carol/Brandy finish the leg as team number 2.

The Terra detour seems to be the much quicker option. Steve/Allie complete Terra and leave for the pitstop. Jordan/Jeff are at Reim which is the wrong town. Brent/Caite choose Terra at the detour. Jet/Cord arrive 6th at the detour and also choose Terra.

Steve/Allie are team number 3 at the pitstop. Jet/Cord make up ground by completing the easier detour and reach the pitstop in 4th place. Brent/Caite are arguing about if they should switch detours, which they eventually decide to do.

Dan/Jordan finish their tower but have dropped from 2nd to 5th during the detour. Brent/Caite finish their Tower but it collapses when they pour champagne in it prompting them to switch back to Terra.

Jordan/Jeff arrive at the detour and choose Tower. Dan/Jordan arrive at the pitstop and are told they are team number 5, but they are not happy. Brent/Caite find the grapes and head off to the pitstop.

Jordan/Jeff’s tower collapses before they have even finished it and they switch to Terra. Brent/Caite arrive at the pitstop as team number 6.

Jordan/Jeff are search in the dark with torches. They eventually find the grapes but are eliminated from the race when they reach the pitstop.

Six teams remain. Who will be eliminated next?

My Top 1 – Dan/Jordan
My Middle 3 – Louie/Micheal, Brent/Caite & Steve/Allie
My Bottom 2 – Jet/Cord & Carol/Brandy

Hopefully Dan should be back to blog for leg 7 which will see the teams heading for the Seychelles and Brent is shown saying he has quit the race (I highly doubt if he does quit the race that they would have shown that on the preview so I’m sure he will change his mind).

Graham here again, filling in for Dan.

Leg 4 starts with leaders Jet & Cord leaving at 10.57pm.

CLUE 1 – Fly to Hamburg, Germany

Jet & Cord find out that the first flight out isn’t for another 12 hours, so all the teams are going to bunch up again. Unfortunately they don’t show us any of the other teams pitstop departure times.

Jet & Cord and Louie & Michael are the first to arrive at the next cluebox which is an intersection.

CLUE 2 – Roadblock. Teams must pair up with another team for this clue. One person from each team must do the roadblock, so 2 people from each joined team of 4 will do it. They have to perform a 150 foot bungee jump together.

Jet/Cord & Louie/Michael decide to team up and Jet & Michael do the roadblock.
Joe/Heidi & Steve/Allie team up with Joe & Allie doing the roadblock.
Dan/Jordan & Carol/Brandy team up with Dan & Brandy doing the roadblock.
Jordan/Jeff & Brent/Caite team up with Jordan & Caite doing the roadblock.

Jordan & Caite catch the wrong train to the bungee jump and go in the opposite direction. Jet & Michael are the first to jump. Jet refuses to take his stupid hat off when he’s jumping. I was hoping it would fall off mid jump, never to be seen again, but no such luck. Joe and Allie are the second to jump.

CLUE 3 – Go to the statue of Kaiser Wilhelm. Teams are no longer intersected.

I thought the intersection was pointless. It took place during a point in the race where teams were bunched together so it had no real bearing on the race at all.

Dan & Brandy jump third. Brandy is terrified. Louie & Michael arrive at CLUE 4 first which is a detour.

Soccer – Teams must kick a ball and hit 5 targets. (chosen by Jet/Cord, Steve/Allie, Joe/Heidi, Brent/Caite & Dan/Jordan)
OR
Sauer-Kraut – Teams must go to a restaurant and eat a plate of sauer-kraut, finishing it before a band finishes playing a song. If they fail they must start again with a full plate. (chosen by Louie/Michael, Carol/Brandy & Jordan/Jeff).

Caite & Jordan are the last to bungee jump. Louie & Michael easily eat the sauer-kraut and receive the next clue.

CLUE 5- Go to the Haifisch Bar and drink a (very) large glass of beer.

Joe struggles at the soccer as he hurt his knee doing the bungee jump. Steve & Allie finish the soccer and are now in second place. Joe & Heidi decide to switch to the sauer-kraut.

