The X Factor – Top 8 Results – Live Blog – 11/29/2012

Welcome to the live blog for The X Factor Top 8 results show for November 29, 2012.

Tonight we have performances by Alicia Keys and season one runner-up Josh Krajcik. Also, two acts will be leaving the competition for good.

Rickey.org readers predict Paige Thomas and CeCe Frey will get the boot!

Credit: FOX

And here we go!

8:02 PM

We get the recap of last night with backstage scenes. Diamond seemed satisfied with her performance, while Vino actually wished he could get a do-over. Paige wrote “Faith” on her fingernails to remind her to be strong (which is totally not tacky at all), and the rest of Fifth Harmony reiterates to Ally how proud her grandfather would have been. Carly Rose hopes her performance was enough to keep her at number one, while Tate says pretty much the same thing, adding that there can be only one winner, and he really wants to be back on top. CeCe is ecstatic about her performance, then wonders to the vocal coach why the judges hate her every week. She then boldly asserts to the camera that she refuses to pack a suitcase because she’s not going anywhere (famous last words?). The boys of Emblem3 are their usual stoked selves, believing they killed it. They add that they take this very seriously, and they aren’t playing games.

8:07 PM

It’s now time to get rid of the first act of the night!

Results, pt. 1

The act with the fewest number of votes, and who will be leaving the competition immediately is…Paige Thomas!

Paige Thomas has been eliminated from The X Factor!

Anyone else surprised by how shocked the crowd was to hear her name? It might not have been many people, but it was certainly a vocal portion of the audience. She was good last night and all, but her elimination has had the stink of inevitability for at least two weeks now.

Paige states that she’s happy to now get to go home and put in the work towards showing everyone what she’s really capable of doing with her music. I think she’s simply happy to have made it this far. Which is not to say that she’s bad or anything, but I suppose I’m still sore about Jillian Jensen. That decision from Demi was straight-up, paint-huffing balderdash.

We get her funeral video, and the montage reminds me that, despite her relatively decent vocals (and the fact that she’s gorgeous), she hasn’t had many good moments on the show. Ah well, no one’s saying there isn’t room for growth there.

8:14 PM

We’re back from break with Mario proclaiming Paige’s ouster “a bit of a shocker” (really, Slater?), and then, in a strangely jarring sequence of events, we throw directly to Josh Krajcik’s performance of his new single. No pre-performance package to remind the audience who he is, other than “The Guy Who Lost Last Year To That Girl Whose Name Is On the Tip of My Tongue Right Now”.

Immediately, Josh reminds me how much better last season was than this. And I wasn’t even really all that into most of last season’s acts. But compared to this lot, last year was an embarrassment of riches, a veritable king’s ransom of studio-ready artists like Astro, Drew, Marcus Canty, Rachel Crowe, Melanie Amaro, Chris Rene, Leroy Bell, even Lakoda friggin’ Rayne. And it’s not even like any of those acts have set the world on fire in the past year either. But they made for a much stronger season of competitive reality TV.

8:20 PM

And we’re back with Khloe, with hair all a-frazzle, looking for all the world like she just got her betty booped by the Michelin Man. Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with getting rotary dialed by an anthropomorphic advertising icon.

Time for results!

Results, pt.2

In no particular order…

Fifth Harmony is through to the top 6!

CeCe Frey is through to the top 6! (Oh S***!)

Emblem3 is through to the top 6!

Carly Rose Sonenclar is through to the top 6!

Tate Stevens is through to the top 6!

The bottom two sing-off will be Vino Alan vs. Diamond White!

Simon is surprised about Diamond, but not about Vino. The man likes what he likes. Get ready for some strategic voting, as I imagine the other mentors will pile on Vino to send him packing (he already likely has two votes against him from Demi and Simon, without a single note having been sung, and Britney’s vote would be enough, though if Simon was smart, he’d send home Diamond, since I think she probably will split votes with his own act, Fifth Harmony. But really, I’m against strategic voting anyway. Send home the person who deserves to leave. If you feel neither deserves to leave, send it to deadlock and let the public decide).

