I was confused about this on Xtra Factor. Surely that's what their performance this week was? Not only was there no dancing and barely any production, but the track even cut out at parts for them to harmonise accapella!

Isn't that the definition of what he was looking for?

Gary is just a muppet. I'm glad he's quitting next year.

Yes, when Marcus got a full choir on stage

is he deffo qutting? last night on xtra factor he was like oh I love being on x factor really sarcastically

i know i thought they were stripped back :/

Gary Barlow makes himself look stupid.

They were he should look after his own acts and strip back marcus

What did he actually mean by this?

I hope he didn't mean it to have a double meaning.

He's clearly being pissy for the sake of it.

He's right on this one Little Mix need to do something different, and yet its the same thing every week!

You would say that.

And Craig & Marcus aren't ?

I also love how he said every other act has played with just an instrument in the background. Pretty sure Marcus (hist OWN ACT) hasn't, nor has Misha, Amelia etc.

I absolutely loved Little Mix's performance last night, but I'd hardly call it stripped back - my idea of stripped back would just be them and a guitar or a piano or something. The song showed off their strong voices but it was loud and musical, something really simple would be incredibly effective.

I know I did that's why I said it. If Little Mix get through this week they will have to sing a ballad next week whether you like it or not. I have my doubts they will though one trick pony's do the same thing every week.

Wasn't that because someone rung and had a go at him because he'd had a go at the other judges for criticising song choices while he does that himself; basically the caller was saying he was hypocritical!

How can you say Don't Let Go was similar at all to Superbass, or ET to Tik tok, or I'm like a bird to Don't Stop the Music.

Hardly the same thing?

Gary's comments are bullshit to make his acts look good and the rest of the acts look inferior. He's not fooling anyone with his insincerity. I can't stand his smug face and I hope he's not back next year.

there's no way you could call that performance 'stripped back' though. They were totally drowned out by the backing track.

And I'm waiting for Craig to do an upbeat number.

Barlow's particular brand of hypocrisy genuinely irritates the **** out of me.

Gary knows what Little Mix are doing next week if they get through tonight. He wants to take all the credit for it. Thats why Tulisa has a bee in a bonnet. Little Mix have had this put together since before judges houses and will blow everyone away. They have prayed to get through every week so they can perform this but there hasnt been a theme that it would fit into. It had nothing to with X Factor they put it together themselves and shows a bit of everything they are capable of. No doubt it will be tweaked a bit from the first version but if they pull this off it will win them the show. Then hopefully it will shut all of the critics up. Dont know what the other song is yet.

No they weren't. You could easily hear the same familiar timbre of their voices when they had their solo bits too.

It was a pretty stripped back performance, but for some bizarre reason Gary is demanding a vocals + acoustic guitar performance as if it's an X Factor requirement.

I couldn't believe the cheek of him, when he moaned about other judges going on about song choice when it came to Craig, only to talk about song choice in his very next critique!

He's probably the most hypocritical judge ever, and for someone who was supposed to be the poster boy for integrity and honesty, that's quite some fall.

I've no doubt they were singing - and singing very well. But it was pretty hard to tell - as I said the backing track was so loud it virtually drowned them out for the majority of the track.

Which is a shame, because they are obviously talented girls and they don't need all that.