Celeb X Factor Discussion including *Spoilers*

[Ally]

Last night's first edition of the new X-Factor Celeb Show had a few surprises....

Highlights were Matt the Rugby star who was strangely compelling. It was like watching a gorilla in a tuxedo but he had a nice voice and was exuding charisma and charm to the nth degree. :star:

Chris Moyles did a kind of Blues Brothers meets Sinatra which was almost as appealing, but Moyles is a sarcastic so and so on the radio, so I'm not sure he will be able to match Matt for the Mum's vote.

Whatsherface from Corrie was very good!! as was EE's Lucy Benjamin, who knew she could sing! The Page 3 girl, Michelle, was pretty good as well but maybe not as good as the other two in comparison.

The lo-lights included that woman from the dietary show who puts hoses up fat people's errm well you know, lol and the flatter than a crepe 'Love Rat' Hewitt who vocally spoilt a just ok vocal from his partner 'Love Rat' Rebecca. What was surprising was Sharon's comments afterwards to these two. You'll have to hear it for yourselves but it was extremely harsh to Rebecca!! Sharon has a right to her views but as these two were invited guests on the show, I really think her comments were out of line. :grr:

Anyway both these two 'acts' should get voted off soon, but the first night's disappearing act was........... Spoiler below if you've not watched... don't look if you don't want to know.


..............


.............



Magician Paul Daniels and his wife Debbie McGee! Bye bye.

Hey, it's all for cheritee!!! So that's alright then.

Anyone else watchng this show? Any thoughts on who will win... and do we care? :rave:

[faceless]

I turned over last night just in time to see Osbourne laying into Rebecca Loos and it was really harsh... totally uncalled for in fact.

[Ally]

[AHend09]

I totally agree, Sharon was really out of order for her comments
OK not many ppl are too fond of James Hewitt and Rebecca loos
But ppl are voting for them and they are doing this for charity.

[lilycup]

Sharon may have taken her comments a bit too far, but she was right when she talked about Rebecca wearing no knickers. Rebecca wasn't actually wearing any knickers that night.

I listen to Chris Moyles' radio show and he said that she had told him she wasn't wearing knickers because she was told not to because of the type of dress she was wearing - which is fair enough.

I think the only reason people voted for Rebecca and James is because they wanted to see what Sharon would say to them.

Anyway...

So far I LOVE the Chiefs. They sing so badly, but really look like they're enjoying themselves.

[ramona]

Sharon was definitely out of line as far as James and Rebecca :grr: Loved the program though. Lots of talent especially Matt Stevens and Nikki Sanderson.

[IRiSHMaFIA]

Osbourne storms off 'Celebrity X Factor'

Sharon Osbourne stormed out of X Factor: Battle Of The Stars following a row with fellow judge Simon Cowell.

She was apparently upset by the music mogul's failure to join her in ignoring contestant Rebecca Loos - and his decision to vote off Michelle Marsh over Lucy Benjamin.

The presenter reportedly stormed out of the studio in tears, refusing to appear on ITV2's Xtra Factor show.

"Sharon just left the studio," an insider told the Daily Mirror. "Her daughter Kelly was waiting for her and had no idea she'd gone.

"It was all kicking off - producers were trying to persuade Sharon to do the Xtra Factor with the other judges but she wouldn't budge. She felt truly let down by Simon and just didn't want to be around him.

"For him to choose to get rid of her act after failing to back her up was just too much. She was incandescent and had to get out of the studio before it all got out of hand."

The argument started during Wednesday's episode, when Osbourne refused to comment on Loos' performance. "She was expecting back-up from Simon as the performance was truly awful," the source continued. "But instead he made some jokey comments."

[faceless]

ANGER OVER CHARITY CASH
By Nicola Methven and Victoria Bone

CELEBRITY X Factor bosses have been blasted for charging 50p for every vote to the show - but giving just 10p to charity. Host Kate Thornton urges viewers to ring in each night by reminding them their cash will go to the stars' various good causes but viewers are furious only a tiny proportion goes to charities, with calls costing 15p more than the regular X Factor series.