Louie & Michael have no problems at all drinking the beer and receive their next clue. They now have a big lead over the other teams.

CLUE 6- Proceed to the pitstop at Beatles-Platz.

Jordan & Jeff’s taxi goes the wrong way and they end up being lost. Louie & Michael are the first to arrive at the pitstop and win a $5,000 gift card each.

Steve & Allie are drinking beer. Jet & Cord are the third to complete the detour. Joe & Heidi arrive at the sauer-kraut and complete it first time. Dan & Jordan are doing good at the soccer. Carol & Brandy complete the sauer-kraut, Jet & Cord are at the beer, they say that they have never drunk beer before in their life. Steve & Allie arrive at the pitstop in second place.

Joe & Heidi finish the beer before Jet & Cord. Jordan & Jeff finally arrive at the sauer-kraut but fail miserably with about 2 thirds of the plate uneaten by the time the music finishes so they decide to switch to the soccer. Brent & Caite are doing the soccer, Caite injures her leg but they decide to stick with it rather than switching.

Joe & Heidi are team number 3 at the pitstop. Jet & Cord are struggling to finish the beer but Carol & Brandy don’t have any problems with the beer and make up some ground.

At the pitstop Jet & Cord are team #4, Carol & Brandy team #5 and Dan & Jordan are team #6.

This leaves only 2 teams left racing. Brent & Caite are drinking the beer. Well actually Brent is the one doing all the drinking and he ends up throwing up twice. Jordan & Jeff are in last place at the soccer detour.

Brent & Caite arrive at the pitstop at team number 7. They were completely shocked at they were certain they were in last place.

Jordan & Jeff are the last team to arrive but at is is a non-elimination leg they survive to race in leg 5.

I raised the subject on the forum, but I am not convinced that these non-elimination legs are planned in advance. I suspect they are decided based on who finishes last. It won’t be too much trouble to have a possible speedbump planned for every leg. After all the producers are much interested in making an entertaining show to get high ratings rather than making it fair. The Big Brother couple were saved, but was this their good luck or was there always going to be a non-elimination leg the first time they finished last?

Dan will be back blogging about Leg 5. Bye for now.

Hi everyone, this is Graham filling in for Dan on The Amazing Race 16 blog for the next few episodes.

We have 9 teams left at the start of Leg 3. Jet & Cord depart from the pitstart at 11.20pm.

Clue 1 – They must take one of 2 buses on a 6 hour journey through the Andes mountains to Argentina. At the destination they must win a game of 5 card stud, playing against a garden gnome. The buses leave at 8.30am and 8.50am, so all the teams are going to be bunched up again.

Second and third to leave are Joe & Heidi at 11.55pm and Carol & Brandy also at 11.55pm. Brent & Caite were due to leave at 1.20am but they woke up feeling sick and went to the hospital. Fourth to leave were Monique & Shawne at 1.22am, Jordan & Jeff were fifth to leave at 2.01am. Sixth Steve & Allie 2.23am, seventh Dan & Jordan at 2.25am and eighth Louie & Michael at 3.12am.

Brent and Caite return from the hosptial and eventually depart at 4.25am, about 3 hours later than they were supposed to.

I wish Jet and Cord would take off their cowboys hats, it’s really starting to annoy me now.

Clue 2/3 – Roadblock. They have to rope a target 18 feet away. This shouldn’t be a problem for the cowboys.

Clue 4 – Drive to Puente Nirihuau and search the cliffs for the next clue.

Jet and Cord are now way out in the lead with other leading teams struggling with the roadblock.

Clue 5 – Detour.
Horse Sense (done by Carol/Brandy, Jordan/Jeff, Joe/Heidi, Louie/Michael & Dan/Jordan although everyone but Jordan/Jeff switched to the other roadblock). They are given some co-ordinates and must find a bag of money buried in the ground.
Horse Power (done by Jet/Cord, Steve/Allie, Brent/Caite & Monique/Shawne although Monique/Shawne switched to the other roadblock). They had to go to a polo field, and using a wooden pony must score a goal in 9 swings or less.

