I must admit that I don't really understand the logic of the female top three either as Jay says. Does it not also mean Chappell/Nelly/Kelly get to essentially skip a round and save a better song for later on which gives them advantage over other artists using a big song to get through this next round? I'm just trusting in Calum because everything's been organised so well and I'm sure it makes more sense than I realise. To me though, the obvious thing would've been to just treat it as though Michelle came last and then move on as planned.

It’s a difficult situation to handle - huge respect to Calum for responding to these curveballs so quickly and generally hosting so impeccably.

I’d have probably instead continued with the elimination as planned with the girls reducing to 10, and found a way to balance the fleets up later. But it seems too late to change the format for this round again now.

It’s a tough one for Calum because I assume there was no contingency plan for someone to just pull out after 2 rounds, so it’s hard to create a scenario in which the first two rounds don’t feel pointless for the females.

So I fully get why the top 3 decision was made. I would agree it kinda means they get to save a song though which works in their favour and it’s not really the fault of anyone in the make or groups categories that this happened, so it’s a disadvantage to them. Personally wouldn’t mind if all 3 categories retrospectively got to miss Round 1. Definitely does not change my own fate 😂😂😂

But whatever happens, it is just a silly game in the pop forum and Calum is doing a fantastic job at making it unpredictable and not just following Season 1 to keep us guessing already and I love it ❤️

Guess Jay didn't send a female artist then 🤭

I think whatever way it goes there's going to be some sort of imbalance but I think Calums solution is a reasonable one, it's probably unlikely those 3 artists would be at risk of elimination this round anyway. The only real advantage is being able to save a song for later but it's still early on, I don't know that we'd have got any of the major big hits from them anyway 🤷🏼‍♀️

Hand on heart, regardless of which category I'm in, or where my artist placed (and whether or not it would be to my advantage or disadvantage), I'd still have questioned this particular logic in how Round 3 is being approached!

Maybe there’s a (bigger) plan in next two rounds of bootcamps, that will only make sense after they’re over

24 minutes ago, -Jay- said:

Hand on heart, regardless of which category I'm in, or where my artist placed (and whether or not it would be to my advantage or disadvantage), I'd still have questioned this particular logic in how Round 3 is being approached!

I know, I'm just kidding 😅

Just now, Lindsey. said:

I know, I'm just kidding 😅

Sorry, I realise that response of mine looks rather defensive, I knew your post was lighthearted! 🫶🏻

It's been a lot of fun trying to figure out which artists we all could be... and trying to keep our identities concealed. 🤐 So far, I'm keeping my thoughts on who others might be to myself - but I'm looking forward to seeing who I'm wrong or right about!

~

Sorry for probably overthinking things by writing the following, but I want to emphasise that I am really enjoying taking part in The Pop Factor and I hope it doesn't come across like I'm not because of my previous posts... it's definitely all fun and games, so roll on Round 3.

Although I’d rather not share future plans for the game to try and keep it as exciting as possible for everyone involved, feels like it’s unavoidable at this point in the interest of total transparency.

Preface: it is a shame that - as I’ve been informed a so-called large number of people were unamused with the top 3 females progressing to Round 4 - people didn’t feel they could air this sooner, and only now after conversations appear to have been had behind closed doors is it being brought up to court opinion and change things at this late stage. I’d hope if there are any niggles people can feel comfortable bringing them up in the thread; it’s not a bulletproof concept that can’t be adapted as we go, but I’m less willing to listen to complaints when there’s an air of indirectness in their approach. With that said, if there’s any concerns about the game moving forward I encourage everybody to feel they can bring them up in here. I always try to respond (and if I haven’t it’s not unnoticed), however there are some things that I don’t respond to when things are happening behind the scenes and things that might not make sense would end up making sense down the line (ie twists).

As I mentioned earlier in the game, the categories will not merge until after Judges’ Houses this season due to the increased number of participants. In Season 1 all of the categories came together for Boot Camp however with 33 artists still in the competition right now it’s just not feasible to expect people to commit to that large a number of songs and ranking them in 6 days. This also means that Chappell, Kelly and Nelly receiving a bye to Round 4 only serves them an advantage within their own category, so I’m not understanding the concerns being raised about the Solo Male and Groups categories being slighted by this because they are not unless anybody feels particularly strongly about the chances of the top 3 solo females having a serious lapse in judgement.

I’m not going to pretend it’s the perfect outcome, but I had to make a quick decision (had a mini-meltdown and ran through a LOT of different scenarios that Joseph can attest to ) to keep things on schedule and with as little disruption to the game as possible that also didn’t mean the voting periods for Rounds 1 and 2 for the Solo Female category were completely pointless, both for those competing and anybody else voting and taking time out of their day to join in. I appreciate the withdrawal effectively acts as an elimination, but I also weighed up how people would feel about two rounds effectively meaning nothing for the competition considering some artists did use big hits.

With all of that said:

• Boot Camp: Part One has 33 artists remaining, with 3 Solo Female artists not participating and is separated by category, 3 artists eliminated (1 from each category)

• Boot Camp: Part Two has 30 artists remaining, with every artist competing and is separated by category, 3 artists eliminated (1 from each category)

• The rest of the competition continues as planned with all three categories at the same number of artists

If there’s anything else anybody wants to bring up or if there are any more questions please feel free, but I hope that provides some explanation and thought behind what’s happened and that we can all go into Round 3 ready to slay with the bangers after everybody’s had an opportunity to provide feedback

You're doing a great job Calum!!

None of you better pull out now x

Thank you for taking the time to clarify all that @Calum.

I really appreciate everything your doing with the forum activity. I missed out last year and was beyond thrilled to be successful in taking part with an artist this year.

