Union J - The Story. Tina Campanella
she said, hearing the booing instantly turn to cheers behind her. She went on to say that she agreed with Gary and Tulisa, though – which meant not one of the judges had really liked their first ever performance.
Louis tried to salvage the night for the boys as he could see that it was probably very lonely and scary up on stage, listening to such a landslide of criticism.
‘Guys, you know what, let’s hope everybody at home votes for you and we will do better next week. We’re prepared to work hard…’
But it wasn’t the most confident of pep talks, and the boys must have felt that their mentor had badly let them down.
‘To be fair, we did the best we could with the song choice,’ said JJ, the first of the boys to speak since their disastrous song.
Huddled together, George put his arm around his new bandmate for moral support as he continued: ‘Like Louis says, maybe next time we’ll try a different song. We’re just praying that everyone votes for us.’
George tried to speak next, his face the picture of sorrow. But before he’d got one single word out, the previously silent audience began to scream their love for him. Blushing, he smiled for the first time since the awful judges’ comments had begun and his beautiful face lit up. It was the boost he needed to continue.
‘We’re going to take on board what you’ve said to us and hopefully if we get through to next week we’re going to do better,’ he said in a determined voice.
But they had to get through first, and after being slated by the judges, it was going to be very difficult.
As they listened to Dermot O’Leary call out the number to vote for Union J, the boys waved and left the stage, their heads bowed and their hearts heavy.
DID YOU KNOW?
Union J’s Josh says his main influences are Chris Brown, Tinie Tempah, Bruno Mars… and Michael Bublé!
After everyone had sung, George, Jaymi, Josh and JJ reflected on the evening. MK1 had picked up the pace and did a cool mash-up of Chipmunk and Hot Chocolate, strutting confidently around the stage, but their vocals weren’t perfect.
Jade Ellis had put her sultry tones to good use, singing the Enrique Iglesias’ ballad ‘Hero’, while Ella Henderson, who was fast becoming one of the boys’ best friends, had sung Gary Barlow’s ‘Rule the World’ to high praise.
Gary had even said: ‘I’ve got to be honest, there’s nothing I hate more than someone singing my song ten times better than me.’
The Union J boys were facing some stiff competition.
After a sleepless night and a restless day, they were back at the studio for the live results show. Thirteen acts would be cut down to twelve and the boys were praying that they wouldn’t be the first to leave.
‘Backstage, the nerves are jingling and jangling,’ said Dermot O’Leary, opening the show – and he was spot on.
After joining with the other contestants to sing Emeli Sandé’s ‘Read All About It’, the audience was treated to performances from former X Factor winner Leona Lewis and R&B star Ne-Yo. It was a bit of light relief, but the waiting was torture.
Finally, it was time to face the music.
The two acts with the fewest votes would be singing for their survival; one of them would be going home. The boys could only hope it wouldn’t be them.
All the acts stood on the stage, trying to stop themselves from shaking. Standing next to Louis, Union J looked nervous.
Dermot O’Leary started speaking.
‘In no particular order, the first act going through to next week is…’
There was a tense pause.
‘…Kye.’
‘Also through is James,’ he said next.
‘And District 3…’
The Union J boys hadn’t heard their names being called and the odds were getting slimmer. But then…
‘The next act through to next week is Union J!’
The audience exploded into cheers and the boys began jumping up and down with uncontrollable excitement. Jumping on Louis, who looked mightily relieved, they hugged him tight.
In the end, Rylan and Carolynne found themselves in the bottom two, and they both had to sing again for the judges.
Rylan sang ‘One Night Only’ from the musical Dreamgirls, and Carolynne sang ‘There You’ll Be’ by country star Faith Hill.
But tensions were simmering between the judges.
Gary had taken an instant dislike to Rylan the night before, telling him: ‘I really was having fun till you started singing.’
Nicole had made everyone laugh by telling Gary: ‘Don’t be an old grumpy fart now…’
But when Louis chose not to save Carolynne, which took the vote to deadlock, Gary was enraged. He couldn’t understand why Louis wouldn’t save the talented songstress over fun performer Rylan.
It wasn’t Carolynne’s night. At the mercy of the public vote she was sent home, prompting Gary to storm off the stage, angrily telling the camera crew: ‘Get the camera out of my face!’
Even Rylan was in tears over Gary’s impromptu rage. ‘Get me somewhere else,’ he wept, walking backstage to where his stunned fellow contestants were waiting.
Union J were first to comfort him. ‘I just want to walk out!’ sobbed Rylan. ‘No, you don’t,’ soothed George sympathetically. ‘You deserve to be here, they saved you.’
Everyone agreed.
Later that night the mood was lifted as all the remaining acts laughed and joked with Caroline Flack and Olly Murs on The Xtra Factor.
Jade Ellis revealed she was terrified of spiders and Lucy Spraggan said she hated chewing gum. While James Arthur told everyone how much he hated cricket, joking: ‘How hard is it to hit a ball with a stick?’ – before being handed a bat and failing miserably to hit a ball at least five times, much to the audience’s amusement.
But all eyes were on Ella Henderson when a fan called the show and said to her: ‘You’re living with a lot of really hot boys at the moment – out of all of them which one do you fancy the most?’
Ella went red and struggled to think of the right answer.
She wasn’t helped when Caroline Flack and the other contestants all started mumbling and coughing ‘George!’ under their breath.
‘I get along with all the guys, right,’ she said, diplomatically, trying to avoid answering the question.
‘Come on,’ teased Caroline. ‘If you had to fancy one, who would it be?’
‘This is going to spiral into something, isn’t it?’ she said, sighing. ‘Right, my best friend is George…’ she admitted, to delighted whoops and some teasing laughter.
‘I’ll never hear the end of this now, never,’ she added, prophetically.
DID YOU KNOW?
Lucy Spraggan’s self-released single ‘Last Night’ entered the UK Singles Chart at number 11 following her X Factor audition.
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