8:31 PM

Mario announces that, after Britney’s video premiered on the show last night, her song was number one in America and sixteen other countries.

We throw to the back, where Khloe is with the bottom 2. She reiterates how shocked she is at this result (OH MY GOD, NO ONE CARES, KHLOE), and interviews the two. Diamond, as bubbly as ever, says she has to try and keep a smile on her face, while Vino states he’s going to try his best, and adds that he loves Diamond.

And we’re off to the races with Alicia Keys, who gets the hype package Josh didn’t (though it’s understandable, given that she’s Alicia freakin’ Keys).

8:33 PM

Alicia is singing “Girl On Fire”, and though I really don’t care much for the song, she has a voice and stage presence that immediately sets her apart from many of the acts who’ve taken the stage on these results shows so far this season. Bonus points for the Cobra Kai-looking dancers in the background.

And we don’t talk to Alicia after the performance. She does a martial arts bow, momentarily getting me giddy at the prospect of Alicia kicking Khloe clear across the stage with a well-timed thrust kick, and leaves. And we throw to commercial as Vino and Diamond prepare to do battle. TWO ENTER, ONE LEAVES (or stays, whichever).

8:41 PM

Diamond is up first, and she’s singing “I Was Here” by Beyonce, and I think this is pretty far up there among her top vocal performances. Her voice goes out in places, but there’s no fronting on the emotion she’s pouring into this.

8:45 PM

Vino is next, singing “Trouble” by Ray Lamontagne, and the arrangement is the first thing that struck me. It’s not that far from the original, in theory, but it feels more ethereal here, which definitely contributes to the feeling that Vino is having a genuine moment. Because he’s singing the hell out of this, even though it’s occasionally pitchy (like Diamond’s). It was really rough starting out, for instance. But he brought it home in a significant way.

Results, pt.3

LA says there are no two acts in the competition he wants less to have to vote between than these two (sure, LA).

LA votes to send home Diamond!

Britney says both performers did a great job, but she has to make a decision.

Britney votes to send home Vino!

Demi says she doesn’t want to send home either (REALLY, DEMI? After all that hot talk about Vino?), but…

Demi votes to send home Vino!

Simon curses (which is bleeped out) because he doesn’t want to send home either act. But Mario presses for an answer.

Simon sends home Vino!

The audience is absolutely FLOORED by the decision, but none more than Vino, who says he thought the judges (or maybe just Simon…or maybe even the voting audience, as I couldn’t tell who he was addressing this to) would have given him a chance (passive-aggressive much?).

We get his funeral video, and LA tells Vino he’s proud of him, and is proud to call him family. Vino does a lousy job hiding how pissed he is with this result, although I can’t say I blame him. Third place one week, taking a plane back home the next? It’s the first interesting case of how knowing the ranking order ahead of time probably affected the result, as I imagine many of Vino’s fans felt he was safe at third, and didn’t need to vote as hard to save him, even though he turned in an underwhelming performance. That’s my theory, anyhow.

8:56 PM

Time to reveal the ranking order, with only moments to go.

Rankings

6. Diamond White
5. CeCe Frey (she smiles because, frankly, she’s just happy to be here, at this point)
4. Fifth Harmony
3. Emblem3
2. Tate Stevens
1. Carly Rose Sonenclar

Last verse, same as the first. If these two aren’t the last two standing, I’ll douse my hat in Worcestershire sauce and go to town. Only 1% of the vote separated the top 3, and even less than that separated the top two. The race has the appearances of being super close, but at the end of the day, it’s Tate vs. Carly. Even a three-act finale won’t be changing that, unless we see some major shakeups. Said shakeups could come in the form of the eliminated contestants’ fanbases pledging their loyalty to another act. If so, who do Paige fans dedicate their votes to? Who does Vino’s?

I guess we’ll find out next week. See you then!

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