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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If there’s one thing that The X-Factor has been synonymous with over the past nine years then it’s the sob story a piece of information about a singer’s past that makes it impossible for the judges to root against them. X-Factor fans will probably be used to them by now as they’ve been recycled over and over again however I believe tonight’s show had the most sob stories crammed into it.

I didn’t think it would be a sob-story filled night straight away though as we were introduced to our first contestant 70 year old Nick Buss a grumpy old man who resents waiting in a queue and just wants to go home but instead has decided to come to The X-Factor after that incident years ago when Stars in their Eyes lost his tape. As the One Foot in the Grave theme tune played in the background you already knew that Nick wouldn’t be any good but you had to suffer through the segment where Nick said he was a fan of Gary and Louis but didn’t recognise Rita Ora, I wouldn’t either to be fair, but he did now who Tulisia was. It seems that mispronouncing Tulisa’s name is the new theme of the series, as her admirer Jason did last week also, I think this is the reason that a lot of people just seem to call her T. Nick wore glasses in tribute to his favourite artist of all time, Buddy Holly, and later performed one of his tunes which didn’t go down all that well. The male judges let Nick down gently while he didn’t really care about Rita but when it came to the judgment of ‘Tulisia’ he started to get the hump and stormed backstage before turning the air blue with his foul mouth. I’m not sure why this segment went on first but it was certainly entertaining as at the end of the day who doesn’t like to hear old people swear?

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