Excitement soars as ‘X-Factor’ whittles down finalists

SANTIAGO. Singled out as an exceptional talent.

Last month’s “The X-Factor USA” telecast was a particularly exciting but also stressful viewing experience, because it required the singing tilt’s mentors to each eliminate one bet from the four semifinalists individually assigned to them, to come up with the “magic” number of 12 finalists for the competition.

All four mentors agonized over their choices, but had to comply with the tilt’s inexorable requirements. Especially torn was Simon Cowell, who had five bets to whittle down to only three, because he had earlier acknowledged that he had unfairly misjudged the stellar potential of a gifted belter. Indeed, after the smoke and dust had settled, she ended up among his three finalists.

Also particularly stressful was the competition between the four “over 30” semifinalists whom Nicole Scherzinger had been nurturing and mentoring for weeks. For them, not being able to get into the finals could mean the kiss of death to their “last chance” prospects of still making it big in the singing biz despite their relatively “advanced” years.

True enough, when her fourth bet was eliminated, he was thoroughly crushed and confused. It is hoped, however, that the senior singer she was compelled to drop will still experience a resurgence in his career prospects, as a result of being “rediscovered” on “X.”

In the “seniors” category, the best news was that the tilt’s oldest semifinalist, Leroy, was able to get into the finals—at age 60! As an observer pointed out, his survival sent out a huge message of hope to other senior performers to never, ever give up!

For our part, we felt most “invested” in the outcome of the competition in the “groups” category that Paula Abdul mentored. Like Nicole, Paula gave her semifinalists a lot of extra mentoring, to improve their chances of getting into the finals—but, she still had to “cut” one act out.

One of the four groups Paula mentored, the 10-member “smorgasbord” gang named Intensity, was our personal best bet, because it included the only surviving Fil-Am talent, Ellona Santiago. Against all odds, she had managed to hang on even after not making it as a soloist. Would she and her group manage to get into the finals despite the other group acts’ very strong showing?

Extra work

Viewed objectively, Intensity was the dehado group in the tilt, because it’s especially difficult for a 10-member group to get its act together and perform as one. Indeed, when Intensity performed, it was clear that it had both strong and weak members, and the best singers were given extra work and focus in the number.

Happily, “our” Ellona turned out to be one of the group’s three best performers, so Paula gave her more “solo moments” that enabled her to make her individual mark on the jurors’ consciousness.

Indeed, they singled her out (“the girl in red”) as an exceptional talent. How happy Ellona must have felt—and our elation knew no bounds!

But, the big question was, would her dehado Intensity group survive the cut, and squeak into the finals? When Paula announced her three final survivors, Intensity was one of them, and the group’s members shrieked with joy.

For our part, we just sat there, our ears humming and a silly smile plastered on our face. “Our” Ellona had made it into the “X” finals, and had even gotten an individual citation for her contribution to her group’s winning performance. What more could we ask for—for now?