Alex and Aston are ill!
02 Dec 08
Aston and Alex are illin' - and not in a good way.
With just a few days to go before the all-important semi-finals, Alexandra and Aston have been struck down by illness.
Both competitors made it to The X Factor's secret Carphone Warehouse gig last night - but neither could sing as much as they'd like to.
Alexandra Burke bravely performed one track, You Are So Beautiful, for assembled guests - but plans to sing another track, had to be scrubbed as she dealt with throat pain.
JLS did perform two tracks - but instead of Aston singing lead vocals as he often does in Saturday's shows, the others, especially Oritsé, stepped up to the mark. Aston concentrated on clapping and working the crowd instead of singing in what the compere called "a trademark Britney move".
Of course, as the competition moves into the most important stage of all, neither competitor can afford to perform under par on Saturday night - so the pressure is on.
An exhausted Alex struggled with illness during rehearsals last week but pulled a top-notch performance out of the bag on Saturday night.
But she told us, "I am doing everything I can now so I can be better for the show this week".
"The most important thing is sleep - I've hardly slept since Friday. We don't get much sleep ahead of Saturday's shows, and then Ruth left, and that was awful."
"I absolutely have to sleep well tonight."
Aston didn't say much at all - but, bless him, he did do a lot of nodding and shaking his head!