I mean seriously? Lauren performing in the first three for the third week in a row while never being in the last four?!Fleur and Stevi on at the end AGAIN?!! Was the running order always so unfair?

The "joke" acts always get massively favoured in the running order...and people still think they are "sticking it to Simon" by voting for them.

Ben performed so badly it made Lauren and Only The Young look better...it's not too bad...

Nope

Like Big Brother, 1st series was more innocent.

If someone is good enough to progress then the running order shouldn't matter.

What?

Lauren was near the end a few weeks ago... "let it goooooo let it gooooo"

If Lauren is popular enough, she will continue to get through each week.

Look at last year with Nicky McDonald. More or less always put on early in the live shows and it was clear they wanted to shove him under the bus, but by that point he'd already done several weeks of, imo, very good performances so people saw through the transparent manipulation and he made the final.

Lauren could quite easily get to the semi final at least. It'd be tragic if she were to be eliminated tomorrow whilst certain other acts remained. Then again, Ella Henderson has proved that coming 6th can make you a "winner".

Fleur, Stevi & Stereo Kicks have had everything done for them that the producers can do to keep them in.

The impact of the running order depends on a few things such as when the phone lines open and if there is a cross-over with Strictly.

Fleur always performs in the latter stages of the show and Ben/Lauren have been close to the beginning more than would be expected based on the average.
This indicates that they are trying to restrict vote transfer from eliminated acts to Ben/lauren and hoping they go to Fleur.
The reason for this would be that Ben/Lauren are the biggest dangers to Fleur winning and they need to ensure she attracts the floating voter to push her over the finish line.

Wasn't sure if you were being sarcastic but the only thing Ella Henderson has proved is that the most important thing for success is a willingness to sell your soul, integrity and career to Simon Cowell.

Its so obvious this year that there chosen one is Fleur having her family up there and always singing in the last three. She is going to be the winner and if she does thats me done with the show.

I've never gone in for all the shows conspiracy theories, but this year it has been shameful. They are not even trying the fact that they are desperate for Fleur and Stereo Kicks to get to the final. Last Week Fleur was the only act who did not even adhere to the theme and tonight her backing singers did much more singing that her, she also performs late in the show nearly every week. Last week she was in other people's VT and then this week we have her family on stage for no particular reason. As for Stereo Kicks the manipulation towards them is so pathetic that it's laughable. It is embarrassing how Cowell stands up for every performance that they give despite the fact that vocally they are (Stevi aside) the weakest in the competition, he is so desperate for this project of his to be a success, but I think its doomed for failure and also like Fleur they get a lot of late slots. Then we had the staged stage invader which is one of the most laughable set up's that I have seen and tonight we had the VT of their stupid nicknames. Other manipulation that there has crystal clear this year was Mel implausibly keeping Stevi in. And tonight we had OTY chucked under a bus by producers following Lola and Paul.

I think the manipulation has always been there it's just that as each series comes and goes more and more people are becoming aware of it.

She performed 7/ 12 that week, followed by Jack, Fleur, Stevie, SK and Ben.

There's less and less acts though so it doesn't make much of a difference unlike the first weeks, for example Fleur was 3rd in week 2 and got through and it would be much harder to get votes with that many contestants.

The voting lines were opened at the start of the show and closed about 5 minutes after the final performance. In which way does this 'massively favour' the acts who had to perform late in the show?

Fleur - 14/16, 6/14, 9/12, 3/11, 8/9, 8/8, 5/7

Fleur was 3rd in week 4 and that was the only week she performed before Lauren. It was also the week of the other flash vote and the strictly crossover happened just as she started to sing. She has definitely been favoured in the running order.

Here are Lauren's order for comparision..

Lauren - 10/16, 4/14, 7/12, 7/11, 3/9, 2/8, 1/7

Sorry, my mistake got my weeks mixed up.

My main point though was that it's much easier to pick up votes now with less acts.
The voting being open at the start will obviously help the people who perform first, not Paul or Jake but Ben or Lauren when they were first..

Running order matters this year but not as much (Stevi B2 7/8, SK B2 10/11).