Dear 888ladies & 888gents X Factor fans!

We have the results in for this week’s X Factor survey including which 3 roomies who won 10,000LPs each just for taking part in our X Factor Survey Raffle!

I can tell you from your results that Cheryl edges out Simon by 3% for the most popular judge with Dannii and Louis languishing behind with 13% and 7% respectively!

Your favourite to win the X Factor is Stacey who has a 4% lead over Olly….poor Lloyd was last with a mere 1% of all the votes cast! Do you agree?

The majority of you think that the ‘Dead Lock’ IS a kop out and that the ‘FRO MUST GO’!

A massive 83% of you either watch both shows on Saturday and Sunday or ALL the X Factor shows, including the Xtra Factor! Wow, you are a bunch of X Factor obsessives!

Finally, over 80% of you either ALWAYS or SOMETIMES play 888ladies when watching the X Factor and from the information gathered, the city that you live closest to is Manchester! No wonder you stay in doors and play 888ladies whilst watching the X Factor all the time !!

Now the result that you have all been waiting for…who will get the 10,000LPs for taking part….the lucky roomies who were the first 3 to be drawn were: feefee66; lilmissbevan; uniform01

Don’t forget to check out on Monday for the next quiz!

Signing off…….

……Agent008

…..And it comes in the form of an oh so powerful vote from an oh so tiny lady.

No one living on planet Earth could have escaped the drama caused by Simon last Sunday night. Was he wrong not to save Lucie when she unquestionably has a better voice than Jedward? Was he right to give Jedward the chance to stay in another week when they undoubtedly give a great performance? Or simply, was the only correct thing to do, to leave it up to the public vote?

I’m in the camp of Simon always does whatever he wants, so you can’t really judge him like an ordinary person. He’s on Planet Simon, just like Jedward as he politely put it, are on their own planet. There are too many coincidences in favour of Simon for things to just happen by chance. We have a rock week to suit his rocker Jamie. A Queen week to umm…suit his rocker Jamie. When it’s big band week he gives a rock song to his favourite darling Jamie. Are you seeing a pattern here?

What’s Simon’s obsession with him? Is it because Simon wants to expand his reach into the rock world and this is his legitimate way in? Or does he think that Jamie needs all the help he can get? Surely not.

What I do know though is that rules for Simon just don’t exist. Heaven forbid we should claim that one his boys sings karaoke, is not daring enough with his songs or won’t make it further than singing down at his local pub. There are clearly double standards for his beloveds and they can never be criticised. Louis and his rule book may be a tad annoying but I actually think that he has a point. Let’s not forget that Simon is the producer of the show and can make up his own rules as he goes along. The other judges don’t have that luxury. Also, Simon is Simon and the public love to hate him which seems to work in his favour. Again, a power that the other judges don’t have.

However, I’m pleased to say that it was thumbs up to Dannii this week!!! She showed Simon that he shouldn’t have put the survival of Lucie at stake when he could have easily saved her last week. Now he knows how it feels to have a strong performer like Jamie up against a weaker yet more popular singer like Lloyd. So, Lloyd stays and Jamie’s out. And it hurts Simon….doesn’t it! But two can play that game and it seems that Dannii has one up on you this time.

Tara for now

Talking Tara

p.s. on the side – I thought that Jedward were genuinely great this week! I even gave them a little round of applause

Dear 888ladies & 888gents

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to be right THERE at the X Factor studios and see how the show is made and enjoy everything that you love about X Factor in the flesh!!??!!

Well pollybear, had such a luxury when she won a pair of VIP tickets to the show earlier this month!

She traveled down with her guest to the studios in London and was mesmerized by the whole VIP package and seeing how the X Factor is put together, behind the scenes….here is my interview with her.

agent: So, how was it?

pollybear: Amazing! The hotel, the luxury Mercedes car that picked us up and of course the experience itself of seeing the X Factor!

agent: Fantastic! Tell me everything from the beginning!

pollybear: Well, we traveled down by train from the gloom to sunny London, which was a great change of scenery for us! We arrived at the hotel, which was amazing and were given a beautiful room! When we were set to go, the chauffeur, who was early, phoned us to come down and told us that we had to leave for the studio before the scheduled time as there was a SPECIAL GUEST who was going to be singing that night!

agent: Wow! Who was that?

pollybear: Well, we already knew that were getting Bon Jovi, he is too gorgeous by the way…., and JLS but we got to see Shakira as well, they were recording her in advance for the show tonight! Bon Jovi has the top selling album at the moment and JLS have the number 1 single at the moment, can’t say better than that!

