To cut straight to the final 12 list click the link.

I felt a bit short-changed last night. After liveblogging the entire show, we flicked over to the Xtra Factor and discovered two things:

1. Holly Willoughby is a far more entertaining presenter than O’Leary. Not true – actually, Holly has far more freedom to be funny, and even Dermot on the Xtra Factor is a vast improvement to his ITV1 persona.
2. The auditionees all got to sing extra songs, and arguably their best performances were featured on ITV2 last night, leading me to this conclusion:

The Xtra Factor is actually better than the X Factor. Better quality singing + gorgeous host + entertaining banter = far better than X Factor.

The judges haven’t slept. They’ve been up all night working out whose dreams to shatter and whose will come true. It’s a lot of responsibility, and as my Uncle Ben says, “With great power comes great responsibility.” He’s so wise.

The Under 25 Girls

Up first is Lucie Jones, who’s crying before she even gets near to Minogue. Dannii talks in complete circles, confusing everybody, which can only mean (yes, I’m getting confirmation now…) that Lucy is through to Live Finals! She literally leaps on Dermot in excitement.

Second for Dannii’s group is Nicole Jackson, who fluffed it up a bit last night (she did brilliantly on Xtra Factor though). Will Dannii overlook her nerves and let her through? Former S-Clubber Stacey McClean is also keen to know whether she’s in or out.

To Nicole, Dannii treats her very gently, but says she’s concerned about her ability to compete in the live shows. Sadly for Nicole, she’s not progressing at this stage. Neither is S Club Stacey. Both are devastated.

Rachel Adedeji on the other hand gets through without the usual waffling. She’s elated at being through to the live rounds! Now, it’s just between Stacey Soloman and Despina Pilavakis. Is there really any contest between the two? Despina meets Dannii first, surely a sign she’s about to be rejected (that, and we had a couple of minutes of Stacey’s wittering). Both girls are in tears as they meet Minogue, but Despina is rejected and Stacey is through to the live rounds.

Girls through to live finals: Lucie Jones, Rachel Adedeji and Stacey Soloman

The Groups

You just know that Louis is going to squander a place in the final on those morons, the Grimes Twins. Damn him.

Up first are the Liverpudlian duo, De-Tour. Louis boots them out with zero emotion, but surely they knew it was coming. Miss Frank are the next act in front of him, and they’re going through to finals – of course they are, they’re one of the best acts on X Factor this year!

Harmony Hood come back, but Louis rejects them, preferring Kandy Rain – the group who don’t want to be remembered as four ex-strippers. They are pretty sexy though

Girl group Project A get told they don’t have the X Factor, yet – you’ve guessed it – Louis scandalously puts through two talentless apes. Now, I’m gonna come right out and say it – it’s obviously because they’re Irish, and that’s not good enough Louis! How can you say that Project A don’t have the X Factor and this half-baked duo, who wouldn’t even make a Britain’s Got Talent reject reel, do?

Groups through to live finals: Miss Frank, Kandy Rain and the Grimes Twins

The Under 25 Boys

Without much ado, Cheryl immediately puts Rikki Loney through to the finals. Great, but very emotional that youngfella, isn’t he?

Next is a toss-up between Ethan Boroian and Lloyd Daniels. Cheryl talks with Lloyd about his age being a factor (he’s only 15), but in the end, Ethan gets rejected and Lloyd is through to the live finals, a bittersweet result for the lady viewers, I think?

Following these two is opera shouter Daniel Fox, who’s concerned that Cheryl doesn’t ‘get’ his singing style. Her brow is noticably furrowed, but she stammers something at a producer and wanders off. Cruelly, they send him off while Cheryl composes herself. But, in the end, she rejects him. That was possibly the most painful rejection in reality TV history. Ouch. But thankfully RepeatRhydian won’t be bothering our earballs this autumn, viewers!

Two contenders left – Duane Lamonte and Joe McElderry. Judging this solely on the VT, Joe’s got it in the bag. After that confusing “is she talking to Duane, is she talking to Joe?” bit, we discover what I predicted just one sentence ago – Joe McElderry is through to the live finals. Shocker!

Boys through to the live finals: Rikki Loney, Lloyd Daniels and Joe McElderry (quite a young group of male contestants this year)

Over 25 Year Olds

It’s their final shot at fame. Here comes Danyl Johnson, but Simon bawls him out for overthinking his performance. However, it’s a foregone conclusion – he’s through to live finals. Sure you knew it was going to happen, didn’t you?

We get a trio of performers next, just to confuse us they throw Olly Murs, Daniel Pearce and Treyc Cohen. Of all the judges, Simon is the one who should have a red button to activate a trapdoor under the contestant. There are no hugs for these guys. Daniel and Treyc get booted (some would say a terrible decision) and yes, as if you didn’t already know, Olly Murs is through to live finals. Interestingly, Simon admonishes Olly never to disappoint him again.

Finally, Nicole Lawrence and Jamie Afro go head to head. We know how this is going to pan out, though Simon gives Nicole a hug after letting her down. Jamie gets a round the houses acceptance, but he’s through to finals. Not sure how I feel about that.

Over 25’s through to live finals: Danyl Johnson, Olly Murs and bloody Jamie Afro.