I know I'm not the only one that appreciates your hard work. ❤️

39 minutes ago, Calum said:

Preface: it is a shame that - as I’ve been informed a so-called large number of people were unamused with the top 3 females progressing to Round 4 - people didn’t feel they could air this sooner, and only now after conversations appear to have been had behind closed doors is it being brought up to court opinion and change things at this late stage.

Thanks for going through it Calum - it was a difficult thing to have to quickly think of a solution to and its a great game and its good to see forum participation high/ excited for something :)

Just to say, I think the assumption for many was prior to the results, that it was for all categories - I know that's what my assumption was - but maybe I need to just read things better as it was said 'Girls' which is why I then queried things as the results were being posted yesterday... But yeah it makes sense what you've said and needing to find a fix to things due to an act pulling out.

Keep up the good work - i'm just annoyed I didn't get on it and get an act... next year

Edited Tuesday at 11:222 days by ElectroBoy

3 hours ago, -Jay- said:

Regarding the Top 3 female artists not taking part in Round 3, while all artists from the male/group categories are to take part in Round 3... how do we all feel about it? I'm not really understanding the logic of it.

So, Michelle Branch's withdrawal midway through Round 2 did indeed take away from the original purpose of the first two female rounds. That being, "determine which female artist gets the lowest points and leaves the competition". With that purpose gone, the female voting for Round 1 & 2 essentially had no point to it, because the Top 11 was automatically established with Michelle's exit. Therefore, I do understand why a new reason was brought in to justify all the female votes, so it didn't feel like a waste of time.

The thing is, for the group/male categories, the original intention of Round 1 & 2's purpose, has remained intact (i.e. "determine which male & group artists get the lowest points and leave the competition"). Ultimately for these two categories, it didn't matter where in the Top 11 they placed in the combined results... they simply had to avoid being 12th (last). Now they're all required to compete in Round 3, i.e. no incentive for those that made the Top 3, which is the case for the females.

To me, this makes Round 3 seem like it'll be unbalanced, and dare I say not too fair. Wouldn't it make more sense for the Top 3 in every category to be given a bye in Round 3?

As things stand, a male or group who placed Top 3 in Round 2 could come last in Round 3 and leave the competition. Whereas the female Top 3 don't risk this happening, when in theory that could happen if they were taking part. But they're not, because of Michelle Branch? This doesn't make much sense to me.

Just to be clear, I thoroughly appreciate that hosting an event of this scale is undoubtedy an immense task for Calum, lots of hard work to provide us with entertainment. I'm so grateful for it. So the last thing I intend with this post is to cause any upset. But this is my feedback for Round 3 and I wonder how others feel. If the consensus is that most people don't mind how Round 3 is set to play out, then that's ok.

1 minute ago, pavi said:

Oh I know all too well, and you don't know anything about what I've experienced in life... but thank you for the sassy input as always, Pav.

I wouldn't want a free pass to the next round anyway as I would want the chance to share as much music from my act as possible.

Edited Tuesday at 11:032 days by gooddelta

In all seriousness though, Kelly, Nelly and Chappell would’ve gone through to the next round regardless so this might actually be an advantage for less popular Buzzjack artists as they won’t be as easily overshadowed.

We appreciate all the hard work that goes into this @Calum and we do not take it for granted! I'm pretty sure I couldn't put together a game like this!

My only question was that I thought you'd said the top 3 from each category would automatically progress to Bootcamp part 2 - did I imagine that or misunderstand it? Or was that the case but then you had to change it due to Michelle pulling out?

I feel like it's one of those stuck between a rock and a hard place decisions for a host (like when I had a withdrawal during the semi voting in BJSC 180, the first time it had ever happened in 18 years). I respect the way this decision went and not sure I'd have done it differently myself, but do also see the other perspectives. I'm actually in awe of Calum taking on a competition of this scale (again) which is running for so many weeks, it's no small undertaking making all the graphics, playlists, totting up scores, Google sheets, finding time to host results, arranging a prize, all the creativity.

On 12/02/2026 at 19:08, Calum said:

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Our ground team has been monitoring the vitals of everyone aboard Pop Fleet 26 since we launched into orbit to keep us all safe while we embark on our mission to find Lady BuzzJack.

Unfortunately, despite being contained and no longer considered a virus with threat to life for six years since it took hold of BuzzJack in 2020, Michelle Branch has tested positive for and is displaying symptoms of HOVID-15. Michelle can no longer continue on Pop Fleet 26's mission, and therefore will be ejected from the spacecraft immediately.

What does this mean?

As part of the Solo Female Fleet, Michelle Branch's withdrawal from the competition means she will no longer be included in the final results for the Earth Auditions and the Orbit Auditions' combined total. Any votes posted thus far including Michelle Branch do not need to be edited, they will be amended to remove her when results are counted. If you haven't yet voted, you can choose whether to include or not to include Michelle Branch in your votes.

This also means that there will be no elimination in the Solo Female category at the end of the Orbit Auditions.

However, the three female artists with the highest combined score overall from the Earth Auditions and the Orbit Auditions will automatically progress to the second part of Boot Camp. The remaining eight artists will participate in the first part of Boot Camp and elimination will take place as planned.

The identity of the member behind Michelle Branch will not be revealed or confirmed unless they decide to share this themselves.

Thank you for your attention. Our ground team will keep you updated on any further outbreaks of HOVID-15.

@Mangø sorry I had to comb through the thread to find it, but this was the post addressing the withdrawal and only made reference to the female artists. Hope that helps

2 minutes ago, Calum said:

@Mangø sorry I had to comb through the thread to find it, but this was the post addressing the withdrawal and only made reference to the female artists. Hope that helps

Sounds like I got the wrong end of the stick then, thanks for clarifying!