The shocks continued on The X Factor UK at the weekend, as one of the remaining seven acts was eliminated from the reality-TV singing competition at the end of Saturday's show – eliminations normally happen a day later.
Described as the first Flash Vote of the series, viewers were given only 10 minutes after all the acts had performed to vote to save their favourite acts.
Mason Noise – a 21-year-old R&B singer who had received a lukewarm response from the judging panel on the night after his performance of Nick Jonas's recent hit Jealous – received the fewest public votes and was axed from the show.
Filipino girl group 4th Impact – sisters Almira, Irene, Mylene and Celina Cercado – survived after once again impressing the judges with a cover of Christina Aguilera's pop-funk track Ain't No Other Man.
“Girls, it was brilliant, professional, sassy,” Simon Cowell told them.
“Here’s my only thing which I will be doing with you now if I were your mentor: you have to bring out your individual personalities. I don’t think you have been given a song yet that showcased that. I really like you, but to go to the next level, we have to know who you are. Apart from that, I thought it was great.”
Fellow judge Nick Grimshaw said: “That was proper entertainment from start to end. Sometimes you’re so sweet, it’s like candy floss and it’s a bit too sweet. But tonight, it was meaty. Well done, girls.”
Rita Ora added: “It was tight, professional and rehearsed. Cheryl and I know how hard it is to dance and sing at the same time.”
“It is really easy to overlook the fact they’ve come from halfway around the world, from the Philippines – they miss their families,” said 4th Impact’s mentor Cheryl Fernandez-Versini.
“I have so much respect for you getting up there every week, standing there as four professionals, performing as stars.”
Also through to the next round are Che Chesterman, Anton Stephans, Lauren Murray, Louisa Johnson and Reggie ’N’ Bollie. This week’s celebrity performers were Ed Sheeran and Rudimental.
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How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
'Manmarziyaan' (Colour Yellow Productions, Phantom Films)
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal
Rating: 3.5/5
You may remember …
Robbie Keane (Atletico de Kolkata) The Irish striker is, along with his former Spurs teammate Dimitar Berbatov, the headline figure in this season’s ISL, having joined defending champions ATK. His grand entrance after arrival from Major League Soccer in the US will be delayed by three games, though, due to a knee injury.
Dimitar Berbatov (Kerala Blasters) Word has it that Rene Meulensteen, the Kerala manager, plans to deploy his Bulgarian star in central midfield. The idea of Berbatov as an all-action, box-to-box midfielder, might jar with Spurs and Manchester United supporters, who more likely recall an always-languid, often-lazy striker.
Wes Brown (Kerala Blasters) Revived his playing career last season to help out at Blackburn Rovers, where he was also a coach. Since then, the 23-cap England centre back, who is now 38, has been reunited with the former Manchester United assistant coach Meulensteen, after signing for Kerala.
Andre Bikey (Jamshedpur) The Cameroonian defender is onto the 17th club of a career has taken him to Spain, Portugal, Russia, the UK, Greece, and now India. He is still only 32, so there is plenty of time to add to that tally, too. Scored goals against Liverpool and Chelsea during his time with Reading in England.
Emiliano Alfaro (Pune City) The Uruguayan striker has played for Liverpool – the Montevideo one, rather than the better-known side in England – and Lazio in Italy. He was prolific for a season at Al Wasl in the Arabian Gulf League in 2012/13. He returned for one season with Fujairah, whom he left to join Pune.
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Products excluded from the ‘sweetened drink’ category would contain at least 75 per cent milk in a ready-to-drink form or as a milk substitute, baby formula, follow-up formula or baby food, beverages consumed for medicinal use and special dietary needs determined as per GCC Standardisation Organisation rules
