Week 1- UK vs US week
1: District 3
2:James Arthur
3:Melanie Masson
4:Lucy Spraggan
5:MK1
6:Christopher Maloney
7:Union J
8:Jade Ellis
9:Rylan Clark
10:Kye Sones
11:Ella Henderson
12:Carolynne Poole
13:Jahmene Douglas

Bottom 2: Carolynne and Rylan

Week 2- Love and Heartbreak Week
1:Jahmene Douglas
2:Christopher Maloney
3:Union J
4:Ella Henderson
5:James Arthur
6:Lucy Spraggan
7: District 3
8:Jade Ellis
9:Mk1
10:Kye Sones
11:Rylan Clark
12:Melanie Masson

Bottom 2: Melanie and District 3

Week 3- Club Classics Week
1:Christopher Maloney
2:Mk1
3:Jahmene Douglas
4:Jade Ellis
5:James Arthur
6:Union J
7:Rylan Clark
8:Lucy Spraggan
9:Kye Sones
10: District 3
11:Ella Henderson

Bottom 2: MK1 and Kye

Week 4- Halloween Week
1:Kye Sones
2:Union J
3:Rylan Clark
4:Ella Henderson
5:Christopher Maloney
6: District 3
7:Jahmene Douglas
8:Jade Ellis
9:James Arthur

Lucy given a bye-pass to week 5 due to illness.

Bottom 2: Jade Ellis and Union J

Right i have been looking at the running orders since last week. I don't know if anybody can see what the producers are trying to! I can see.

Week 1: If you look at week 1. Look where Melanie is, she is in between james and lucy. Now look where carolynne is she is between Ella and jahmene. The target was for carolynne to go as she was sandwhiched in between 2 great acts which people will hopefully forget Carolynnes performance. Whoever was in bottom 2 with her it doesn't matter as they wanted carolynne gone anyway!

Week 2: Last was Melanie they put all the good acts and memorable acts first and left Mel til last which was 10.25 people turned over to strictly come dancing hence that's why they lost 3.5 million viewers at that point which explains why they put Ella last in week 3. Now the first 6 acts that performed that week my opinion is that they were the best in the producers book and left the garbage til last from 7 onwards which explains why district 3 was with her in bottom 2. Now we know they wud of saved district 3 anyway. But the aim was for Melanie.

Week 3: the target that week was jade ellis as she was sandwhiched between jahmene and james and was given quite an early slot!! My opinion is that they wanted to dampen jades vote so she went ASAP. But if u look closely MK1 are after Chris, and if it is true that Chris is topping the votes then mk1 have been put between Chris and jahmene. They put district 3 right before Ella. But they put kye before district 3 and after LuCy who is very very popular. Either way mk1 went that week as I believe they wanted them sandwhiched.

Week 4: Look where jade is again. Producer want her gone. She is sandwhiched in between 2 great acts jahmene and james AGAIN! This time a late slot!!! Hoping it would this week make a difference. So who ever was in the bottom with her they sti would of got rid of jade!!

My theory is this year they are trying to sandwhich people as the voting has changed and they have figured how to manipulate the public!!!! Have a look closely at all running orders and bottom 2 and u wil see what I mean!! Watch out next week u wil get an idea who they don't want!

Conspiracy theory number 117

That's my theory anyway and I I think that's what there doing. Look at it u can clearly see what there doing. Look at the sandwhiched acts. They have all been in the bottom 2

This is a really good theory shraine I 100% agree with it.

The only act that the producers want to win is the one that is the most popular. What would they possibly have to gain by helping an unpopular act through?

Thanks for just copying and pasting my thread?! I worked hard to gather all those details!

Really? Bit pointless. You should go outside sometime. We have mobiles now and everything.

I just want people to have look closely to what I'm trying to say. Look into it deep and u will understand the theory. Every act that has been in bottom 2 have been sandwhiched. Watch next week trust me!!!!!

Im 18, I do go out, but I also enjoy looking at the performance order, etc, for x factor...

I just copied the running order. Not the theory!!

Oh good. I'm pleased to hear that. Sounds like you have a perfect balance of an active lifestyle and time spent inside and online. Good work; keep it up buddy

The good acts haven't been sandwhiched! They know the previous results so they know who they can put in the SANDWHICH so the public can take a BITE of it! What ever is in the middle they want them gone!

I think kye will be sandwiched this week by Jahmene and James and Kye will also be put in the second slot like MK1 and Union J.

Yes possibly. Lunar trust me watch the running order u will know what I mean. Good idea for a bottom to bet aswell. Just unfortunate jade didn't go in week 3 but they got what they wanted this weekend.

Ok well let's presume that this theory is correct. I don't see an issue with it. If an act wants to win they are gonna have to beat all these 'good' acts at some point anyway. If they are scared of being 'sandwiched' as you put it - then do they deserve to be there? Each act should be able to compete with any of the others - if other acts can overshadow them then they are clearly not good enough.

I agree with this.

It's a producer thing. Maybe the acts know they are being sandwhiched and they can't do anything about it. This just show the producers have massive votes for james Ella and jahmene cus every act in bottom 2 have been sandwhiched by them 3!!!!!l well not all acts but the acts that the producers dis favour

As talked about in the voting change thread, the change in the voting gives them a lot more power and it's all much more subtle than before. The death slot / pimp slot just relied on people forgetting about someone by the time the voting opened.

Also with voting running concurrently once someone has been motivated into voting for someone they are then unlikely to vote for anyone else.

when a vulnerable act is immediately followed by a big-name act, they’re quickly forgotten. It’s a tactic that in previous years worked especially well in combination with an early slot, when lines didn’t open till the end of the show. But it still seems potent. Notably, MK1′s bottom two appearance came in the week when they were immediately followed by the exceptionally powerful VT about Jahmene’s troubled upbringing.

Unfortunately, it’s not always immediately apparent from the running order announcement where the memory holes will be. At the start of show 3, for example, you wouldn’t necessarily have expected Kye to be memory-holed by District 3, but an unexpectedly strong performance from the boyband made it feel that way as the show unfolded.

It’s also looking like coming after a big-name act may have become more unhelpful under the new system. District 3 and Melanie in week 2 both hit the singoff after immediately following one of the two more talked-about acts, in the shape of Lucy and Rylan respectively.

Logic thus dictates, and many have noted in the comments, that it may be especially disadvantageous to be sandwiched between two big-name acts. Carolynne’s surprise singoff appearance in week 1 came after she was wedged between Ella and Jahmene.

Again, Jade’s treatment appears to indicate that producers have come to the same conclusion – when they set out to get her on Saturday, they stuck her in a Jahmene-James sandwich. Interestingly, this is exactly what they’d done in week 3, when the triple-J of Jahmene-Jade-James sang in positions 3-4-5 compared to 7-8-9 this week. Perhaps producers were hoping to isolate the effects of early-to-middle running order from the effects of the big-name sandwich?

I know more than once the McDonalds sang between Ben and Leona or Leona and Ben - it didn't work though, they were never in the bottom two. It must have been frustrating for Louis as Eton Road were clearly his favourites that year but the public seemed to prefer the Macs

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Whether an act performs prior to an as break, or whether another act follows them prior to the ad break, must also have a material effect on the voting.

Can someone do an analysis of that?

Yes it does. That's the analysis above lol. Sandwhiched between 2 acts. Good performer, crap perf, BREAK. good performer. Crap one gets leasts votes

I'm not convinced the producers care who wins but I think they want the most popular acts (ie those who are getting the most votes) to be on the XF tour.