Doug

Finally! Should have been out before Mirrorball for sure but oh well. The Last Great American Dynasty now

Natalya and Scott meeting was so pure, my winners 😭 gutted at Scott/Dorothy getting blocked but in that situation I saw it coming as much as I’d have liked Andy to have gone instead, he’s nice but a bit of a wet drip. I’m actually hoping Natalya does it now as her gameplay as Felix has been incredible, even if really immoral in a way - watching Manrika see that he has been a girl all along after everything that has been said will be pretty crushing, but Natalya is just hilarious when writing the messages and saying “bud/savage/fist numb emoji” in her posh accent and she’s worked people out quite well. I’ll take Manrika and Hashu/Syed too though, just not the new ones. As much as I like Pippa and think she’s become more entertaining in this twist it’s just annoying that those two and Alice/Shabaz got a free pass and are acting like finalists just because they came in late. Glad it looks like the latter is a complete gonner - what the hell is that kind of gameplay?! Talk about making it obvious?

The thing with James is that he was so horrifically unlikeable to me and was purely by the book in terms of game playing rather than forming friendships, from the worming his way into friendship groups and making manual conversations literally named “relationship building chat”, it was all so forced and I’m glad it got seen through now rather than never like James/Sammie from last year. Then again I stan Manrika and think that she makes such great TV and had such a warm side to her where she actually cares about the other players too unlike what I got from him. Also glad to see Scott/Dorothy and Natalya/Felix cementing their places too, those three are definitely my favourites now along with Hashu/Syed fourth.

This Is Me Trying - had a feeling it may finally do one now

That’s my issue with her too - she had her entertaining moments but she really does seem ingenuine and at some point I think she would have snaked Manrika in favour of Gemma so I’m glad she’s gone.

I'm surprised but in a good way at Tally being blocked. She was a pawn who as mentioned by someone else, is just extremely gullible and follows any opinion and accusation. I warmed to her at times but I couldn't see her going much further unless she got dragged along. My god I cannot STAND James (Gemma), literally bordering on the same level as James (Sammie) from last year. I get it, it's a game show, but his tactics make so little pleasure of viewing for me. He acts like a PE teacher in school and speaks with so little warmth. Just hope that the facade wraps up soon and they send him packing because if he wasn't immune in these ratings then he surely would have been sent. On the flip side I stan Manrika after a shaky start, she's invested in the game but you can tell she's a lovely girl with some depth when she shuts up about the "geezer girl xxx" shit. Scott (Dot) is so lovely :wub: but he needs to up his game big time and show more dimensions within the boundaries of sounding like an 85 year old if he wants to last much longer because he was lucky not to go today. I kind of think he'd do better if he was just playing himself. Also really warming to Natalya (Felix) too but she's already causing divides and I don't know if that could bite her on the arse eventually.

Me too! TLGAD be my next target once This Is Me Trying finally leaves. My Tears Ricochet also needs to be left alone :(

AJ Pritchard’s acting... I’m in tears :lol: :lol: :lol: :snif:

FFF above Wow, Need Someone and Talk About Love... choices!

It's one of my faves! It's such a warming song, I know it's on its way out soon sadly though which is a shame when This Is Me Trying and The Last Great American Dynasty seem to be sticking around. I also love The 1 too :(

Overall for me: 01 // Bimini Bon Boulash 02 // Ellie Diamond 03 // Tayce 04 // Cherry Valentine 05 // Asttina Mandella 06 // Lawrence Chaney 07 // Veronica Green 08 // A’Whora 09 // Ginny Lemon 10 // Sister Sister 11 // Joe Black 12 // Tia Kofi 04 and 05 had a lot more to give looking back overall, and there was mostly a lot of talent there but backed up by unfortunate personalities.

