Louis' battle of the bands
05 Oct 08
A Battle of the Bands for Louis
Suddenly in charge of the groups category, veteran X Factor mentor Louis Walsh has the most potential pop stars to control. But while six wannabe chart acts - JLS, 4Instinct, Girlband, Desire, Priority and Bad Lashes - spent time Chez Walsh in his Irish castle -just three will travel with him to London and the all-important live studio shows.
JLS and Priority, the boybands, are pitted against each other in a battle for one live show slot. Marvin from JLS muses, "We want to do well so badly. We want to progress in this competition. If it's a no the walls are going to come crashing down."
And Philip and Tom from Priority are starting to wish they'd rehearsed more, "To be put in this boyband has been the best experience of my life," said Philip, "This is the chance - no other chance is going to come".
Bandmate Tom agreed, "As a band, we didn't realise the potential we actually had. This is the point we could go and become superstars".
But for the show-created boyband, the journey was over. That meant the long established JLS would hear Louis say "You're going through". They almost fell over each other hugging as they stumbled out of the door!
Family group 4Instinct almost blew their big chance at Bootcamp, but after being given a surprise second chance to impress, they had to really leave Shane Filan and his Westlife manager Louis wanting more. While Louis liked them, he felt it wasn't quite convincing enough, and although 4Instinct felt they'd been "brought together as a family," Louis still felt it was time to show them the door.
Three girl groups remained in the competition but there were only two places to fill. Bristol-based Girlband, and North East lasses Bad Lashes and Desire had until now, left the judges wanting more. Girlband were given one of the coveted places, and as they whooped and cheered, Louis told them, "You should be really proud to have come this far".
So the North East derby continued, with Louis hedging his bets as he delivered the news. He wavered, "It wasn't an easy decision and there is only one place. He told the mischievous Bad Lashes, "You girls ... are.... through".
And then they all jumped on him on the sofa (which he most likely enjoyed).
Going through to be mentored by Louis Walsh in the Groups category are:
Bad Lashes, a four piece girl group from the North East, aged 19 - 23
Girlband, a Bristol-based female quartet, aged 17 - 22
JLS, a London-based vocal harmony group, comprising four lads aged 20-23
Do you and Louis share the same takes in music? Did the right bands go through? Have your say by leaving a comment or two below...