Wife Swap , the BAFTA-award-winning hit series, is back with a celebrity swap. The recently married Pete Burns and his husband, Michael Simpson, swap places with the hard man of football, the notorious Neil “Razor” Ruddock, and his partner, ex-page-three glamour girl Leah Newman.

No one gets the better of Pete, and husband Michael takes care of everything in Pete’s life. By contrast, Ruddock’s partner Leah would love some more me-time in her life. Wife Swap: The Aftermath follows on E4, with Pete, Michael, Neil and Leah meeting again after watching the show go out. Read more & comment »

UPDATE: If you are looking for details on 2008’s final 24, click here.

The final 24 X Factor acts have been revealed and the whole lot of them are off to Spain, LA, Dublin and Ibiza. In case you missed last night show, or have just forgotten who got through, here is the final list.

Simon Cowell – Groups

Hope

Same Difference

W4

I Sette Cantanti

Ghostt

Futureproof

Louis Walsh – over 25’s Read more & comment »

Australian model Emily Scott has vowed to take her Cirque De Celebrite training more seriously after being injured this week.

“I’ve had my first injury. But training is going really well, it’s so much fun, the first week just felt like we were in one big playground,” Emily told the Daily Star Sunday.

“The fun didn’t last long and we realised we were in a proper circus, learning serious circus stunts,” she continued. “Last week it got real, which kind of woke us up a bit. No more playing around now – this stuff is dangerous.”

The show kicks off on Sky One next Sunday.

X Factor bosses have confirmed that Sisi Jghalef, has been kicked out of girl band Hope after only one week.

Sisi first auditioned as a solo singer but was convinced by louis Walsh to reaudition as part of the girl group. The group were seen last night making it through to the final bootcamp stage, however Sisi was kicked out of the band only a week after those scenes were filmed.

X Factor producers discovered that Sis was wanted for failing to complete a stint of community service that she has been given after assaulting a McDonalds worker.

Sisi also revealed that she had been smoking Cannabis at bootcamp:

“I only did a bit of weed. Read more & comment »

X Factor winner Leona Lewis has revealed that she will be buying her first home later this year. It won’t be in the UK, but in LA where she will spend next year promoting her new album.

“We are promoting the album in the UK, then in America. So I want to buy a place in Santa Monica,” Lewis told the Sunday Mirror. “I love being by the beach and the Pacific Ocean.

“When I first moved out there I was really missing my family and my boyfriend. But my dream now would be to live in California in the winter and here in the summer. I’m going to buy a house there first. And maybe one in London later.”

X Factor insiders have revealed that Simon Cowell is grooming girl band Hope to win this years X Factor competition.

The band was put together at bootcamp after Louis Walsh decided that some of the people they had said no to, would work well in a group together. We saw the girl group fight, bitch and give a distinctly mediocre performance in last nights show, however it is said that Simon Cowell believes the group have real potential.

An insider told the Daily Star Sunday: “The biggest vibe on the show this year is about Hope. Just like everyone was talking about Shayne Ward two years ago and Leona Lewis last year, all the producers are gossiping about is this girl band.

“A group has never won The X Factor but Simon is determined Hope will be the first. He believes they could be as big as the Spice Girls and he is determined to beat them in the battle for Christmas number one.”

If Hope win I think it will be a shame. They are 100% manufactured, and I believe that if these girls win the series, it will seriously hurt the credibility of one of the UK’s favourite TV shows. Think again Simon……

My God what a DIVA! Louis Walsh has thrown yet another strop after finding out that he would be mentoring the over 25’s category in this years X Factor live shows.

More accustomed to working with pre-pubescent boy bands, Louis feels that he is most definitely NOT the right person for the job.

Louis reportedly sulked when he heard the news, saying:

“I have nothing to offer these people. This category is a lot of hard work and I’m not the person for this. I can’t give them what they need.”

But is that the real reason, or is his mood actually due to the fact that he now knows he has little to no chance of winning this years show. I hear J-Lo’s in talks to becoem an X Factor judge. Maybe Louis should leave now and Jennifer could take over his contestants. Lets face it, she couldn’t do a worse job than Louis!

Hey, I’ve got a great idea! Let’s make all the blokes sing The Beatle’s most overplayed song. “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary makes me fluff the lyrics…”

When last we left boot camp, things were looking bloody bad. Thankfully, things improved a bit in this one. Better performances all round, finally some solid choices from the judges as to who goes on to the next stage.

