So the auditions are over and now The X-Factor is heading back to Liverpool, thankfully without Geri Halliwell this time, as Echo Arena hosts the Boot Camp stages of the auditions. Though there were already rumours of her being axed Nicole Scherzinger finally took her place alongside Louis, Gary and a now blonde Tulisa as the over-200 acts who passed their auditions gathered in a nightclub for a pre-boot camp party. Little did they know that a third of them were going to be cut, though if they had watched last year then they could guess that this was possibly coming, as the judges relived the horror of the auditions once again. Thankfully at least they had a good day out as JLS turned up to serenade the guests and tell them that this was there one shot at stardom that is unless they come back again next year like Joe Cox, Melanie McCabe or Carolynne Poole. The news of the cull then came with a lot of bemused acts that we’ve not seen before being sent home to up the drama quota for the next hour in addition the producers have installed a giant clock so the contestants can see the 72 hours countdown which must be just one step up from watching paint dry.

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It’s true that time flies as, if I hadn’t been told to me a thousand times tonight, I wouldn’t have known that the audition stages of The X-Factor had already come to an end. Despite this the production team thought some of you needed reminding about the acts that have got through so the opening segment of the programme, as well as the last ten minutes, were dedicated to looking at the impact that some of the most memorable singers have had. This opener seemed to suggest that these successful auditionees were already getting interviews and coverage in national newspapers on a daily basis but in fact if you’d looked closely all of the TV coverage came either from Daybreak or This Morning so once again this was more cross-promotional work from ITV.

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