Mirror reader Maureen Baker fumed: "Just giving 10p for each call to charity is derisory and disgraceful - it's the reason I won't vote. These greedy production, phone and TV companies should be ashamed." Rebecca Danton agreed, saying: "I know ITV is a business and is primarily concerned with racking up profits but only 10p of each call going to charity is ludicrous." while Shauna Johnston blasted: "It seems to me the fat cats just keep getting fatter."

Hundreds of thousands of votes have been received during the series - with calls from BT landlines costing 50p and those from mobiles as much as 80p. Other celebrity reality shows have been more generous, when Channel 4 staged Celebrity Big Brother this year, 16p of every 50p call went to charity and on BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing more than 12p of every 25p call went to Children in Need.

Last night ITV said calls cost more because the show had to pay the stars. Chris Moyles is said to have pocketed ?100,000 with the others around ?30,000. It explained: "These shows run for a shorter, more concentrated period of time and involve higher production costs. The revenues from each vote, once the charitable donation has been deducted, go towards covering these costs for ITV, the production company and the relevant telephone operator."

Yesterday the charities said they were grateful for donations, but admitted they were confused over the proportion of handouts. Barbara White, from Nikki Sanderson's chosen charity When You Wish Upon a Star, said: "It's rather strange that charities are getting less than usual."

Berkshire MS Therapy Centre, nominated by Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee, revealed they had already been contacted by a disgruntled viewer. It said: "We've had a donation from someone who said they'd rather help us out directly than vote on the show."

Many of the celebrities taking part confessed they signed up because of the charity element. In the last series of X Factor ITV earned ?4million. The profits are shared between Simon Cowell's production company Syco, Talkback Thames and ITV.

--------------

Chris Moyles is getting 100 grand for this "charity" show? Doesn't that just warm the cockles of your heart! The chubby arsemonger just went even further down in my estimation!

[Ally]

[Ally]

[faceless]

SHARON'S A VULGAR BULLY
REBECCA'S X -RATED ATTACK ON TV JUDGE
By Lara Gould

X FACTOR loser Rebecca Loos has finally hit back at cruel Sharon Osbourne... branding her a "vulgar bully". Sharon had her knives out for Rebecca - famous for her kiss-and-tell on David Beckham - on X Factor: Battle Of The Stars all last week.

Now Rebecca, 28, has spoken of her backstage tears after the verbal lashings from Sharon, a pal of the Beckhams and a guest at their Full Length And Fabulous World Cup party two weeks ago. X Factor producers and the other judges, Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh, had to beg her not to walk out. Now she has decided to make her true feelings known.

"I've kept a dignified silence - but the perfect word to describe Sharon is 'bully'," she said. "And what she said to me was vulgar and cheap. I wanted to lash back, but Simon had told me 'Don't hit back, don't react, don't bite. Just thank the audience, thank the public - they're the ones who are voting'."

Rebecca and one-time Diana lover James Hewitt performed under the tongue-in-cheek name The Love Rats to raise money for Save The Children. They lasted until Thursday before being voted off - but Rebecca will come face-to-face with her enemy again tomorrow when the contestants are reunited for the grand finale.

"Money can buy you clothes, looks, style, but you have to be born with elegance and class," says Rebecca. "There are a lot of people out there like Sharon and Victoria Beckham who don't have it. I do, it was the way I was brought up."

The spat began after Rebecca and James's first song, when Sharon suggested Rebecca should "try doing tomorrow night with knickers on -it will help warm up your voice". Next night she hissed: "Talk about going down. Was there something stuck in the back of your throat?"

Afterwards Sharon's section of the audience booed and jeered at the couple - though Rebecca claims this was led by Sharon's daughter Kelly. "Kelly was behind a lot of it, it came from her section. I didn't ever expect Sharon to be nice to me, but I didn't expect this. I think she's doing it because she wants to keep in with the Beckhams. People have said it's so she keeps her place on the invite list to their party next year. God knows."

Producers were furious with Sharon, says Rebecca, and they begged her not to quit. "ITV apologised and said Sharon had been spoken to but there was nothing they could do. They said they'd had loads of complaints. Simon put his arm round me and said: 'Don't react'. I thought 'I don't let people down'. I had to stay."

