The Story of the X Factor UK Live Shows 2013

Week 1: Saturday, 12 October

The X Factor 2013 live shows kicked off tonight on ITV with a two and a quarter hour marathon, here are the highlights of the opening night:

# Miss Dynamix member SeSe Foster officially tells the rest of her group and mentor Gary Barlow she’s 5 months pregnant. Upon hearing the news, Gary instantly responds by telling SeSe it wouldn’t have made any difference to Miss Dynamix getting though, had he known earlier.

# On stage, the performances of the night came courtesy of the Over’s Sam Bailey and Rough Copy from the Groups category. Here’s Sam singing the 80’s power ballad Power of Love:

# While commenting on the final performance of the night by his act Rough Copy, Gary inadvertently announces this will be his last series as an X Factor judge. Effectively ending the recent speculation.

# The show was rounded off with this years twist, the ‘Flash Vote’, where viewers got just 10 minutes to vote for their favorite singers. Following the phone-in frenzy, it was announced that Shelley Smith had polled the fewest votes, meaning she will definitely be in tomorrow nights sing-off. Speaking later on the Xtra Factor, Shelley told us she’d be singing Jennifer Hudson’s ‘One Night Only’ as her save-me song. Viewers can now vote for the remaining 11 acts, attempting to keep their favorite out of trouble.

Week 1: Sunday, 13 October – The Results

# Joining Shelly in the final was another of Mrs O’s Overs, Lorna Simpson, who elected to sing the emotional ‘There You’ll Be’ by Faith Hill. Both contestants did themselves proud, delivering extremely strong performances and raising the question, why were Lorna and Shelly in the bottom two?

# Following the sing-off, attention turned to the judges verdict. Not wanting to chose between her two ladies, Sharon waved her right to vote, leaving their fate in the hands of the remaining three judges. In a close-run thing, Gary voted to save Lorna with Louis and Nicole preferring Shelly’s performance and potential.

# In typically controversial fashion, the night resulted in Lorna Simpson becoming the first singer to exit the 2013 X Factor live shows.