World of Chig   

16.12.06
Tonight's X Factor Final



It's Ray v. Leona.
It's North v. South.
It's male v. female.
It's Caucasian v. mixed race (with a controversial phone-in discussion on this very issue on Five Live yesterday).
It's the former Brooksider v. the Eastender.
It's the new Robbie v. the new Mariah.
(It's Simon Cowell v. Simon Cowell, unfortunately.)

But, after Leona being the favourite all the way through the live shows, it's too close to call because it's also The Entertainer v The Singer, and that's what makes it more exciting than I thought it would be.

Simon Cowell has often said that 'girls don't vote for girls', but I've seen some evidence that this is changing. The weekly 'instant reaction' polls at tvpolls.co.uk, in which I always vote, have consistently shown Leona in the lead, with a voting audience that is always around two-thirds female (amongst the self-selecting voters). At this very moment, with 62% of tonight's voters being female, Leona has 68% versus Ray's 32%, so she can definitely win this. It's also a myth that black artists don't win TV talent shows with public voting. Several years ago, a young, black, Bristolian woman called Celestine won the BBC's Search For A Star. (Goodness only knows what happened to her though.) Lenny Henry was considerably more successful after winning New Faces, but it was also a long time ago. I think Leona should win it, even if Jamelia's not keen, but you never know.

UPDATE after the first programme:

I'm an emotional wreck after watching that superb show! I thought that was all brilliant. I was quite choked after watching little Sean from Wigan (left) do a really good surprise performance and then I cried with laughter at the cacophony created by all the failed auditionees. Did you see that woman who had only one line to sing, and missed it? She'll be kicking herself for the rest of her life over that one! (Who was she anyway? I didn't recognise her.)

Most importantly, Ray and Leona produced six superb performances. They're wisely going for different audiences, but they have both performed to the best of their ability when it mattered tonight, which was great to watch. I was indignant when Westlife appeared to help Ray, but it all made sense when Take That appeared with Leona. Excellent idea, and great to see the boyband of the nineties on the same stage as the boys who took their place in the noughties.

My prediction? Kate will say it's very close, just to squeeze more money out of the punters.

I'm not voting, but I do hope Leona wins, for all sorts of reasons. I'll probably never buy anything she does apart from the forthcoming Christmas number one single, but for sheer talent she deserves to win. And if a fat Glaswegian woman can win a talent series, then a beautiful London woman certainly can. Not that I have anything against fat Glaswegian women in general, or Michelle McManus specifically, but some irrational people probably do and it didn't stop her winning Pop Idol against a good-looking cheeky chappie bloke (AKA Mark Rhodes), so there are parallels which can be made with tonight.

UPDATE after Ray and Leona both sing the single, A Moment Like This:
If it takes this last performance to swing it, then Leona has it in the bag. It's so obvious that this Kelly Clarkson song was picked with Leona in mind; it's so much more suited to her voice than Ray's. He gave it his best shot, but she has absolutely 'nailed it' and 'made it her own', to use two of the well-worn cliches of this series. You go girl!

UPDATE @22:20:

It's Leona! Hurrah! Bless you, Raymond Quinn, for being so pleased for her. You're a gent. Tonight, Leona sang with Take That. In eight days' time, she'll probably be knocking them off the number one spot on Christmas Eve. They've experienced this before. Leona is the new Mr Blobby!

Well done also to Gary Barlow, for publicly urging Simon Cowell to make the most of Leona's talents and to produce a worthwhile album with her. I couldn't help wondering if he was making a pitch for a share of the songwriter duties though.

UPDATE @ 23:14

Simon Cowell says that Leona's single, which isn't officially available for download until midnight (or it would be eligible for tomorrow's chart, which they don't want) has sold 20,000 in five minutes, making it the fastest selling download ever, ever, ever. (I'm presuming you can pay by text message before midnight, then download after?)


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