actually i heard it was all down to the public vote off jordan on here who is a cher fan,and i heard a few say it on digital spy.

...and they were just presuming

no it was confirmed,plus dermot didnt say it was a bottom two.

No it wasnt, have any proof of that?

that dermot didnt say it was a bottom two is one.

Oh fgs, that's only proof that noone knew for sure what it was going to be, he also didnt say it was going to be all down to the public did he

People were only going on presumptions; that is a fact. They were rational presumptions, but they were presumptions nontheless.

I totally agree with you Vicky, and also it wouldn't now surprise me at all if some contingency plan is not put in place to at least engineer things so that Cher doesn't become the first to leave next week, but really clearly she is up against people now who likely have consistently had better votes than her every week anyway. That will the be harder to put in place.

It stinks, really rotten too.

Everyone I know who was voting believed that they were voting for to save their favourites and whoever was last this week automatically went home, that is how it has always been on X Factor and no one, Dermot, Simon or any other said anything to point out that wouldn't be the case this week until he announced the sing off before he gave the results..

You are right jc/jf, there was no expectation of a sing off tonight, I never read a thread where anyone even on here expected a sing off, all the talk was of who would be last and go out.

Everyone I was watching it with tonight were amazed there was a sing off but most of them immediately said 'Chers in the bottom 2 and must have come last in the voting'.

It stinks and it stinks really rotten.3 of my Friends rang to query it on the phone ins, but surprise,(I think not) none of their calls were selected.

it's quite disgusting.

so very true

It's a ****in joke! They might as well bring Katie back so Simon gets the final 'he' really wants....:S

It's unprecedented to have a sing off in the semi final. I'm with everyone who reckons Cher was bottom of the voting. They've been vague and played around the rules a lot this year, to the point where they've continued to mess around with them to save face. I'd compare it to dancing around like a maniac alone in your room, someone walking in and you carrying on dancing despite your embarrassment at being caught red handed. This series has been dodgy.

Dodgy to say the least and never have the viewers been so badly advised as to what was going to happen week by week, almost as if they were just making their minds up what to do on the night as the final plan.

I absolutely agree with all you say and especially to the vagueness you point out from them too. With 4 judges, 2 presenters, and two 1 hour+ programmes on a Saturday and Sunday there can be no other reason for the lack of information or vagueness than that there is some sort of at least 'engineering' of the results process going on.

It really has an unsavoury taste to it this year does X Factor.

If Cher was bottom then why try and keep her? If she has the fewest public votes then clearly not that many people were viewing to watch her so losing her wouldnt have affected ratings. She isn't a massive media hype like Katie was but is getting publicity for the show but not as much as the "fix" is getting so surely keeping her longer is more damaging to the show. Besides she will only be out first next week if she was in the bottom 2 this week surely.

The same reason they kept Katie despite 4 times in the bottom 2 against anyone up against her, to please Cheryl Cole,the main and only reason, for some reason this year the whole X Factor has been altered to accomodate the errors of her and save her acts week by week.
Katie was at the very least guaranteed a place on the tour and Cher was Cheryls great choice, somehow they had to do all they could to get one or both to the final.

Its actually obvious to most people now something is dodgy here now, no one I have spoken to this morning believes that Cher wasn't last in the voting now and are stunned at a sing off in the semi final with no detailing that would happen the previous week or indeed when the phone lines opened on Staurday.

If you don't inform people then you are likely hiding something. The viewers knew all that was happening on previous X Factors, but not this series,no way.

just been watching this morning with mary on it. She said she didnt know about the sing off until sunday morning. But quickly changed it to saturday morning. And then said she didnt know. Which she would know. So yeah makes it even more dodgy. I do think it shouldnt be a sing off in the semi final. Think it is wrong. And this is coming from a cher fan. I knew mary and cher would get the fewest votes. Im glad mary has gone and that cher is in the final because I love her but if anything it makes it seem cher doesnt deserve her place in the final which isnt fair. But if she doesnt win she has a 2million pound record deal waiting for her and loads of people wanting to work with her. So she doesnt really need it. Neither do one direction. But I think matt or rebecca need this the most

Yeah, was listening to the radio this morning and apparently Louis was interviewed on an Irish radio station during the week and he said we no longer have a vote now, it's all down to the public so Simon and Cheryl must have hatched the sneaky plan very close to the show

I do a lot anyway but I totally agree with your take on this too. Its very sneaky and needs a full explanation,will we ever get one, NO, but that means the suspicions and distrust just gain more and more momentum.

They both had a sing-off song prepared though, how would they have that if it hadnt been planned in advance?

I assume the reason for having a sing off was because they knew Cher would be struggling for votes but they were hoping she would beat Mary, in the likely event that she didn't, they added the bottom two because they've clearly got a big name signed up to do a duet with Cher in the final. That's the only reason that makes sense to me. I hesitate to call it a fix, because to be honest, I think Mary had run her course and Cher had more to offer as a contestant, but I think it's a shame for Mary because she's a lovely woman who deserved it more than Cher (by virtue of being older and Cher having a whole future ahead of her to make it in the music business) :/

idk why they wanna get her in the final so badly. she aint gonna win :l

Mary has just been interviewed on radio here in Ireland (Derek Mooney show)
she says they were told on Sunday morning about the sing off and the reason they were given was that there was 5 in the semi-final when there is usually 4?????
How would that make the need for a sing off ,the outcome would still be one contestant leaving??

Yes Niamh that was also on the Derek Mooney show and Louis did say that this week it was all down to the public .

Yeah thats a bit of as stupid reason.

I do think the singoff was planned now though, once the rage has gone. However I think it was planned as a safety net for cher, so that they could make sure she was in the final. Since she had been bottom before and obviously wasnt as popular as they originally thought.

yeah that reason makes no sense, it would if it was a double not for a single though