Jet & Cord arrive at Horse Power and are disapointed that they are not using a real horse. They don’t have any problems and quickly finish it.

Clue 6 – Go to the pitstop in Estancia Fortin, Chacabuco.

Whilst Jet & Cord head off to the pitstop, Dan & Jordan are still back on clue 1 playing the card game. Carol & Brandy are doing the detour as are Jordan and Jeff. Joe & Heidi choose horse sense but use a compass on Joe’s watch rather than counting their steps as stated on the clue, so they have no chance of finding the buried money.

Carol & Brandy are also struggling on their detour and start arguing with each other. Brent & Caite are way back in last place on clue 1 and are driving around lost. Monique & Shawnw haven’t featured much in this leg are doing the roadblock.

Dan & Jordan are the 6th team to complete the roadblock. Carol & Brandy decide to switch detours to horse power, Joe & Heidi also switch. Jordan and Jeff didn’t understand the clue and keep taking the money bag to the wrong person. Brent & Caite finally arrive at the card game in clue 1. They should be far far behind everyone else, but luckily Shawne just can’t do the roadblock. Brent completes the roadblock quickly and overtakes Monique & Shawne. Shawne they says a prayer to God and is successful at the next attempt – although I’m sure it was just edited to look that way.

Jet & Cord arrive at the pitstop in first place and win a 10 day holiday to Argentina and Chile.

Dan & Jordan switch detours and Jordan & Jeff finally realise that they have been going to the wrong person.

Steve & Allie arrive at the pitstop in 2nd place, Carol & Brandy are 3rd, Joe & Heidi are 4th. Jordan & Jeff are the first team to complete the horse sense detour. Louie & Michael are the 4th team to switch detours. Dan & Jordan just can’t do the polo and get frustrated as all the teams behind them are catching up. They finally manage to complete it. Jordan & Jeff arrive at the pitstop in 5th place and Dan & Jordan arrive in 6th place.

Louie/Michael, Brent/Caite and Monique/Shawne are the only teams still racing and they are all together doing the same detour. Monique/Shawne struggle and make the potentially fatal mistake of switching detours.

Brent & Caite finish at the pitstop in 7th place. They are happy with that given they started the leg in hospital. Louie & Michael are 8th at the pitstop.

Monique & Shawne complete the detour but ate last to arrive at the pitstop. Phil tells them that they have been eliminated from the race.

8 teams remain. Here’s how I rate them -

My Top 3 – Dan/Jordan, Joe/Heidi and Brent/Caite
Middle 2 – Steve/Allie and Louie/Michael
Bottom 3 – Jeff/Cord, Jordan/Jeff and Carol/Brandy

The next leg involves drinking in Hamburg, Germany and all the teams have to pair up and work together. Leg 4 blog should be posted tomorrow (if I get time to watch it tonight).

Hi everyone.

I thought I would steal this post as it is the 250th post on the blog!!!

Dan, who has been blogging with us since the blog started is not able to blog about all the shows that he previously did due to his current living arrangements. But don’t worry, Dan will still be blogging for us when he can.

I just wanted to let you know what to expect from the blog over the next few weeks / months. This is a summary of the shows that will be blogged.

The Amazing Race 16 USA
Dan is still going to blog this show. Although there may be some episodes that are missed.

Survivor 20 USA
I’d like to welcome new blogger Nemle. Nemle will be giving us his opinions on the survivor episodes each week.

American Idol 9 USA
Dan will be blogging this show when he can. I am also watching the show, so I will blog for any episode that Dan is not able to watch. As I am in the UK and the episodes are shown here a day or 2 after the US airing, any blog posts I make will be up a few days later than normal.

Big Brother 10 Germany
Holger has been very busy recently, which is why he has not been able to post as frequently. There is a discussion going on BB Germany over on our forum, so if you haven’t already done so, you can check that out.

Veliki Brat VIP4 Serbia
velikibrat started off blogging this, but his university studies have left him with less spare time than he thought. Hopefully I can persuade him to do a summary of the final and the show as a whole once it is over.

