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| Day 1 (25s and Over Boot Camp with Sharon Osbourne) |
| Sharon's mentoring team this year sees Mark Hudson returning along with his colourful goatee as vocal coach. Straight talking PR man Gary Farrow is a new addition to 'family Osbourne'. However there's no sign of Ozzy's nephew Terry Longden this year, so it's not clear if anyone will be helping Sharon with the styling. |
| When she reveals herself as mentor to the '25s and Over' category she gets a good reaction from the acts, especially cheeky Chico Slimani who fancies he has a much better chance with her than he would do with Simon Cowell! Simon stormed out of the room calling his co-judges "pathetic" when Chico was put through. |
| The Café de Paris in London is a fashionable venue, and the contestants are a pretty fashionable lot too. Indeed, Sharon's first impression is that the venue looks like "the Star Wars bar"! |
| Each singer will be watched not only by Sharon and her team but also by their fellow contestants. Glamour model and Playboy TV hostess Michelle Thorne sets the ball rolling, and sings a decent rendition of Whitney's "Run To You", despite complaining of nerves. |
| Andy Abraham and Joanne Hindley are shown performng well. So too are less familiar faces like Richie Glynn and Maria Lawson. |
| A brief snippet of 30-year-old Maria singing 'Stop!' was screened during the audition phase. She looked impressive then and she gives the stand-out performance of day 1, singing 'All The Man I Need'. It's all the more impressive given that Maria is getting married in 2 days! |  |
| Then of course there is the lovely Dorothy Morrison who at 83 is the Boot Camp elder. Dorothy is taking the experience in her stride and remarks that "although I'm no spring chicken, I can still show those youngsters a thing or two. Even with all the boobs and all the rest of it." She gets a warm round of applause as she steps up to sing "Close To You". Whilst Dorothy's is a very cute performance, Maria just has that little edge over her! |  |
| Goth-girl Meg, who arrived for her audition in a batmobile, has chosen another folk Irish ballad. In her first audition she sang The Fields Of Athenry, today she skips over to The Fields Of The Forest. |
 | Another lady who made a big impression at her audition was Penélope Gómez. Sharon just couldn't seem to stop laughing whenever Penélope sang! Today Penélope sings 'Unbreak My Heart'... until Mrs Ozzy bursts out laughing! And again, just like in her audition, Penélope ends up laughing at Sharon! It seems like Penélope's chances have been chortled away! Can Sharon risk going into a fit of hysterics during the live finals? It would make entertaining tv that's for sure! |
| More laughter can be heard when 51-year-old dairy farmer Justin(e) Watson-Hermes chokes on the words of Wind Beneath My Wings and blames it on last night's curry! |  |
| Six foot seven Sam shows a few nerves and tightens up on stage when it's his turn to sing. Although it's by no means a terrible performance Sharon says she's 'not blown away' but Sam is certain that his chances have. |
| Chico Slimani's song and dance routine definitely does blow Sharon away though, especially the Chippendale-esque move where he opens his shirt! Although Chico didn't win Simon over at his audition, he certainly hasn't let that dent his confidence. He tells Kate that if Sharon chooses him "we're gonna kick Simon's ass!" |  |
As the day progresses there are fine performances from Brenda Edwards, Haifa Kayali, Louisa Philips and Operatic Tony. Sharon's whittling down exercise is getting harder by the minute. Out of 89 acts only 14 will make it to day 2 of Boot Camp. It's results time and the acts are called onto the podium stage in groups of 4 and 5. It's only possible to recognise a few of the unfortunates lining up to hear Sharon's 'No'. It seems that most have had little or no exposure during the audition phase. |
| Amongst those going home are Justin(e), Sam, Michelle Lawson, Laurie Rawlings, Louisa Philips, Dorothy Morrison. |
| 37-year-old Louisa from Cheshire takes the rejection hard. She approaches Sharon and pleads "Please consider me as a maybe. I cannot believe you won't even consider me for the next stage. I truly, truly believe I have what you are looking for." |
| Sharon asks her if she thinks she's the best person at the Boot Camp. Louisa replies "Do you know what, 'Yes'. Do you know what all my life I have never had the breaks. Like many of us here I have had to fight tooth and claw for everything." |
Sharon isn't impressed, and tells Louisa "You're very angry. You're very, very angry. You're very hostile and that isn't a likeable quality and hostility doesn't get anybody anywhere. It's much easier to be nice and gracious and you're not gracious and I'd like to ask you to leave." Sharon then calls for Tony the X Factor bouncer to "please take the lady" away. It seems a bit of an over reaction on Sharon's part as Louisa didn't come over in any way threathening. Surely the contestants are expected to want it so bad that it hurts when they fail? Perhaps a few words of consolation wouldn't have gone amiss. |
| The lucky 14 chosen by Sharon for day 2 include... |
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Aaron Davidson -
Andy Abraham -
Brenda Edwards -
Chico Slimani -
Haifa Kayali -
Joanne Hindley -
Maria Lawson -
Michelle Thorne -
Ricardo -
Richie Glynn -
Sally -
Tony |
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