Ironically, Rebecca had always been a fan of Sharon. "She came into make-up on the first morning wearing a dressing gown and no make-up and looked amazing - I told my mum she looked beautiful. But Sharon just blanked me. If she'd introduced herself and we'd talked for five minutes I would have listened to her criticism. But she didn't even look me in the eye and then says all these horrible things."

On Wednesday night's show Sharon refused to comment on the duo's performance. So on Thursday Rebecca braced herself for another lashing. "On Thursday I had my defences up because everyone was saying she's going to go for you tonight. That's why when I got off stage I burst into tears even though she didn't comment. It was so stressful. I was upset as my parents had to see their little princess go through that."

Rebecca claims her friend Julian Bennett, from TV's Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, was banned from the audience after defending her on GMTV. But ITV says the studio was too full when he turned up. "He told GMTV that Sharon was the pot calling the kettle black. Although she now has this wonderful reputation, her husband Ozzy used to have affairs."

Rebecca's website has been flooded with messages of support, and she says some are from fans of Sharon, who has sold 1.5 million copies of her autobiography, Extreme, in Britain. "I've had emails from Sharon fans saying they're 'embarrassed by how she's treating you'."

She is now bracing herself for her return to the show for the grand finale tomorrow night. "I don't want to bitch about Sharon. If someone attacks me that's fine, I can deal with it. It's fascinating in this world how money and fame can change some people - they forget where they've come from and how they got there. I won't. I've got my head screwed on. And while Sharon's been bullying and childish I'm determined not to bitch back at her. I hope she gets her invite to the next Beckham bash. She deserves it."

Last night Sharon's spokesman insisted she's not a close friend of the Beckhams and has met them only a couple of times. Gary Farrow said: "What Rebecca says is quite extraordinary. Elegance and class are the last words I'd use to describe her. It amazes me... someone who sold their story about a celebrity is now" regarded as a celebrity - with absolutely no talent required."

-------------------

[lilycup]

[Ally]

[Ally]

X Factor excellence

By Stephen Brook / Reality TV
Friday June 2 2006

I don't quite know why, but part of me feels strangely compelled to doff my cap in the direction of one unlikeliest of double acts in the annals of popular entertainment - James "the Major" Hewitt and Rebecca Loos - and say thank you.

Why? They were hopeless on the X Factor, one of the all time worst, I think. But even their harshest critics (there were many, many boos) should concede that there has not been anything as galvanising on TV recently as their strangely compelling double act that came to a triumphant (but failed) end last night.

Last night it was an extraordinary rendition of Michael Jackson's The Way You Make Me Feel, performed with all the co-ordination of a panto horse, the pair so vocally mismatched they duetted like two vinyl records of the same song playing at 33 rpm and 45 rpm simultaneously.

As James executed the lamest crotch grab ever to flash across a cathode ray tube, Rebecca attempted a mesmerising bump 'n' grind, while like a black hole, his out of key voice and lack of rhythm inexorably dragged down and down her once reasonably tuneful voice.

But what was most inspiring was that here were two reasonably unlikeable people, given an extremely rough ride at the start, with the batty Sharon sensing evil vibes around Loos and cruelly advising her to put some knickers on to warm up her voice, gaining a degree of grudging respect through sheer persistence.

Their X Factor stint came straight out of the Eddie the Eagle school of hopeless plodders that buckle down and muddle through the task at hand, gaining a degree of popularity. Cf. Jade Goody.

"It is a talent contest," Louie said last night, almost apologetically, as he consigned them to their fate.

Just like there are two types of people, heart lifters and heart sinkers, there are two types of programmes. Big Brother is the latter, X Factor definitely the former and considerably more entertaining for it.

[maycm]

Rebecca and James were truly awful - I can't help thinking that a number of people were keeping them in for a laugh, along the lines of www.votefortheworst.com and American Idol, but with only 5 minutes to vote there's not much opportunity to skew the results too much.

I suggested they should have done 'One night in Bagkok' as an ideal song for James to rap and Rebecca to "sing". Not to mention the double entendres that would be there aplenty.

Look for Chris and Matt to be the finalists.