This Is Me Trying

07 // Love Me Land 09 // Talk About Love (Feat Young Tug) 09 // Need Someone 07 // Right Here 10 // WOW (not even joking, it's SUCH a bop) 09 // Poster Girl 08 // I Need Love 07 // Look What You’ve Done 08 // Ruin My Life 09 // Stick With You 07 // FFF 08 // What Happens Here Deluxe 06 // Famous 06 // When I’m Not Around 11 // All The Time 09 // Don’t Worry Bout Me

YES to both of those songs. The winners of those lipsyncs are Utica and Symone respecively, no doubt they'll smash them, even if the former will be the loss on the second lipsync :(

Look What You Made Me Do vs. Wildest Dreams Out of the Woods vs. 22 Should've Said No vs. Red I Knew You Were Trouble vs. Delicate cardigan vs. Style Getaway Car vs. coney island New Romantics vs. Back to December Blank Space vs. ...Ready For It?

Yeah, for exactly the same reason lol.

This Is Me Trying again

This Is Me Trying You all leave Mirrorball alone!!

I totally agree, typical Hollyoaks for the writers to be like “oh conveniently even though it would have been safe to duplicate the footage we’re going to have them not to do it so they’ll have to start from square one”. I’m heartbroken for Sid, he really was such a heroic young character who went on a journey and Billy is a fantastic young actor who I hope will get the recognition he deserves. I get why this death happened for the purpose of “the heroes don’t always get happy endings” but I’m still just so mad. This plus episodes 3 and 5 of It’s a Sin are easily the closest I’ve been to crying over a TV show in a long time.

I’m going to be furious if Sid is dead. Just when you thought Victor would finally get gone...

Ours vs. Back to December ...Ready For It? vs. White Horse I Knew You Were Trouble vs. You Belong With Me Fearless vs. The Story of Us Style vs. Teardrops on My Guitar Red vs. the 1 Fifteen vs. Bad Blood cardigan vs. Our Song New Romantics vs. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together New Year's Day vs. Out of the Woods 22 vs. Begin Again Mean vs. Shake It Off Everything Has Changed vs. betty ME! vs. Should've Said No willow vs. exile (feat. bon iver) Look What You Made Me Do vs. Mine The Man vs. Lover Picture to Burn vs. You Need to Calm Down The Last Time vs. Wildest Dreams Sparks Fly vs. Blank Space End Game vs. Love Story no body, no crime (feat. haim) vs. Getaway Car (this one is so close but NBNC is my favourite on Evermore while there are a few better songs on Reputation) Delicate vs. Tim McGraw coney island vs. Only the Young Highway Don't Care (ft. Tim McGraw) vs. Eyes Open I Don't Wanna Live Forever (ft. ZAYN) vs. Macavity (ft. Idris Elba) Babe (ft. Sugarland) vs. Half Of My Heart (ft. John Mayer) Both Of Us (ft. B.O.B.) vs. Crazier Ronan vs. Safe & Sound (ft. The Civil Wars) Welcome To New York vs. Beautiful Ghosts Two Is Better One (ft. Boys Like Girls) vs. Sweeter Than Fiction Today Was A Fairytale vs. Christmas Tree Farm

The drop after the first verse really has an air of euphoria to it, it's SO good and reminiscent of Calvin's early work, I just love the song. I was always surprised it never got much love!

I decided to listen to this album for the first time in a couple of years at work and I forgot how much it slaps! It really is such a summery feel-good album and one of my favourites. My ranking: 01: Get Outta My Way 02: All the Lovers 03: Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love) 04: Too Much 05: Closer 06: Better than Today 07: Illusion 08: Cupid Boy 09: Everything Is Beautiful 10: Can't Beat the Feeling 11: Looking for an Angel 12: Aphrodite The top 5 are all 10/10s - it annoys me how little Put Your Hands Up did here but I suppose the singles later on in her album campaigns don’t do so well at all, still they could have at least given it some promo or released it before/instead of Better Than Today. I was never sold on the title track and it sticks out as a clear dud, but the rest are good at least.

For real this top 5 is incredibly strong, may actually the best across the board in any season! All of the deadwood actually got eliminated which never normally happens! It couldn't have gone any better. Like Liam I really can't choose but I'd love to see Ellie smash this challenge and the next couple and take it because even take her age out of the equation and she's lovely, hard-working, really has an eye for detail and unique ideas with her looks and proven that she can be funny and entertaining, not to mention with how much she has been slept on I think she deserves it so much.

That’s what I’ll be aiming for once Illicit Affairs makes its way out. I for one think the results are going very well so far! Watch my faves drop after this round :lol: