Adam

I admit to having seen very limited coverage, but the three standout performers I saw were Cherie (but I heard she started getting worse), Rachel & Tom - so the last two in the final please!

Yes, thats a fair point, especially after JLS stayed this week against the odds. We shall see!

Well it IS the final :P

As far as the fix thing goes, even if Sinitta knew every contestant in the whole series and invited them all to audition late, at the end of the day, the judges don't decide the winner. If Leona had been invited late, but was $h!t, she wouldnt have won. We don't care where the singers have come from, what their background is, as long as from the 12 finalists, we choose our winner. If there was any 'fix' in the phone voting, it would have been flagged up as it has on MANY other shows. ----------- 01. Alexandra - Un-Break My Heart I think this is probably a bias placing, because I like many of you was a bit underwhelmed by this when I saw it, possibly because of the structure as you say! However I was out last night and probably watched it 100 times on the bus home (God bless YouTube on the iPhone) and I fell in love with the little intricacies, until I adored it. I think Listen was a lot better but still a cracking performance. 02. Diana - White Flag Watching live this was right up there with Alex for me. Her best performance since 'Call Me', there were some bad bits but when it was right, it was magic. Perfect song choice for her, and there was one word 'I'll hold my tongue' which was just full of emotion. You know when something just goes through you and hits a nerve (in a good way), it was just a magic... word. The last line was also emotional and well sung. 03. JLS - I'm Already There Good stuff, this. Much better than You Light Up My Life IMO. Aston hit a big old note there. It was a bit 'winning performance' to be honest but vocally it was good and it was overall pretty strong. 04. Eoghan - Year 3000 This was lots of fun, and one of the best performances from Eoghan in weeks. Not his best (loved him on Mariah week), but very good. Don't know if I agree he should be doing it as his style if he gets a deal though... an album of Busted type stuff seems a bit old.. Why was he singing 'is doing fine', too? Is he not allowed to say a girl is pretty fine?] 05. Alexandra - Don't Stop The Music I thought was one of her weakest. Vocals were good, movement was very good, it just lacked any oomph in my opinion. I'm glad she did an upbeat, contemporary song, but for me this was nothing on Toxic, even though it was vocally far more capable. I think this is just not a big performance song, it's a good to dance to song. 06. JLS - Umbrella Vocally it was really good - and props to Marvin for taking it into the key change 'I'll be all you need and more' very strongly. However the dancing TOTALLY put me off this - I found it all very strange and highly uncessary - what was the use of a flip in a song like this, it wasn't Run DMC... also when they did their communal group move, why was Aston doing that funny thing with his arms, dancing like Soulja Boy and shouting OHHHHHH! I just found the whole thing detracted from the vocal and as a performance was very offputting. I think they were in time with each other but out of time with the backing vocals - which I think there were loads of! I don't see why a group of four people should have any at all, it makes me wonder how much of their 'great harmonies' are actually great harmonies.. 07. Eoghan - Does Your Mother Know? Decent but unspectacular is how I would describe this. The vocal was fine, again very loud BVs and he moves surprisingly well, but nothing really great happened. I think it COULD have been great if there'd been a routine he'd actually joined in with rather than just bouncing around the joint - that really would have escalated it. 08. Diana - Girlfriend I really didn't like this. It was good to see her having fun and moving a bit but I just found there was no saving grace with the vocal. I am not a fan of the original to be fair but there is so many better Avril songs she could have done - and the one bit of this vocal I was looking forward to her doing ('hey yoo-uu-ouuuu'), they missed out. I found it a total dissapointment, and I know Avril is Canadian but to hear Diana doing the speaking bit in an American accent was horrid. Such a shame because White Flag was really great for her. Result To be honest, I wasn't bothered at ALL as long as Alex got through, but in hindsight, I'd rather have seen Diana stay over JLS or Eoghan. So I am a bit sad, but it's far from the worst outcome for me. Overall 01. Alexandra ----------- 02. JLS 03. Eoghan but JLS are there by default. I'd rather see Diana, Ruth, Austin or Scott in the final over JLS. Prediction WINNER - Eoghan 2nd - Alexandra 3rd - JLS

Alexandra! PLEASE! Though I expect to be very disappointed next week when Eoghan wins.

01 | Call Me 02 | White Flag 03 | Man In The Mirror 04 | With Or Without You Those four were outstanding performances, some of the series best. 05 | Everybody Hurts 06 | Patience 07 | Yellow 08 | Smile These were middling to good 09 | Girlfriend 10 | I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman These were bloody awful.

She was great on UMH but I don't think it was an amazing week for her in the same way last week was. I still think she will be the runner up :( (to Eoghan)

Congratulations Joseph!

I agree that some of the people had more potential than the live shows gave them credit for, but the show has a history of people not being able to perform to the same level when the live shows hit. I refuse to believe someone like Cheryl Cole who is very well off would completely sell her soul for money and give her act a bad song choice if Simon Cowell instructed her to. There'd be absolutely no point of being on the panel.

TOTALLY agree with that! Coldplay ftw!

I get the impression that if she did that she would definitely get the sack :P

Seconded. Or Randy. Keep the four we've got, it's been a wicked series. Simon is my least favourite but it just wouldn't be the same without him.

Oh, well that's nothing new, we all knew Alexandra's Mum was a famous singer, well I did, it hasn't been hidden. And if you want any more ammo, Alexandra is friends with Joss Stone - give a $h!t... she has had the same Mum and the same friends for the whole competition, it's never been a secret and she's only been favourite to win for one week. At the end of the day if her talent was questionable, ie if she had a voice like Paris Hilton, she wouldn't be there. You can't get through such a public competition on 'who you know' alone.. Alexandra is one of, if not THE, most talented of the 12 finalsists and of the entire series. And THAT's why it's not surprising she is in the final 4. No other reason but hard work and talent.

I like not knowing! Although last week I totally cheated and asked Alex's friend because I was so worried!

I am really looking but I can't find anything that's been written - I haven't checked the Sun as they are backing her to win and unlikely to plant a negative story. I don't undestand what is meant by 'not so obscure' as far as her background goes. All I know is she has had a simple life in Islington and shares a bed with her sister, that's all I've heard about it as she doesn't go on about it like previous contestants. As far as the conspiracy theory goes, it's gotten to the point of being absolutely ridiculous now - throughout the series it's been mainly 'fixed' for Eoghan (knowing winks from Simon) and Diana (Hallelujah-gate), and people were saying Simon wasn't giving Alexandra credit (like Syesha in American Idol) because he didn't want another Leona... NOW apparently it's 'fixed' towards Alexandra - and if the reason is that they've been planting bad stories about Diana and giving Eoghan deliberately bad songs - then that could mean it's 'fixed' in favour of JLS too! Well, if it's fixed towards ALL of them, I'll be sure to ring OFCOM! Ridiculous. On a serious note, I think providing Alexandra gets to the final, she is well sorted. Simon is obviously becoming fond of her now and I can't see her not getting an album. If she wins, she gets the career. If she doesn't win especially if she loses to Eoghan, there will be the Rhydian style uproar that I think will see her sell more than him when their albums DO come out. Also, Diana has lovers and haters, Alexandra has lovers and those who just aren't that bothered, if Diana wins, people that hate her will petition for the others to get record deals, for sure.

What's been said about Alexandra's background please?

Absolutely amazing cover - I really hope the Saturdays continue to be one of those bands we always fear won't do well and then blow us away with their success - Issues is off to a good start for sure! I really think they need to release both a remix to radio and also an acoustic version like the live performances to iTunes, especially as the success seems to have started so early, we don't want it to peak too soon. I'm sure they have something up their sleeves. Whoever at Fascination employed that cover designer needs to pay them double time and get them on the GA team too..

GO VV.

I agree with them personally. Alexandra performed a song (of Britney's) just as upbeat, moved just as much as Britney did, and while it wasn't her strongest vocal, it was a very good live vocal all the same. Much better than Britney's performance - not saying Alexandra is more of a star per se, Britney has star quality in droves, but I don't think it's odd people are saying Alex is better at all - your criteria appears to be putting on entertaining performances and having personality/charisma - both of which are no problem for her.

