X Factor Betting

Beverley Trottman - the schoolteacher with the voice loud enough to knock the moon out of orbit - has become the latest victim of the X Factor axe, and for once it wasn't the X Factor judges who binned her; it was the whole wide world.

Because of a judging deadlock, the X Factor elimination went to the public vote, and it turns out that hardly anyone voted for Beverley Trottman. Perhaps it's for the best - Beverley never stood a fart's chance of winning X Factor at the best of times, and her performance on Saturday did nothing to prove otherwise. Claiming that she was singing it for all the kids at her school, Beverley performed a new version of divorcee classic Without You that included up to 18 different key changes, the last four of which were only audible to bats and dolphins. Anyway it's just as well that Beverley Trottman can't live if living is without her pupils, because she'll be back in the classroom any day now, surely.

So now that Beverley Trottman is out of X Factor, who'll win? Here are the X Factor betting odds for Hope, Same Difference and Leon Jackson, with help from Paddy Power…

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Here's a prediction: there will never be another X Factor Disco Night ever again, judging by Simon Cowell's furious puce face as soon as he realised that not a single one of the X Factor contestants managed to be anything but cack.

In fact, the X Factor Disco Night went so badly that Simon Cowell has jacked in all of the forthcoming X Factor theme nights as a result. Saturday's proposed Motown Night has been replaced by the painfully generic Love Songs Night - which means the X Factor contestants can choose between My Love, Chains Of Love, Stoned Love, Hot Love, Puppy Love, Loop Di Love, Young Love, Wild Love, Radar Love, Silly Love, Dr Love, Modern Love, Big Love, Bad Love, Dirty Love, Love Shack or Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes Love It) and no other songs. And God knows what'll happen to the other proposed X Factor theme nights, like X Factor Narcocorrido Night or X Factor Malaysian Ronggeng Night.

But let's worry about that later, because we don't know who's going to win X Factor yet. And here are today's X Factor betting odds - for Beverley Trottman, Niki Evans and Rhydian Roberts, with help from Paddy Power…

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There are a few rules that one should adhere to when reaching the X Factor live finals - one is to invent as many sob stories about yourself as possible, and the other is to avoid rollerskates, as Alisha Bennett found out on Saturday.

Although Alisha Bennett's befuddling stage routine to her X Factor rendition of Young Hearts Run Free - plus her wonky vocals - contributed to her downfall, she still has plenty to be proud about. For starters, Alisha Bennett will go down in history as the only X Factor contestant who made Sharon Osbourne launch into a weird tear-flecked defence of people who have to rollerskate to make a living - and if that's not enough, Alisha Bennett has never to our knowledge thrown a schoolgirl against a brick wall by her hair, which at least sets her apart from 50% of Sharon Osbourne's other X Factor flock. We'll miss Alisha Bennett, that's for sure, or at least - ooh - a day or so.

It'd be longer but we're still trying to work out who'll win X Factor this year. So here are today's X Factor betting odds for Hope, Same Difference and Leon Jackson, with help from Paddy Power…

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We've been researching X Factor a lot lately, and we've discovered one aspect of the show that hasn't gained a single word of coverage - Louis Walsh's hair.

We can't be the only ones who have noticed Louis Walsh's X Factor hair, can we? With each week of X Factor that passes, it gets a little bit less grey and a little bit more fluffy. It's true - for the first 20 minutes of Saturday's X Factor we were honestly convinced that Louis Walsh was either wearing a cossack's hat or had a rabbit perched on top of his head. We think it's because this year Simon Cowell seems determined to remind Louis of how old-fashioned he is at every opportunity, and Louis is trying to young his hair up a bit more each week as a result. At this rate he'll have a full-on emo fringe by Christmas. Let's make that happen, people.