There are many other shows currently airing around the world that are not being blogged about. If you are watching one and would like to be a World of Big Brother blogger, please do get in touch with me and I will get you set up. The email is webmaster@worldofbigbrother.com

Looking ahead to the near future. Alexander will be joining the blog to let us have his thoughts about the upcoming Big Brother Family Bulgaria edition and Dan will hopefully be telling us all about Celebrity Apprentice 3 USA.

Thanks to everyone for reading the blog and thanks to all the bloggers for their hard work. All the bloggers love to hear your comments, so please keep the comments coming. Another can make a comment, you don’t need to register.

Here’s the final part of the results of the World of Big Brother visitors survey.

25. Are there any other new features that you would like to see included on the World of Big Brother website?
There were plenty of suggestions here for me to think about.

One of the more common suggestions was to include details of major twists, themes and tasks. The difficulty for me here is actually obtaining this kind of information, especially for the non-English language shows. It is much easier to work out who is up for eviction and who is evicted than it is to use online translators to translate large blocks of text describing complicated twists and tasks. If I can think of a way of easily obtaining the information then I will consider including it on the website.

Another common request was for a video section. What kind of videos do you want to see? Again if there is an easily obtainable source for me to get the videos from then I’m happy to include videos.

Add other Big Brother World Firsts to the statistics section. Give me some ideas for this. If you can think of any statistics or records that you want me to add, add a comment to this post and i’ll see if I can get the answer and add it.

26. Do you think World of Big Brother should launch a forum?
Yes = 86.2%
No = 13.8%

That’s quite a comprehensive vote in favour of a forum.

27. If a forum was launched, what do you think your level of participation in the forum would be?
I would be interested in reading the forum posts = 81.0%
I would be interested in writing posts in the forum = 74.1%
I would like to be a moderator of the forum = 29.3%
I would not be interested in visiting the forum at all = 13.8%

One reason why I have been reluctant to launch a forum is I am unsure how active it would be. When I launched the blog this time last year I have struggled to find people willing to post on the blog. In fact if it hadn’t been for the great efforts of Dan, I would likely have closed the blog last year. It’s taken 12 months, but slowly we are building up a decent number of bloggers.

The survey has shown that there is a positive responce for a forum. Almost 75% said they would contribute by writing posts on the forum. So I will launch a forum on a trial basis soon.

28. If you have an comments to make, please type them in the box below.
This was the final question. I had some very positive and encouraging comments here, so thank you all for your kind words.

If you’ve got any comments or question to make about the survey or the world of big brother website, just add a comment to this post. It’s always great to hear from you.

Here’s part 2 of the World of Big Brother Survey results.

11. Please rate the following reality shows. (1 =hate it, 5 = OK and 10 = love it.)
Big Brother = 9.3 average
The Amazing Race = 7.6
Survivor (or Robinson) = 7.4
Idol = 6.9
The X Factor = 6.8
…. Got Talent = 6.5
The Mole = 6.4
Star/Fame/Dream Academy (or Operation Triumph) = 6.3
I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! = 6.2
The Farm = 5.4
The Bar = 5.1
Dancing with Stars (or Strictly Come Dancing) = 5.1

Unsurprisingly Big Brother was the clear winner.

12. What is your all time favourite reality show format?
Big Brother = 72.4%
Survivor = 13.8%
Idol = 5.2%
The Mole = 3.5%
The Amazing Race = 1.7%
Temptation House = 1.7%
Competition = 1.7%

13. Have you ever auditioned to be a Big Brother Housemate?
Yes = 19.0%
No = 81.0%

14. Have you ever auditioned for a show like Idol, X Factor or Got Talent?
Yes = 3.4%
No = 96.6%

15. Do you use the RSS feature for getting the latest Reality show news or Website Updates? (select all that apply)
I use the News RSS feed = 10.3%
I use the Website Updates RSS feed = 6.9%
I use the Blog posts RSS feed = 10.3%
I use the Blog comments RSS feed = 5.2%
I know about the RSS feeds but do not use them = 27.6%
I don’t know what RSS feeds are = 56.9%
Other: Didn’t know you were doing RSS feeds, I might now = 1.7%
Other: I just watch the 24/7 channel for Big Brother = 1.7%

As over half of people who completed the survey didn’t know what RSS feeds were, I will soon add a page explaining what they are and how they can be used. I’ll try and make them a bit more visible.

