Hassaan

I'd be happy with an Oti win, though a non-white person has never won IAC so the odds are kind of stacked against her.

I think it's complex because they may feel (as Ronan said back in 2018) that the band doesn't really work without Stephen.

Lola Young doesn't like her earlier stuff but her reasoning is fair enough, she doesn't feel it's her. The Wanted don't hide the fact that they hate Walks Like Rihanna.

Dean & Melvin both work for Radio 1 but I gather they don't actually cross paths that much.

Is there a new method for the 2020s?

GK Barry and Richard's conversations are always good value.

I like it. Much as I feel I still prefer Merry Christmas, I like that it's different what with that being a lot more upbeat.

Dean will definitely stay in for a while because people seem to not realise that it's a vote to save, not eliminate. I liked "A for Asshole".

They revealed it on the ITV2 show. :)

Also... Melvin Contostavlos incoming

Hopefully someone else gets to do this trial. I'm guessing Jane. Enjoyed the chats between GK and Richard.

Not being racist enough, probably. Probably the same people saying "you lost, get over it" after Brexit and that 2019 win.

That was my first thought too. It seems chopped up in places.

Dean still doing the trials is becoming annoying now. I think he's not helping matters as he's not bossed it yet. I think the whole thing with the chores is going to be very split down the middle. I don't think Danny & Barry had any ill intention, personally.

I think Take That had the formula right when they reformed - an album every two years (or more) and just focus on the touring aspect in between. Now, I'm not sure if that approach would have worked during their first run in the 90s but then they probably didn't know themselves then, never mind how to navigate the music industry. There's striking when the iron's hot and there's running yourself into the ground, and I do question if it would have made that much of a difference to One Direction's popularity (for example) had they released an album every two years and just focused on getting as much as they could out of each one, through touring and other stuff. East 17 are actually still going although with barely any of the original members. I guess they've carved out some kind of niche for themselves amongst the "legacy" circuit, like 5ive and to a lesser extent Blue (as they released an album of new material in 2022). It seems it's tricky for the older boybands to cut through with their new material but maybe that's applicable to most acts who had a lot of success in the pre-streaming age. Westlife and Take That's most recent releases of new material in 2021 and 2023 respectively both charted well (#2 and #1 respectively) although the singles released with the album didn't do much - #66 for Starlight (Westlife in 2021) and Windows (Take That in 2023) not making the top 100, though both performing well in the sales only charts. Touring wise, they're both capable of selling out arenas and stadiums whenever they do them, so they're very much in a cushy position.

I hope we see more of Melvin, Oti & Barry too. He said he needed his contacts, but you're not meant to sleep with them in, surely? Even then, it seemed to largely be a communication issue.

Does that make As It Was his biggest track?

I think Maura and Richard were brilliant in that challenge yesterday. I'm glad Danny is doing the trial today as at least someone else gets a go.

It was also interesting to hear about Tulisa's story. I was aware of it but didn't know much about it. Also, why is Dean mentioning the teabags knowing he's wearing a microphone and is being filmed?

Yeah, that seemed like an already difficult task that Dean made more difficult, and GK did her best but she was panicking therefore didn't take in enough deep breaths seemingly.

The funeral is today. A shame in a way that paparazzi are there but I don't think that was avoidable.

Robbie wrote an open letter to Nigel Martin-Smith: https://www.instagram.com/p/DCd76Fpu_FE/

I can't help feeling it would have done anyway. Public opinion on the whole thing seemed to have shifted somewhat.

I've caught the first two episodes and intend to catch up on the third after it has gone out on telly (cos I'm that much of a traditionalist :D). Very eye-opening. I knew of the Take That story already but not so much about the others. It always seems to be the way with journalists (particularly those of tabloids such as News of the World) who are asked to take part in things like this that they are pretty much not really looking at things through a different lens. You could say the same about the managers too but I guess they were also going with what they knew at the time. Two things can be right at the same time - these bands were very overworked and it wasn't sustainable but also a boyband (or any music act really) is a brand.

They've been touring all year so I can believe that they couldn't find the time.