But who'll win X Factor? Here are the X Factor betting odds for Niki Evans and Rhydian Roberts, with help from Paddy Power…

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Now that Brian Friedman seems contractually obliged to appear in every single X Factor contestant training VT package, it looks like there's no room for the X Factor celebrity mentoring we enjoyed so much last year.

But that's OK, because in its place we get to see a string of massively generic X Factor theme nights like Love Song Night or Songs From The Movies Night, or Saturday's 21st Century Night. Now, it might be a sign of our own age, but when we heard that X Factor was doing a 21st Century Night we envisioned silver tinfoil dresses, robot dog backing singers and cutting-edge, fiercely futuristic music. Is that what X Factor gave us? No. X Factor gave us James Blunt covers. Oh, the humanity.

Who's going to win X Factor this year? Here are the X Factor betting odds for Same Difference, Leon Jackson and Hope. Betting odds, as ever, come from Paddy Power…

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It was never going to be a surprise when Andy Williams - the dim-looking nondescript Welsh boy who couldn't carry a tune in a tune-sized rucksack - was knocked out of X Factor, which is why we're not exactly surprised right now.

Because, in an X Factor career so dull that we half-expected his 'best bits' package to be one millisecond long, Andy Williams' performance of Chasing Cars on Saturday stood out as especially weak. Out of time, out of tune, dead-eyed and sung with a face that looked like it was being operated by the animatronic team from Jurassic Park, it seemed a lot like Andy Williams was just forming noises with his mouth without understanding that he was saying actual words. Andy's X Factor elimination seemed more like a mercy killing, especially since his T-shirt had the word 'ROCK' embroidered on it. We're guessing Primark was out of 'Insipid' shirts.

But now Andy Williams has been put out of his misery, who's going to win X Factor? Here are the X Factor betting odds to win for Alisha Bennett and Beverley Trottman, with help from Paddy Power…

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We honestly can't thing of a more historic tradition than X Factor Big Band night, but that might be because we recently hit our head quite hard. Seriously, we're bleeding a lot.

Anyway, X Factor Big Band night took place on Saturday and gave the remaining X Factor competitors the chance to get their first taste of performing in front of a huge live band. Judging by Saturday's X Factor it also gave them the chance to mumble inaudibly because someone hadn't realised how loud all those trumpets would be, but that was probably less deliberate. The X Factor Big Band night can make or break singers - this year it broke Futureproof but last year it made Ray Quinn, but that's something the X Factor production team will pay for in the afterlife.

Who'll win X Factor this year? Here are the X Factor betting odds for Niki Evans and Rhydian Roberts, with help from Paddy Power…

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Perhaps this says more about our state of mind than the show itself, but we're only three weeks in and this season of X Factor is starting to seem like the most controversial one yet.

We've seen Sharon Osbourne get her knickers in a twist and leave X Factor only to squirm back again the following week, we've seen Emily Nakanda hurl a schoolgirl against a brick wall by her hair and get kicked off X Factor - the big question is what happens next. Will Louis Walsh be asked to leave X Factor for stabbing Simon Cowell in the neck with a biro while shouting "Don't tell me what to do!"? Will Same Difference be removed from X Factor for having it off with each other? Will Rhydian stare directly into the camera and impart an ancient curse that will turn X Factor's audience into zombie soldiers who follow his every word? Probably the last one, we'd imagine.

But who'll win X Factor? Here are the X Factor betting odds for Beverley Trottman, Leon Jackson and Hope, with betting odds from Paddy Power…

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So Simon Cowell's big X Factor ruse of putting together manufactured groups and telling the world how they'll probably win X Factor has backfired - on Saturday his boyband Futureproof were eliminated from the show.

And if that wasn't bad enough, Simon Cowell had to choose whether to eliminate Futureproof or his girlband Hope, because they were both placed in X Factor's bottom two. We'll deal with Hope in the days to come, but nobody can really be surprised that Futureproof were knocked out of X Factor - their dull, weedy rendition of Can't Take My Eyes Off You was hopelessly overpowered by the live band accompanying them and their much-discussed dance routine was a joke. But at least now they're out of X Factor, Futureproof can return to what they look like they do best - hanging out on the top deck of buses throwing open cans of cider at terrified pensioners.

