Jack and Sarah go to The X Factor!

Giving you an insight…

Jack Sullivan and Sarah Wathan, Drivetime and Daytime Presenters, here at Gateway 97.8, took an afternoon away from the studio and headed to London O2 Arena for The X Factor auditions. Fortunately, it was another scorcher with the temperatures being high again. The unfortunate was queuing for 2 hours in the heat. However, we did have Priority Tickets, so we weren’t complaining.

About the day then… Well as you all know, Kelly Rowland has quit the X Factor, still waiting for a new permanent judge to get signed, so whom did we have? Well the guest for our show was the one and only Nicole Scherzinger, who was joined by Gary Barlow, Tulisa and Louis Walsh.

Caroline Flack was also there too, dancing away in her own little world, by the front of the stage, also Dermot O’Leary came on stage just before the auditions started, but no Olly Murs, as he is in America at the moment. Not forget the Roycey! The show would not be what it would be without Ian Royce. He’s basically The Warm Up Guy, and a bit of a Comedian.

So, Sarah and myself, were inside from around 4:30pm to 10:00pm so that’s around 5 hours worth of auditions, an audience of 5,000 people, so you could imagine what it been like.

Now, Sarah has got her favourites, singing along to their songs, and I have mine too, and out of everyone who sang on stage, there’s only 6 who I would say watch out for. I won’t give out too much, you’re just going to have to wait and see in autumn, but I will tell you about two acts, one that I found absolutely amazing, and the other, a total mad performance.
 

Impressed by the Judges, could a Boyband win this year?

Let’s start with GMD3… They are made up of Greg West, Michael Parsons and Dan Ferrari-Lane. Where did they get the name? Well, first letter of each of the names + how many of them are in the band? That’s your answer.

Micky from Windsor, Greg from Essex and Dan from Wales are all mates, and formed the group whilst at school. They began by first uploading covers onto YouTube, which ended up with over 1.7million views, and since then have a fanbase of over 25,000 followers on Twitter and 15,000 on Facebook to date.

You could say, they are already a success, as they’ve supported Alexis Jordan on her UK tour, and spent time in Los Angeles and New York City, where they were busy writing music and recording their debut album.

The group describe themselves as a 3-piece harmony group, influenced by Chris Brown, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Boys II Men, Robbie Williams, Celine Dion and Justin Timberlake, who are aiming at R&B, Hip Hop and Pop Market. They say, they are a bit of old school, who are aiming to create new sound, while they chill, work hard and have fun, with their interests being Football, Rugby, Movies, Producing, Singing, Eating, and having a laugh.

You might be thinking though, I thought the X Factor don’t allow people with management deals? Well normally this would have been banned, but there are new rules this year, so luckily for them, they could take part. Basically, this means if you are signed to talent agencies or entertainment managers, you can still compete on the show for the winner’s title and the record deal. GMD3 are currently signed to ‘Primary Wave Talent Magement / Maximum Artist Management’. They also manage 50 Cent and Cee Lo Green.

So, GDM3 auditioned for Gary Barlow, Tulisa, Nicole Scherzinger and Louis Walsh with their version of Beatles song, ‘Money Can’t Buy Me Love’, which the audience seem to of loved so much, that the group received a standing ovation, and the judges asking for a second song, which they sang Boyz II Men’s ‘I’ll Make Love To You’.

Gary Barlow even described them as ‘the best boyband to ever audition for The X Factor’; with Louis Walsh saying they have potential to becoming the next JLS.

Did they get through to Boot Camp? All will be revealed.
 

Gary Barlow Chased!

Now, imagine Gary Barlow getting chased around the O2 Arena? Well, that actually happened, after he found himself being chased at the venue by one wannabe at the auditions, while we were there.

Lorna Bliess, a female act who looks like Britney Spears, was meant to be showing off her voice to the judges, but when she began walking over to the judges’ desk, Gary Barlow from Take That, leapt out of his chair, running, with her chasing after him. Sarah and me were laughing, even the audience and the crew were!

You’ll probably remember Lorna from appearing on Britain’s Got Talent, but failed to make it through to the show’s semi finals. Well let’s just say, I’m sure you will be seeing her featured in episodes this series.
 
The X Factor returns to ITV1 later on this year.