It seems as though no one expected Maria to go, certainly not the X Factor studio audience who boo’ed Louis when he announced he was sending her home, and later The Conway Sisters as they were interviewed by Ben Shephard for The Xtra Factor. And if you read this blog post or this it would seem that the general public were as shocked as the studio audience!

Maria was one of the shining lights in the X Factor competition. She didn’t just sing, she shone! She owned the stage, and looked as if she belonged there and she knew it. Her song last night was certainly not her best, but her performance was still outstanding and better than many others who are still in the competition.

It certainly seems unfair that Louis would choose The Conway Sisters over Maria just because he knows them and they have worked with Westlife before. It is unlikely that The Conway Sisters will get much further in the competition, they have been in the bottom two acts before so obviously they are not inspiring the public to vote for them. As Sharon Osbourne said the X Factor competition should be about talent, not what country you are from or who you know better.

My predictions on who will win the competition are all up in the air now as I really believed that Maria had an excellent chance of at least making it to the finals. I’m hoping now that Brenda and Andy can last until that stage, but you never know what will happen next week!