But now that Futureproof are no longer a part of X Factor, who's going to win? Here's the first part of this week's X Factor betting odds - for Alisha Bennett, Andy Williams and Same Difference - with help as ever from Paddy Power…

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Turns out that Emily Nakanda - the 15-year-old X Factor contestant who was last week described by Dermot O'Leary as 'spirited' - is actually a little bit more spirited than we could have guessed.

Not that we're saying Emily Nakanda is spirited in the sense that she stands up for what she believes in, rather that she's spirited in the sense that she goes around happyslapping other girls in attacks that are filmed on mobile phones and subsequently posted on the internet. And one such video of Emily Nakanda getting another girl in a headlock and pulling her hair has forced her to leave X Factor.

So far all there is to go on is a statement from Emily Nakanda's X Factor mentor Sharon Osbourne which reads:

"I am deeply saddened by this whole situation."

Along with a statement from Emily's family:

"As a family we are heartbroken and are very disappointed with Emily's behaviour, we feel that there is no choice but to withdraw Emily from the competition. Emily and all the family sincerely apologise to both Anna, her school and all the fans that have supported Emily. Emily regrets her actions but there is no way, as a family, we can excuse her behaviour. Emily is very sorry to have let the show, Sharon and the viewers down." 

Whether Emily - who last week sang I'm Not A Girl Not Yet A Woman in the style of a drowsy goose - was forced to leave X Factor, or whether she chose to leave X Factor out of shame of being caught committing such a pikey crime remains to be seen. We're sure all will be revealed on tomorrow's X Factor, probably accompanied by all the whooshing and explosions and hysterical screaming that the show does so well.

We'll have more on Emily Nakanda leaving X Factor as we get it. Unless we can't be bothered. She wasn't exactly very good, was she? 

UPDATE: The Sun has the Emily Nakanda happyslap video online 

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X Factor Star Quits Over Attack - Sky 

X Factor enters its third week of live finals on Saturday, and it'll need to pull out all the stops to compete with the thousands of damp, miserable firework displays going on up and down the country at the same time.

Actually, who are we kidding? If there's one thing that X Factor is world class at, it's disappointing pyrotechnics - whether it's Sharon Osbourne flouncing off the show and then sheepishly coming back again three seconds later, the painfully deliberate bickering between the other X Factor judges or the singers themselves, who this year all seem to have been pulled from the back row of a nativity play run by a specialist school for the hopelessly untalented. X Factor is the televisual equivalent of watching a boy try to write his name in the air with a sparkler, but without the exciting but at the end where he badly burns his hand. And, tragically, we're hooked already.

Here's the last of this week's X Factor betting odds to win - for Hope, Rhydian Roberts and Niki Evans - with help from Paddy Power…

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One of the main reasons we're so happy that X Factor is back is because the hokey unconvincing X Factor theme nights are back, which meant that on Saturday everyone had to sing a song from the movies.

This is because Celine Dion was the special X Factor guest on Saturday and, since she sang the song from Titanic, Songs From The Movies was probably a slightly politer X Factor theme than Really Crap Songs That Only Wankers Like Which Are Sung By People Who Deserve To Be Drowned, the only other theme that Celine Dion fits into. Not that it matters, though - with a couple of exceptions, the X Factor contestants' songs only managed to be Song From The Movies so long as you can count 'second song played in the end credits after everyone has gone home' as a song from the movie. OK, we'll admit that we're just bitter because Rhydian didn't sing the overdose theme from Requiem For A Dream.

Who'll win X Factor? Here are the X Factor betting odds for Beverley Trottman, Andy Williams, Leon Jackson and Futureproof, with betting odds from Paddy Power…

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