16. When using World of Big Brother, do you usually use the main “Reality TV” index that lists all the reality show news on the same page. Or do you use the individual format sections (ie use the World of Survivor page for Survivor, World of Big Brother page for Big Brother, World of Talent page for Idol etc)?
I use the All-In-One World of Reality TV page = 27.6%
I use the separate World of Big Brother, World of Survivor etc pages = 44.8%
It depends, I use both methods = 25.9%
I have no idea what you are talking about = 1.7%

I will keep both methods of reading the website going, I was just interested to see which way people preferred.

17. Which of the following areas of the website do you go to?
Current Contestants page = 63.8%
Timetable of upcoming shows = 62.1%
The statistics pages = 55.2%
List of Housemate exits and Percentages = 53.4%
Official Websites / Links page = 51.7%
Website Updates Page = 46.6%
Big Brother Timeline pages = 41.4%
A to Z list of Big Brother Housemates = 36.2%
Missing Information pages = 20.7%
None of the above = 0.0%

I’m very surprised the current contestants paged topped this poll. I was thinking about stopping it, but it will have to stay now

18. Have you ever visited the World of Big Brother blog?
Yes = 67.2%
No = 32.8%

20. Have you ever done any of the following on the World of Big Brother blog? (Please leave unanswered if none apply to you)
Submitted a blog post = 6.9%
Added a comment to a post = 10.3%
Voted in a poll = 36.2%

21. Would you be willing to blog for World of Big Brother about a reality show you are watching in the future?
Yes = 41.4%
No = 27.6%
Maybe = 31.0%

22. If you would like to be a World of Big Brother Blogger, please type your e-mail address in this box.
Thank you to the 17 people who left me their E Mail address. I will be contacting you soon regarding the blog. anyone that answered Yes or maybe that didn’t leave me their e mail address. If you would like to be a blogger, you can by e mailing me at webmaster@worldofbigbrother.com.

23. As we now cover more than Big Brother, do you think the name of the website should be changed?
No – leave it as World of Big Brother = 65.5%
Yes – change it to World of Reality TV = 32.8%
Don’t Know = 1.7%

So as the majority said leave it, the name and url of the site will remain World of Big Brother.

24. Are there any shows that are not covered by World of Big Brother that you would like to see on here?
Top Model (x5)
The Apprentice (x3)
Project Runway (x2)
The Biggest Loser (x2)
Fear Factor
Fama: ¡a bailar
Desafío (Colombian show)
Dancing with the Stars
I love Money (VH1)
My New BFF (MTV)
Cooking shows
Ma Maison Rona
Real World
Road Rules
Solitary
la casa de tu vida
pekin espress
dejadnos solos
I love Scasi
Confianza ciega
So You Think You Can Dance
The “Cruel Summer/Winter/Holiday”
The All-Ireland Talent Show

Thanks for all the suggestions. Top Model and The apprentice were the most popular choices and I will look at added them to the site in 2010. A lot of the shows I have not heard of, but I will look into all of them. Though I can’t promise I will add them all.

People also asked for these following show which are already covered on the website.

grande fatello,grand hermano,veliki brat [NOTE: These are Big Brother titles and are all covered in World of Big Brother]
Survivor (x3) [NOTE: already covered, see World of Survivor]
The Farm (x2) [NOTE: already covered, see World of Other Reality]
Idol (x2) [NOTE: already covered, see World of Talent]
Got Talent (x2) [NOTE: will be covered in World of Talent]
Unanimous [NOTE: Already covered, see World of Archives section]
Reality Circus [NOTE: Already covered, see World of Archives section]

Tomorrow I will add the 3rd and final part of the results.