I am biased because we were born in the same hospital but I hope Lewis wins, he was lucky but he deserved some luck after getting penalties at every turn some might say unfairly. To be fair they all deserve it but the sports personality that has provided most excitement is Hamilton for me.

Wow, very pleasing! It hasn't even been getting radio play yet has it?

I did in series 1, everyone did, but she became a bitter b**ch! She still can be quite funny but not in this case

I agree totally. JLS got through today on rebound votes - if they are anything but INCREDIBLE next week they are gone - and while I still predict Eoghan to win, Diana still has a lot of fans despite the haters (it's not a vote to evict!) and Alexandra is doing what Laura and Diana have done the opposite of and started well, before really blowing up. I truly, truly hope Alexandra wins for two reasons. One, she is the best most talented contestant remaining in my opinion. Second, all the conspiracy theories of a fix have been levelled at Eoghan and Diana, and an Alexandra win would not only impress people that she 'beat the fix' but it might change a few minds too.

01. Alexandra - Listen Fantastic. Amazing vocals. Just what she needed. One of the best ever. 02. Ruth - Always The only thing I disliked about this performance was 'I will love yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar' instead of you, it wasn't even a language/dialect thing. But I think this was for the most part, another Ruth classic. 03. Alexandra - Toxic Vocally this would have to sit lower than No.4 or 5, but this was just a spectacular performance. Her look, her moves, her lower register vocals were all very good. Unfortunately you couldn't hear her too well in the higher parts and the chorus but it's not like she couldn't reach the notes like Eoghan last week - she just needed to power them out more for me. 04. Ruth - I Love Rock N Roll I wouldn't call this particularly strong but I think it was a weak week - the three top performances were head and shoulders for me. I still enjoyed this though I just didn't find it as strong or captivating as her previous efforts. 05. Diana - Everybody Hurts Someone is going very downhill! She has lost it for me, and I'm clearly not the only one who thinks so. It's a real shame but this was at least a little return to form - there were glimpses of old Diana in there. 06. JLS - You Light Up My Life I just found this totally uninspired and not very exciting, vocally a lot better than their first effort, but like Diana they are losing it for me. 07. Eoghan - Sometimes It wasn't great was it? It seemed to be in an odd key, but he saved it with some of the ad libs. He seems to really have to concentrate to hit a hard note whereas others look so effortless. Hated the cheesy 9 year old dancers. 08. JLS - Baby One More Time Simon was right to describe this as limp. It just went nowhere and lacked any oomph whatsoever. 09. Eoghan - We're All In This Together Worst Troy Bolton ever. If he hasn't even got the questionable talent of the High School Musical cast, he ought to forget it. It was just awful, badly sung, boring and one dance move in the whole thing. 10. Diana - I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman Best not go there. This proves Diana cannot sing a straight vocal song. It has to be kooky for her to manage it. Result I was hoping any one of Diana, Eoghan or JLS would go so have to say I'm pretty gutted BUT I predicted either Ruth or Alexandra would be leaving us, so of the two possibilities, it was the best for me. Still sad though. Overall 01. Alexandra ----------------------- 02. Diana 03. JLS 04. Eoghan ----------------------------- Guest performers - Miley was fun! Clearly not the strongest singer ever but I liked it! Miss Britney Spears, on the other hand, what a JOKE. As for those saying 'oh shes gone through so much, it was so much better than the VMA's, I sympathise if she's having a hard time. But 1) if she's not ready, don't already be on your second album since the breakdown. 2) It was not OUR fault that we have such a dire previous performance to compare it to. VMAs or not, this performance was just okay. Yes, she has something special about her and she is a star, but what did she do but strut and flick her hair - I'll do that across the lounge to her CD too if someone wants to give me an open cheque for it! To be honest, it's not the performance that bothers me, it was an alright showing. What does annoy me is how people can slate Leon (who wasn't great by any means but at least opened his mouth and sang) and then say how FANTASTIC!!! this was. Worse, I've seen people write how overrated Alexandra is, 'but wasn;t Britney amazing' - Norma was right, every single well of those contestants was better than Britney and good on James Corden for saying so.

Arsenal have been this way for a while, I don't get why we don't annihilate the smaller teams to go with the big names we always beat. I think we were very lucky today, VP was clearly offside for our first.