So, the judges have been given their categories, and with Simon heading up the 16-24s, Sharon with the 25+ and Louis with the groups its slightly different to the predictions in the tabloids over the last two months.

Has Sharon and Louis’ ploy of putting through GoldenOldies and dodgy Groups backfired? Quite possibly. With only 180 Yes verdicts out of 10,000 auditions, its fair to say that there is still a lot of dross through to the Bootcamp stage - most of it in Sharon and Louis’ sections.

Its difficult to say just how much real talent has gone through - this year we’ve seen lots of tiny snippets followed by the all important ‘Yes’ decision, so until next week’s show it will be mostly guess work and assumption, but looking back through my blog entries, here are my thoughts about some of the bootcamp contestants.

16-24s:
The very nervous Shaun, who had a nice voice, but who will struggle to deal with criticism and the added pressures of BootCamp.
21 year old Leonna, who had loads of potential as she gave us Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Simon enthused about her at her audition, and he’ll be more than happy to have her in his group.
17 year old Raymond, the former Brookside star, sang Ain’t That A Kick. I really liked him, he’s a cheeky looking chappy, but I fear the worst after seeing the clips from next week’s show.
Trevor made it through again this year, but Simon wasn’t impressed, so I hope he’s improved on his over egged Cabaret performance from the auditions. I felt he was treated appallingly by Louis last year - perhaps Simon can redeem him.
Harri, the former Eskimo Blonde was also put through. Why, I don’t know, unless it was deemed to be good tv as she practically had a sing off with her Ex-Bandmates.
Lets not forget Rudi - although I’ve tried to. A huge thing was made of Simon saying he’d send him home on the first day if he was in his group… so.. will be Rudi be back off to Dublin, or will Simon have to eat his words?
From last night’s show, we also had 20 year old Leonnie, with family in tow. She did a good job of Son of a Preacher Man, but 23 year old Gemma showed us what real talent was all about. Again, Simon raved about her.

25+:
26 year old Jonathan, with the cleft in his chin and the ailing mother, made my heart go swing with his Have You Met Miss Jones. Sharon was happy to give him one (a pass through to Bootcamp) and she’ll be even happier to have him under her control.
John Connelly, who allowed Ben Shepherd to rummage through his make up bag, sang Hold Me Now, and did well - he looked the part too, so could make it further on looks alone.
26 year old Robert, who looked like Curtis Steiger and sang like Joe Cocker, deserved his place in Bootcamp. He had a lovely smokey quality to his voice, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he gets on.
My absolute favourite, 27 year old Ben, who sang Lately with great sensitivity and beauty. Not only do I think he’ll do well at Bootcamp, I reckon he’ll be at least onto the next stage, if not the Finals.
31 year old Kerry, the lady who broke her back and was in a wheelchair, could also do well at Bootcamp. However, I’m still not convinced that there was too much of a sympathy vote going on there.
And lets not forget the 3 million Senior Citizens, taking up those vital places. How many of those will make it through Bootcamp?

Groups:
Pure Liberty - did an excellent version of Im Every Woman. They were bright, bubbly and bouncy, and merited their round of applause from the judges.
The Unconventionals, the large vocal group with the scary main leader, who did an different version of On Top Of The World.
4Sure. For sure, I hated them. I felt the same way about 4Tune last year, but they’re the sort of group that Louis will lap up and try and make into another Westlife.
Avenue.. now.. with all the controversy about Avenue, who knows whether they will be shown.
Eton Road sneaked in on the last show, and despite forming only 5 days earlier, they sounded good! Lets hope that Louis doesn’t try to destroy the uniqueness of style they showed.

This article was written by Lynne Goulden, our newest contributor at Unreality TV. Welcome aboard Lynne! Check out Lynne’s own X Factor journal here.