agent: Did you see any celebs when you were there?

pollybear: We saw Derren Brown and the Backstreet Boys in the crowd behind us, they were going to be on the Xtra Factor later on….we also sat and chatted with Stacey Solomon’s family but the most exciting thing of the night was that was the night Rachel was voted off!!! It was bedlum over there, she has an amazing voice but Simon knew what he was doing, he controls everything!

agent: What do you mean?

pollybear: He is the linchpin in everything over there. Everything that happens is based around him and this is what I enjoyed as much as the show itself, seeing how everything worked! The floor managers use him as a timer, telling him to speak more or less to fill in time till the ad breaks….then when the adverts are on, they all run around doing the judge’s make up, in fact they do their make up at every opportunity!

This is pollybear’s view from her seat, she was soundly told off for taking this so there is only one!

pollybear: After the show we had food and drink, which was great before our fantastic chauffeur called us as he was there with the Merc outside. We then went to one of Gary Rhode’s restaurants, which was more of a bar than a restaurant, I think that he has two, the other one is a more conventional restaurant but there, I had the most expensive cocktail….

agent008: How much was it?

pollybear: It was £10 and then I had the most expensive but the best Irish Coffee that I had ever had which was £9.95 but as this was the only thing that we paid for, thanks to 888ladies, it was fine!

pollybear: I am the envy of everyone at work, it was a fabulous experience, we even got t-shirts, I gave mine to one of the girls at work.

pollybear: Is seems that I always win with 888ladies, in the Advent Calendar competition last year, I won a Nintendo Wii, so that is two in a row…I win nothing with anyone else….

So there it is, maybe pollybear will get a hatrick of wins with us over the coming months – watch this space!! But there are still X Factor tickets up for grabs so keep playing on the Instant Games!! GL ALL!

Signing off……..

……..Agent008

Dear 888ladies & 888gents

At the end of October, happyjj won a pair of VIP tickets to see the Sunday Show for the X Factor. She had an amazing time with her newish hubby and had a lovely overnight VIP stay in London to boot!

I just spoke to happyjj, who was, unsurprisingly, happy as usual, especially after her 9 month old handsome son, Ted, stopped crying…. Just a mother’s touch and he was as peaceful as a Tibetan Monastery.

Anyway….here is my interview with our lovely newbie, happyjj, ENJOY!:

Agent: So tell all, how was your VIP trip to London to see the X Factor?

happyjj: Brilliant! I’ve not been down to London before…I was shocked how busy it was on the Tube on a Sunday!

Agent: That’s London for you! So who did you take?

happyjj: My husband, it was our one year anniversary, so it was really special to go down then.

Agent: Awwww., congratulations!! So you had an overnight stay away whilst your mum looked after Ted?

happyjj: Yeah, it was brilliant and mum said that he didn’t cry once! He is a good boy.

Agent: Nice. Did you see any X Factor celebrities at the show when you were in the VIP section at the show?

happyjj: Yeah, we saw Holly Willoughby, Dannii Minogue and Mel B!

Agent: Did you get their autographs or say hello to them?

happyjj: No, we were  a bit scared to…

Agent: Oh, you should have asked Mel B, she’s a ‘has-been’, she’ll sign for anyone and I hear that Dannii Minogue is really nice when she isn’t ‘outing’ people…LOL!

happyjj: Oh wait, there was one thing that I was annoyed about….I needed the toilet and when I was in there and my husband waited outside, then……ALL the contestants walked past!

Agent: Oh no! Did your husband speak to them…?

happyjj: No, he was a bit shy…

happyjj: But apart from that it was brilliant, there were canopes there for us to eat and we had a couple of drinks, we had a great time. Also, the hotel was lovely but we didn’t get up early enough to get breakfast, we just aren’t used to having a lie in with having a baby, so we took full advantage of a couple more hours sleep! LOL!

Agent: What else was good about being a VIP?

happyjj: Everything was great! We even had a chauffeur driven Mercedes and the driver told us that it was the same company that Simon Cowell and other celebrities use, felt really special!!

That was happyjj, elated with her great win! She has promised us a photo very soon so you can see the face behind the words and the happy alias!

Congratulations to her and I sincerely hope that we speak again soon by delivering her even more great news! Maybe next time it will be about one of the big Jackpots! £5,000 sliding tonight, only 25p a ticket!

Signing off……..

