X Factor fans – and judges – will get a surprise on Saturday night when previously booted contestants return to the stage.
As Simon Cowell takes to the chair to judge the groups category in the next round of the Six Chair Challenge, he will be faced with an unexpected new band.
The all-female and aptly named New Girl Band appear on stage just hours after coming together, following each member’s rejection earlier in the ITV competition, to perform Hey Mama by David Guetta and Nicki Minaj.
Cowell greets returning hopefuls Kelsey, Imagen, Lydia, Sky and Charlie with a grin and says: “Well, this is interesting.”
There will be more surprises in store for viewers in tonight’s show, not least Cowell’s subtle boogie as he find himself absorbed in opening act Afro-Swagg’s performance of Fuse ODG’s Azonto.
Next up is girl-group Beau Road with their a capella version of Straight Up, by Paula Abdul, but Cowell warns them against sounding “amateurish” by simply singing at the same time rather than harmonising.
Other entries in the first part of the show will include six-piece singers Lemonade, who have already made it through several levels of the competition since forming just three weeks before their first audition, and all-male Rak-Su with another original song, Change Your Mind.
Intent on making the best possible decisions, Cowell piles on the pressure for some acts, requiring them to perform more than one song.
Unimpressed with Jack and Joel’s first offering of Christina Aguilera’s Ain’t No Other Man, he demands an alternative, allowing the London duo to show off their singing and beatboxing skills with their second piece, Bang Bang by Jessie J.
Teenage brothers and songwriters Sean and Conor Price, from Blessington in Ireland, get the same treatment as Cowell calls for them to halt their heartfelt performance of original song Something In The Way and they present instead their track, Time.
But even when Cowell orders the dreaded sing-off to finalise his selection of six contestants to push through to the judges’ houses, the drama will mount further as Nicole Scherzinger takes his place to begin judging her overs (contestants over the age of 27) category.
Suave Danny Lambo is the first to claim the stage, bringing a bouquet of white roses and a gift for his mentor with whom he jokes that a “romance has been developing”.
Viewers will only see Scherzinger get through her first chunk of entries, including Montenegro singer with the signature plait, Slavko Kalezic, as well as Dutch national Berget Lewis, 71-year-old retired bus driver Glenroy Grant and Loverine Fermino.
X Factor continues on ITV at 8.15pm.