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| Day 1 (The Groups Boot Camp with Simon Cowell) |
| This year Sinitta returns to work alongside Simon in the role of stylist. Dave Laudat, who was on Louis' team last year, will work with Simon this time, thereby maintaining his role as vocal coach for the Groups category. |
| As Day 1 begins the acts assemble in the entrance hall. When their potential svengali Simon Cowell reveals himself as their mentor they raise an excited cheer. |
Not everybody is smiling though. The faces on sister act The Duddy Twins drop just a touch. They might just be thinking back to their audition. They sang Abba's Waterloo; Simon called it 'horrendous' and labelled them 'Flabba'. |  |
Addictiv Ladies aren't smiling either. Having impressed Simon with a great entrance at their audition, they then disappointed him with some off key vocals on their own composition. Simon is the judge they've beem hoping to avoid! |  |
| The acts are told that they will each have to sing a ballad and an uptempo song to which they must also perform a full dance routine! |
| The dance routines provide a lot of laughs as well as some despairing gasps from Simon. The Duddy Twins 'dance routine' is perhaps the least energetic. They simply click their fingers and sway their hips. Simon finds it all "really disappointing" but hey this is a singing contest after all! |
| At this early stage Simon confides in Sinitta that he doesn't think he can turn the groups around. However the camera crew is invited to listen in on the conversation, which makes us wonder does Simon have a magic rabbit up his sleeve? Suspending the auditions for a short spell, he takes time out to tell the Groups that what he's seen so far is "abysmal", adding that it looks as though most people have had just "3 minutes to rehearse". |
| Auditions recommence and the 'boy bands', 4Tune, 4th Ba5e and The Brothers, are charged up, ready for battle, and hoping to impress Simon, Sinitta and Dave. |
| 4Tune (Simon Vitsaides, Michael Hannides, Anthony Hannides and Philip Kemish) start off by singing "Stand By Me", but after a few bars make a rehearsed switch of song to "I Swear". It's a tight arrangement and they are pleased with their efforts. Simon and his team seem impressed, although Simon, after complaining about groups under rehearsing, now complains that 4Tune are "over-rehearsed"! |  |
| 4th Ba5e (Blair Dreelan, Mark Garthwaite, Dan Moore, Christian Briandt and Glenn Higgins) sing an impressive arrangement of Careless Whisper. However Simon carelessly whispers to his team that he hates the way they look. Sinitta reminds him that "a look is easy to fix". |  |
| The Brothers (brothers Mark and Noel Agyei plus twins CJ and Adam Neroni) also lay down some nice harmonies singing I'll Never Break Your Heart (Backstreet Boys). Dave Laudat says he likes Noel's voice, but Simon thinks they look odd! |
| Interestingly the tiny clip we get to see of Glasgow threesome Whitestar's uptempo song and dance number is not shown as part of the 'Boy Bands' segment. Whitestar gave a promising audition which was featured on the 'week 5' show. |
On to the girl bands and the 4 Addictiv Ladies (Fleur East, Stephanie Yamson, Vivienne Umeh and Nicola Owusu Akontoh) are worried that Simon has made his mind up about them already. They perform one of the best dance routines but still have a few tuning problems. Vocal coach Dave says he doesn't think they are "up to it". Outside, the girls are buzzing with excitement after their set and let out a burst of their "A-D-D-I-C-T-I-V L-A-D-I-E-S" signature turne. Kate does her best to quieten them down as other auditions are still going on! |
| Their competition, The Conway Sisters (Sharon, Sinéad, Marie and Laura Conway) and Eskimo Blonde (Hari Blanch, Gemma Davies and Jemma Moon) both perform well. Hari from Eskimo Blonde isn't sure if they've impressed though, "Simon doesn't give much away" she tells Kate afterwards. |
| As well as 'The Brothers' Simon also has 2 sets of brothers to consider. The Chapman Brothers seem a little nervous but the twins harmonise well together on Leo Sayer's "When I Need You". Journey South (brothers Andy and Carl Pemberton) also do well with "Wherever You Will Go". It looks like the 'siblings rivalry' will be a close run thing! |  |
| While all the groups wait anxiously to hear which of them will be asked to stay another day as part of Simon's final 14, 4th ba5e sum up their experience "It's not like you're performing in front of an audience. You're performing for your future." |
They receive their verdicts individually, and perhaps the biggest surprise is that Whitestar, who were reported to have once been on Simon Cowell/BMG's books, don't make it through. |  |
| It's good news though for all 3 boy bands, 4Tune, 4th Ba5e, The Brothers and all 3 girl bands, Addictiv Ladies, The Conway Sisters and Eskimo Blonde. Addictiv Ladies take the prize for best reaction to the news, the girls are in shock and go absolutely crazy, jumping for joy and waving their hands all over the place.
Duets making it through include the appropriately named 'Two' as well as The Chapman Brothers and Journey South. |
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