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X-Factor Finale recap - Bye Bye Cher

By Ian Cullen Dec 12, 2010, 5:14 GMT

09/16/2010 - Matt Newton and Matt Cardle - "The X Factor" (UK) Finalists Sighted at ITV HQ in London on September 16, 2010 - ITV HQ - London, UK © Solarpix / PR Photos

Earlier tonight, we witnessed the first half of the X-Factor Finale, which would lead to throwing out one more contestant before the final segment tomorrow night.

Like every year, each finalist sang an individual song and then did a duet with a well know pop star.

The night kicked off with all sixteen finalists from the live shows singing the classic Irene Cara hit, ‘Flashdance,’ which was bleh.

Matt Cardle, Dannii Minogue’s act, opened up the finals with his own rendition of the Dido classic "Here With Me."  Got the feeling that Matt was still suffering a little from his cold last week and hadn’t fully recovered, because his voice still seemed a little off to me. However the judges piled the praise on him.

“Matt you’re in the final because you deserve to be in the final,” said Louis Walsh. “Every week you’re consistent, consistently good.” He added: “You’re a born recording star and you absolutely have to be in the final tomorrow night.”

Second up was Cher, who did her usual thing of mashing up a couple of songs. In this instance it was ‘The Clapping Song’ by Shirley Ellis and Missy Elliot ‘Get Your Freak On.’ The judges loved it, but as ever, I was bored. Simon, coining a Cheryl Cole phrase, said that she had “smashed it.”   I’m still trying to figure out if he was talking about my ear drums.

Third up was Cheryl’s second act in Rebecca Fergusan who continues to impress. Rebecca sang a rendition of the Corinne Bailey Rae song ‘Just Like a Star,’ which proved to be a great choice for her. Though I did find the staging of it a little odd.

Rebecca won the praise of all four judges and for my money remains the strongest vocal performer of the show.

The last solo song went to One Direction, who did what in my opinion was a rather poor version of the Elton John song ‘Your Song,’ which sounded wrong when sung by a boy band. Just didn’t work for me. Though they did sing it well.

Next up on the agenda were the duets.

First up to sing was Matt Cardle who did a duet with R&B star Rihanna and sang her hit song ‘Unfaithful.’ This pairing worked well, and have to say there was a bit of flirtatious fun going on as well, but all within the confines of fun.

Next up was Rebecca Fergusan, who was paired up with Christina Aguilera, with the pair performing her song "Beautiful."  Again the performance was pretty good, but I couldn’t help but feel that Rebecca was a little overwhelmed by it all, but covered fairly well.

Third up was the pairing of One Direction did a duet with Take That and solo singer Robbie Williams, performing his huge hit ‘She’s The One’

And finishing up the Duets was Cher Lloyd and the R&B artist Will.i.am, who did a mashup of the Black Eyed Peas hits "I Gotta Feeling" and "Where Is The Love."

When it came to the final vote to narrow four down to three for tomorrow night, it was Cher that was given the flick by the audience. Cher accepted the news gracefully and she thanked all for having helped her get as far as she did in the competition.

When asked what her favourite part of the whole experience had been, the 17-year-old told Dermot: “My highlight throughout the whole of this is standing on this stage with Will.i.am, I can’t believe I had the opportunity to do that.”

So that was it for tonight, and with just three acts left its hard to tell who will walk away with the contracts. Though a bookmakers favorite is Matt Cardle. My thought is that One Direction may be in with a pretty good shot at winning, which wouldn’t be my choice, but whatever happens I think the four finalist probably have promising careers ahead of them.

Tune in tomorrow for my coverage of the second night of the final.