X Factor: could the running order be to blame?

X Factor logoSo poor old Austin was booted off of X Factor on Saturday.

I must admit I was quite surprised. I think he’s got a cracking voice and so has Rachel, who joined him in the vote-off. So why were two of the best singers in the competition in the bottom two? Where was Daniel Evans, who is pretty cheesy – let’s face it!

And then I stumbled on the answer. The order they sing in. Who were the first two people to sing on Saturday night? None other than Rachel and Austin.

It doesn’t matter that they show the update/refresher at the end – if you’ve suffered 80 minutes of X Factor, you’re mainly going to remember the most recent singers, not the early ones.

Still not convinced? Look at the previous week. Who ended up in the bottom two? Scott (who was voted off) and Daniel.

Who were the first two people to sing? Scott and Daniel…

I await this week’s running order and outcome with interest!

What a difference a bed makes

New bed

Big changes in the Mansfield household as A moved into her new bed at the weekend.

The cot was banished to the loft – after much cursing and swearing by me – and the new sleeping arrangments were put in place.

Naturally, it’s not just any bed – it’s an Upsy Daisy bed from In The Night Garden. And A was ecstatic about it and spent most of Saturday getting in and out and wanting to get ‘under the covers’.

So, with all the joy you’d imagine that she’d have been desperate to get in it come bedtime on Saturday evening, wouldn’t you? Not a bit of it.

Exactly the opposite. The old maxim of ‘we don’t like change, do we?’ came into play and she got a bit freaked out. Only to be expected, really.

Anyway, fortunately Sunday night was far better and so hopefully we’ve cleared the ‘new bed’ hurdle.