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For the first time this year, X Factor kept audiences on tenterhooks as the competition entered the boot camp round this week.
Whoever came up with the six-chair challenge is going to end up with a whopping pay cheque. It was equally as nerve-wracking watching from home as it was in the arena - reality television at its most scintillating.
Cheryl has been blessed with the girls category this year but managed to spectacularly cock up the selection process for her final six.
The problem was that the Geordie lass led from the heart and ended up filling up her chairs too soon, before swapping some girls out for others, and crushing their dreams in the process. No one was safe.
Cheryl swapped Chloe in and Chloe-Jasmine out, then realised her error, before bringing back the plummy, vintage singer and taking out the silver-haired Orla instead.
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It was a complete, psychological nightmare, so much so, that Cheryl was told anyone under 16 was not allowed to be swapped out once they were in. And who said that the producers of X Factor don’t have any morals?
Kudos to the hopefuls tonight, a run-of-the-mill job interview is less stressful than auditioning for X Factor. Getting rejected in front of 6,000 people live and then having it broadcast on national television several weeks later is far worse.
Meanwhile Mel B has the boys, Louis is mentoring the groups and Simon has the over-25s – that will probably be a relief for Raign. She would definitely not have got a seat if Cheryl had anything to do with it.
While it will be hard choosing their six category contestants, hopefully Mel, Louis and Simon will make less of a hash of it than Cheryl did tonight.
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