…….Agent008

Dear 888ladies & 888gents

Here is the latest from one of our fantastic X Factor VIP Tickets winners – Mooey!

Mooey won a special X Factor quiz in Studio 75 for a VIP Trip to London with a friend. That is travel down to the Capital; accommodation at a 5 Star Hotel just off Marble Arch on Oxford Street, called the Cumberland; taxis to the studio and back and VIP treatment with free drinks and food in the studios themselves!

I managed to catch up with Miss Mooey and feel the vibe and adrenaline that was still pumping after her fantastic trip!

Agent: So, how was it?

Mooey: Amazing! Thank you! Everything was great; the hotel, the VIP arrangements, the food and FREE DRINKS!! The VIP section was the best, saw loads of celebrities! Alan Carr, Girls Aloud, they were all so nice.

Agent: That’s great! They were all really nice to you then?

Mooey: Most of them had no choice, I threw myself at them! LOL But, thinking about it, actually no…there was one who I liked before, who is a footballer with a famous wife, who was there and he was really ignorant and he ignored us!

Agent: Does he play for Chelsea?

Mooey: Yes! LOL!

Agent: Say no more…. United players would never be like that…

Agent: What else was sooo good about this VIP trip to the X Factor??

Mooey: Erm…oh yes, we got to the hotel early so they gave us better rooms! It was soo lovely there but we missed breakfast, I set an alarm but we just rolled over! We had a good night!

Agent: And what about the rest of the show?

Mooey: Apart from Ricky going, it was fantastic, still in shock and so upset, was almost crying..

Agent: Okay…… right then, at least it seems that we got a true fan as an X Factor winner!

Mooey: Oh yes, staying in watching the X Factor, instead of going out with my friends certainly had its advantages in the quiz! Thanks again 888ladies!!

Well that was Mooey. If you want to follow in her’s and all the other winners’ footsteps, then keep playing 888ladies bingo, Instant Games or scratch cards and YOU could be entered into the raffle for VIP tickets to the X Factor!

Signing off……..

……..Agent

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

I would like the producers of X Factor (namely Simon then) to explain to me and the rest of the public, what exactly they want from their contestants. We take the name X Factor for granted but what does it actually mean? Good personality/Good performer/Good singer? All of the above? Some of the above?

You see, watching this week’s show I was suddenly confused about what we’re looking for.

Take Jamie to being with. He’s a rock star. That’s his clothing style, his singing style and it’s his passion. What do the judges want from him then? When he sings rock, he literally ROCKS because he lives and breathes that style. Big band last week wasn’t his thing but why should it be. Who wants to hear a rocker singing big band? Louis is full of criticism for him but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with doing what you do, as long as it is brilliant. And he is and was.

Next up is our dear Stacey. Amazingly powerful voice with such a divine personality that I would be upset should she not grace our screens every Saturday night. So dancing isn’t her thing. Big deal! On the one hand she’s criticised for not moving enough. But it’s a singing competition. If we’re to listen to Danni (who I think copied it off Simon a few weeks ago) then what’s important is to sound good on the radio, so Stacey moving on stage should not be of major concern. In total comparison there is Jedward. Good on stage (debatable but for arguments sake I guess the fact that they’re still in means people like them) yet they would undoubtedly be bad on the radio. So what’s the answer? Do they need to excel at both singing AND performing? In my own opinion (never humble in this self indulgent blog) I don’t think that a wonderful singer like Stacey should be ruled out because she isn’t a mover. Maybe I haven’t watched enough Leona videos to know but does she really dance?

My point may have taken a while to make but here it is: do we really need a perfectly all rounded artist and is there even such a thing? An artist needs to have their style and identity and they should not be afraid to show that on the show. Jedward’s style may not be to everyone’s taste but it’s their style. Jamie’s a great rocker so why shouldn’t he bring that into his performances. I’m not saying they should deliver the same routine week after week, but we should we grateful to find gems like Jamie and Stacey who are amazing at what they do. Why hide their uniqueness when once/if they get a record deal their producer would anyway focus on their strong point. Similarly, if you’re into off tune, crazy dancing Jedward then so be it. Maybe that will be their angle. Live performances with tracks so covered up that their voices are masked to sound professional. Now it’s not like the music industry’s never done that before.

Watching hours of the X Factor each week and writing this blog, I am clearly a big fan of the show. So this article should not be taken as a sign of dislike, more than a passion for a show which I love and want to kick into shape.

Only 5 days to go.

Talking Tara