S1E18: Last night on The X Factor, the contestants performed a variety of Michael Jackson songs as a way to pay tribute to the late King of Pop. Each act managed to excel in their own individual way (despite the lack of help from their mentors), but either way, two contestants needed to be removed from the competition. So just in case we didn’t understand the process from last week, Steve Jones explained yet again that the act with the least amount of votes will automatically be eliminated. Then the remaining two acts with the next two lowest votes had to SING FOR SURVIVAL in front of the judges. I feel like it’s also important to point out that Paula is now the only impartial judge since every group from her category has been voted off the show. So at least we can take comfort in knowing there's one reliable judge in the panel…right?
So, after an insane amount of Michael Jackson plugging, it was time to get on with the results. And after the names were announced IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER, we discovered that Astro had the least amount of votes and was leaving the competition for good. Unlike his he did last time he was close to elimination, he handled the decision rather well, which was pretty impressive, I have to admit. But this left Drew and Marcus Canty to perform their “Save Me” songs in the hopes that the judges would decide to keep them in the competition. And in the end they surprisingly decided to send Drew home, leaving Marcus Canty free to sing another week. It was definitely a shocking decision that I admittedly didn't see coming and apparently neither did Drew since she seemed to take the whole thing really hard (she is only 14 after all). Needless to say, Simon was not happy to say goodbye to a contestant from his category.
Now Astro and Drew are gone for good, leaving only five acts left to compete for the $5 million prize -- who do you think should win?
Tune in to watch the final five contestants perform next Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Fox!