Blind auditions be gone! Tonight the real battle commences. The boxing ring is back and the acts will begin to go head to head for those coveted places in the next round. Also even more excitingly the coaches and presenters finally get a chance to wear something else from their wardrobe. Hurrah! Kylie is rocking a little gold number , Mavin has gone for the berry shades and Will the classic dripping hearts and tartan combo.
Opening the show is team Will. Will is joined by our fave act from last year – Leah McFall in rehearsals. This makes us wonder why we haven’t heard a single from Leah yet? Jermaine, singing politician will take on cat lover Sarah. Will assigns them the George Michael number ‘Knew you were waiting for me’ the performance has a bit of a 90’s vide and Jermaine, in a break for the norm aims to impress with some seriously low notes. We kinda hope there is better to come…we would prefer to lose both of these truth be told! Will picks Jermaine. The steals is back! No one steals Sarah.
Now we have team Kylie’s first battle. Her special guest is Jake Shears from the Scissor Scissors. Kylie pits Coventry insurance salesman Lee against Jimmy, who is also from Coventry! Jimmy and Lee clash slightly in rehearsals and Jimmy seems to have a lot of opinions. They take to the stage for ‘When You Were Young’ by The Killers. The boys sing well and Tom does some excellent side eye. We enjoy it when Lee ends by throwing his mic stand down. Kylie chooses Lee. No steal Jimmy.
Team Tom now, joined by Tinie Tempah. We really hope these two are secretly best pals! Tom has pitted year old Sally against country singer Talia. Tom has given them ‘Dear Darling’ and Sally has to ring her kids to ask them who Olly Murs is. Finger on the pulse is Sal. We forgive her when she starts to sing, Sally has a beautiful tone and we really hope she wins this one, we definitely like her best. Tom chooses Sally. No save for Talia.
Ricky’s ‘lieutenant’ is Katy B. He pits Beth, the youngest artist in the competition, against his twins and gives them Roar. Beth is intimidated by the power of Tila and Tavelah. We find this one a little bit awkward but we like Beth a lot. Clearly so does Ricky, who puts Beth through to the next round. No steal for Tila and Tavelah. The coaches are saving those precious steals…
Back to Kylie who pits Leo from The Streets against Restaurant Manager Steven. She gives them Thunder in My Heart’ by Leo Sayer (nope us neither). In training Leo struggles and clearly needs to do some homework and gets easily distracted by Kylie in a glitzy skirt. Can he pull it together when it counts? Both chaps pull out the skinny suits and the moves but we aren’t overly impressed by either vocal, think we like Steven best because his dancing makes us giggle. Kylie choses Leo. Kylie and Leo are both jubilant when Tom steals Steven.
Tom pairs up Bizzi and Kenny and gives them the Wilson Picket version of ‘Hey Jude’. In rehearsal Tom shows them how it’s done and we muse on how cool Tinie is. In Emma’s wonders – two teachers one lesson in how to battle. Its tuneful but a little bit dull. Bizzi has more oomph but we find Kenny very likeable. Tom puts through Bizzi and we honestly want to cry a bit when no one steals Kenny because he is so darn cute.
The marathon continues with Team Will who plays Callum of the ‘dope’ jacket against ambulance controller Tom. We liked both of these in the first round but it’s hard to concentrate because of Callum’s jacket. They are singing ‘P.Y.T’ by Michael Jackson. Tom owns this, we love his attitude and his vocals. We really want to be pals with Tom. Will crowns Callum the winner, we loose major respect for Will. No one steals our friend Tom, we have actual rage.
Back to Kylie, she pairs up Jai and Nomakhosi. We think Jai was definitely one of the best one in the first round and we think she’s probably a shoo-in. Kylie assigns them Tainted Love, which is a great choice and the ladies really bring energy to the stage. We think this is one of the best performances we have heard so far tonight. Kylie chooses Jai and we look forward to seeing her in the next round. Will steals Nomakhosi so we will be seeing both of more of them! Powering on to Ricky’s battle of Blackpool ladies Emily and Emmerdale lass Kelsey-Beth. Ricky gives them a challenge with ‘Fighter’ by Christina Aguilera. KB looks a bit worried about the tricky song choice but impresses Ricky in rehearsals. It’s an aggressive performance and we can see how much they both want it. We are actually pleasantly surprised that none of the battles tonight have deteriorated into a lot of warbling and singing over each other. Ricky picks Emily. Poor Kesley-Beth has her tears wiped away by Emma.
Back to Tom, he has paired Celestine and Mairead. Tom wants to pick a song they can have fun and Mairead goes for flirting tactics to win brownie points with Tom. The ladies take to the stage to sing ‘It’s My Party’ by former coach Jessie J. We like Celestine best, so does Tom so she is through to the next round. Queue stage invasion by her son. On a side note, we have been really impressed by Emma and Marvin tonight – Emma is way better than Holly. No steal for Mairead.
This show is sooooo long!! Why BBC? why? Back to Will, who pairs harp playing Anna McLuckie against Jessica, who all the coaches wanted. Jessica is intimidated by the harp and cries but then feels better when she decides to play the keyboard. The ladies sing ‘Good Riddance (time of your life)’ and we like Anna’s folky vocals best. Jessica wins the award for biggest crier in the show but it’s Anna that goes through. Ricky uses he steal to save Jessica Steale, who then cries happy tears.
Finally we reach the final battle of the night, Ricky pairs up Christina Marie and West End star Nathan. CM has such shiny hair, we are jealous. They are singing ‘Power of Love’ which seems an unusual choice but seems to work brilliantly in rehearsals and Ricky thinks we are in for a treat. We think Christina has major pop star potential but also love Nathan’s enthusiasm. Ricky was right that this was the best of the night and it gets a standing ovation from the coaches. Ricky puts through Christina Marie, which is probably right but its a shame we won’t see more of Nathan.
