Liverpool singers keep X Factor bid alive

Craig Colton & Marcus Collins are still on the road to success on the X Factor live shows   Pictures © ITV

Scousers Marcus Collins and Craig Colton sailed through to next week’s round of X Factor tonight, as Kitty Brucknell became the seventh act to leave the competition.
 
Saturday night saw the contestants take on songs by rock band Queen and pop superstar Lady Gaga, and many performances received mixed reviews from the judges.
 
Marcus , currently the bookies favourite to win the competition, did his best Freddie Mercury act as he delivered a retro rendition of the Queen classic ‘Another One Bites the Dust.’

The hairdresser said last week he had finally found his niche, and his confidence shined through as he danced his way through his performance, which received a standing ovation from Gary Barlow.

Over 25’s mentor Louis Walsh told the 23-year-old:
“You’ve got something incredible and that’s called
charisma. You light up the stage, you’re a class act.
You’re going to be here next week, you have to be.”

However, N-Dubz star Tulisa Contostavlos said his
performances were becoming predictable: “I loved that
last week, it was exciting and it was new, but that’s the
reason it was brilliant because it was new but this
week you’ve done it again and it’s becoming a bit
predictable and I think you have more variety as an
artist so for me, I’d say change it up next week.”

Craig Colton was again at his best as he entertained
the audience with his performance of Lady Gaga’s
‘Paparazzi’ after stepping out of his comfort zone with
an up-tempo song last week.
 
The 22-year-old wowed the judges and received high
praise from the panel as Kelly Rowland told the former
biscuit factory worker: “Wow! Do you realise how great
that was? I need you to know how great that was Craig,
because I was not expecting that tonight. I love the way
you put your own stamp on it.

"It’s so important in this competition for contestants to
make songs their own…you just did that.”

Proud mentor, Take That front man Gary Barlow, urged the crowd to cheer Craig on as he told his act: “Here we are again, well done, amazing night. Now we’re beginning to realise who you are as an artist, well done mate.”

But despite his show -stopping performance, Craig admitted in tonight’s results show that he was pleased with his performance but he wasn’t confident about going through.

The Scousers had nothing to worry about as they were both among the first names to be read out by host Dermot O’Leary, as both acts received cheers from the audience and hugs from Gary.

After returning to the show last night due to Frankie Cocozza’s shock exit, Kelly’s act Amelia Lily also made it through to next week’s show.

Controversial Misha B and Louis Walsh’s act Kitty were both in the bottom two after receiving the fewest number of public votes, and had to battle it out for survival.

All judges described the sing-off as the best of the series, however it was Kitty who was voted off the show as Tulisa, Kelly Rowland and Gary Barlow all backed Misha, leaving Louis as the only judge without an act in the competition.

© ITV

X FACTOR 2011 COVERAGE
Marcus named favourite by bookies >>
Liverpool names favourite X Factor Scouser >> 
Scouse acts survive first public vote >>
The Estrelles talk to JMU Journalism >>
James Michael heads for X Factor exit >>
Liverpool lads make live finals >>
Craig wows new X Factor judges >>
Hairdresser Marcus makes Bootcamp stage >>
Liverpool acts through to judges' houses >>