Over the Christmas period a visitors survey was available for World of Big Brother readers to complete.

A big thank you to everyone that completed the survey. I’m going to summarise the results in 2 (maybe 3) blog posts this week and this is the first.

1. Are you male or female?
Male = 98.3%
Female = 1.7%

Wow! I kind of expected there to be more male visitors than females. But 98% male was much higher than I expected. Is is that not many females visit World of Big Brother or maybe females don’t like completing surveys?

2. How old are you?
10 – 19 = 43.1%
20 – 29 = 44.8%
30 – 39 = 8.6%
40 – 49 = 3.5%

The youngest was 12 and the oldest was 44. The most common age was 18.

3. Which country do you live in?
USA = 22.4%
Philippines = 17.2%
UK = 15.5%
Canada = 8.6%
Spain = 6.9%
Germany = 5.1%
Others = 24.3%

Others were made up of Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia and Uruguay.

4. What is your main written language?
English = 56.9%
Spanish = 13.8%
Filipino/Tagalog = 6.9%
French = 6.9%
Dutch = 5.2%
German = 5.2%
Others = 5.1%

Others were Polish, Portuguese and Slovenian.

5. Do you understand any other languages?
34.5% said English, so adding the 56.9% who said English was their main language in question 4, totals 91.4%.

Other languages that were answered that have not been mentioned so far were Chinese, Italian, Welsh, Mexican and Russian.

6. When did you first visit the World of Big Brother website?
First visit = 3.4%
December 2009 = 5.2%
January to November 2009 = 8.6%
2008 = 17.2%
2007 = 31.0%
2006 = 10.3%
2005 = 13.8%
Can’t remember = 10.3%

7. On average, how often do you visit World of Big Brother?
More than once every day = 13.8%
Every day = 36.2%
A few times a week = 31.0%
Once a week = 5.2%
A few times a month = 3.4%
Once a month = 1.7%
Less often than once a month = 6.9%
This is my first visit = 1.7%

It’s great that half of people visit the site at least every day. It tells me that people like what they are seeing.

8. Why did you visit World of Big Brother today?
To find out the latest news = 72.4%
To look for details of a current show = 51.7%
To look for details of an old show = 34.5%
General browsing of the site = 31.0%
To read the blog = 17.2%
To find a particular picture = 13.8%
Other = 6.8%

I created World of Big Brother for 2 main reasons.
1) So that there was a place to go for people to find out the latest news for all Big Brothers worldwide.
2) There was an archive of Big Brother shows that was never removed.

Due to a change in my personal circumstances in 2009, I am not able to keep the news as up to date as I previously have. Hopefully that will change later in 2010, but for now the best I can do is adding news headlines the day after they happen and news stories 2 days after.

9. How did you first find out about the World of Big Brother website?
A Google search = 39.7%
I can’t remember = 24.1%
A post on a forum = 22.4%
Wikipedia = 7.0%
A search from another search engine = 3.4%
A Yahoo search = 1.7%
Someone told me about it = 1.7%

Website visibility is something I’ve been thinking about recently. How to get World of Big Brother more visible to searchers. One way I was told about was submitting a site map to the major search engines, but as World of BB has over 16,000 pages I haven’t been able to create one.

Another thing I am thinking about is expanding the links section on the site. At the moment only reality shows official websites are shown, but maybe listing and exchanging links with fansites, forums, blogs etc that cover the reality shows that World of Big Brother covers may be a way forward.

10. Which web browser do you mainly use when visiting World of Big Brother?
Firefox = 44.8%
Internet Explorer = 34.5%
Chrome (Google) = 10.3%
Safari = 6.9%
Opera =3.4%

When I first started the website in 2005 the majority of visitors used Internet Explorer. Firefox has now overtaken IE. I do try to make pages look correct using both browsers, but as I mainly use Internet Explorer myself, the site is designed with IE in mind. But if you see something that doesn’t display correctly with your browser then let me know and I will see if I can fix it.

That’s it for now, I’ll post part 2 of the survey results tomorrow.

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.