Frankly, there was more singing and less bullshit in this episode. The X Factor succeeds for me when they’re not trying to spin out old cliches.

Read more & comment »

Finally we know which Judges got which categories and for some the news was less than impressive.

Simon Cowell got the groups and will be taking his six acts to Spain.

Sharon Osbourne was thrilled to find that she would be mentoring the 14-24 year old girls. And she will be taking them to LA.

Dannii Minogue got the group everyone wanted, the 14-24 year old boys who she will be taking to Ibiza.

Louis Walsh was gutted to be lumbered with the over 25s category, the group no one wanted. Once again Louis will be taking his group to Dublin……how very boring!

Of the many sob stories we faced during the X Factor boot camp, Emily Nakanda’s tale of woe hit home with me. Why? Because at one point during the boot camp show, my heart also stopped for a moment.

Colour me underwhelmed folks, but the male contingent were absolutely awful. I don’t know what the judges were smoking when they selected some of these people, but if it numbs my ears to the racket they produced, I want some too!

What we had in the male 14-24 group was a sorry looking bunch of eejits without the looks or charisma – never mind talent – to be on the X Factor. And that’s the ones that got through to the next stage.

Read more & comment »

If you are watching the X Factor show tonight on ITV and want to share your views or see what the rest of Britain is thinking, then be sure to jump over to our forum where we will be covering the show LIVE!

We’ll no doubt be chatting all week about our all time favourite show!

14 year old Emily Nakanda was the youngest girl to make it through to bootcamp and in my opinion she put some of the older singers to shame.

On tonight’s show we saw Emily sing Nina Simone’s Feeling Good for the Judges, she was fabulous and in my opinion deserves to make it through to the live X Factor shows.

However I wish that they would drop her story about nearly dying. It makes no difference to her singing ability, and if anything sob stories put me off possible winners.

UPDATE: I just watched Emily on the second audition show….not so good. Can she cope with the pressure of the live shows at 14? Maybe I overestimated her confidence and ability…..

Tonight we see 19 year old Glaswegian Leon Jackson try to get through the X Factor bootcamp so that he can provide a better life for his mum.

Leon performed a distinctly mediocre audition piece, he failed to impress the judges in the slightest. But he managed to find his way through to the final twelve 14-24 year old males.

I am assuming that Leon made it through due to his looks and his story, because he was nowhere near the best singer in the group, or if he was, he definitely failed to sell himself well during the first stage of bootcamp.

So what’s the general opinion? Should a good sob story and pretty eyes be enough to get you through the X Factor? Let us know what you think, leave a comment below!

Ryan Idzi, the man who has served six years in the army, made it through to X Factor bootcamp. I liked Ryan and concede that he has a good story, but to be honest he never had the calibre of voice that is needed to win the X Factor.

On tinight’s show we see Ryan tell Dermot “this is a life changing event for me, I want it so much.”

However, Ryan’s performance didn’t go as well as he hoped and nerves get the better of him when he forgot the words to his song.

Simon commented “Part of me thinks as a mentor I’d like to take him under my wing and teach him how to sing and perform.”

Correct me if I’m wrong but I didn’t think that was the idea behind this show.

The X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing, Fame Academy, American Idol, I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here, Big Brother, Dancing On Ice, Hells Kitchen; if you haven’t heard of any of these programmes you must have been in a coma and have just come around, you’re a recluse and you live in a cave or you have been wading through a jungle in Vietnam, not yet realising that the war is over.

Reality television is at its peak at the moment and you either love it or you love it but pretend you hate it; locking yourself away on a Saturday night, in a basement somewhere, pretending to watch the Discovery Channel. So what is it that has our 21st Century Generation hooked on watching other people’s lives?

After the DIY and “Changing Rooms” generation in 2001, and after critically acclaimed success in the Netherlands, Big Brother made its way onto our television screens and took the UK by storm. Never before had we seen something so unique and yet revealing from a television show and, presented by Davina McCall, Big Brother became more than a television show on C4; it became an international phenomenon. But why?

People had become bored with the recycled jokes and the predictability of sitcoms and drama. The new reality TV shows were a blank canvas on to which a creative arena that played out in unpredictable ways was created. Reality TV shows appealed to people because of how easy it was for the audience to relate to the contestants as they were real people; not scripted characters. Read more & comment »