Yes they are. Every Scottish act on these programmes (like SCD as well) gets through to quite late. The reason? The block Scottsih vote keeps them in, but as the acts reduce the much larger English vote eventually does for them if they are crap. For example the McDougal borthers last year.

They were CRAP, yet lasted weeks on the Scottish vote.

Kenny Logan in SCD? CRAP but he lasted weeks.

They should bottle that and sell it because it would sell millions!

In that case well done to Wales for keeping Rhydian in! Or is that okay for Wales to support Rhydian but not okay for Scotland to support Leon?? Cant have it both ways

The Scottish Vote was split three ways last year so not all the acts got through to quite late (i.e at this stage) Of course Scottish acts have Scottish voters but I'm sure they will have a fair percent of English, Welsh and Irish voters too, If Scotland was the sole support for Leon he would have been voted out the night Scotland played Italy due to the fact he was on first and the game was barely finished at that point, if this "Scottish vote" existed Leon would have been out on his ass that night as practically everyone was watching the football!

I think as scottish people get more ultra nationalistic as they have been lately the english voters will withdraw support.

I was surprised by this article here and the commetns:

http://news.scotsman.com/music.cfm?id=1887652007

http://www.xfactor.tv/videos/?videoI...4&scrollPos=16

Anyone find it strange that Niki used the same word to describe Rhydian? Not in the same context though...

Leon is definately the MacDonald Brothers of this year. Judges lay off criticising now because they know what happens. They did the same with the scottish rugby player on Strictly.

Leon is a much better singer than the McDonald Brothers. His song, 'You Don't Know Me' proves this. He has done incredibly well to reach the top 4, considering he only started singing in January of this year. We all know that Rhydian has had 5 years' training, Niki has many years experience and Same Difference have been to stage school. The judges saw natural talent in him and he has progressed from there.

They are called The MacDonald Brothers.

I think the reason Leon is so popular is that he appeals to fold on various levels. The young girlies think he is as cute as a button and the old girlies love his voice (and also think he is as cute as a button). Lets face it they can work wonders with anyone in a studio and with the right song he could be massive. He can hold a tune as well as the other finalists, has youth and looks on his side and I think he might just slip under the wire at the last moment and steal this show.

*Applauds*

Fab, post....captures the very essence of why people love Leon.

Given that there are so many duplicate 'Leon is cack/I don't like Leon/Leon is boring/I wish he would leave etc' threads, I thought I would post a duplicate post in each one, why bother making different comments each time to the same tired opinions. So here goes (just to put the cat among the pigeons)....

For some reason Leon has become one of the most love him/loathe him contestants in The X Factor history. Why? Who knows - but what we do know is that some people have dedicated far too much of their time to bashing his talents, be them great, or simply mediocre. Critique each act, fair enough - we all have our favourites. But what is completely unnecessary is the personal attacks, the constant ridiculous suggestions as to why he is getting so many votes (if I have to hear about a so-called Scottish vote one more time I am going to scream - you do realise there is a greater population in Central London than the whole of Scotland? You NEVER hear about a London vote!), and the general suggestion that he should not be where he is (ie. Last 4)

Now I personally, have my own favourites/dislikes. This was typified last year by my dislike of Ray Quinn, I didn't like his style - However... I never once would suggest that he didn't deserve his place on the show. Far be it for me to argue against the opinions of Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne (and obviously this season) Dannii Minogue.

So fair enough, criticise performances week by week etc. but you don't see acts like Nikki, Same Differrence or Rhydian getting the same treatment despite their own flaws (you may think each is good, but they ain't perfect!)
Clearly, judging by his never being in the bottom two and the fact that singing talents such as Celine Dion, Girls Aloud, Michael Buble, Gabrielle etc have taken a shine to him would suggest that they are not ALL completely tone deaf and appreciate a good singer over a sob story, which I believe you have all been quick to blame Leon for relying on - its quite evident from the VTs that they are heavily edited and their favourite topic including in Leon's packages is him talking about his & his mother's life so far.

To conclude - the final four all have their obvious talents, they're not perfect, but none of them have been in the bottom two all season and clearly each has a devoted fanbase. To criticise one of the acts over the others is blatantly unfair and lacks any real grounding - especially given the voting and opinions across the general UK public throughout this series so far.

I thought they'd backed off on Strictly too. Cowell has been biting his tongue for weeks on X Factor.

That would be true if it was true but it isn't true. I'm voting for Leon on his talent, not because of the judges. I couldn't be ars*d to vote for someone out of sympathy.

uhm, Rhydian is loved all over great britain, i doubt its just the welsh vote keeping him in! As for Leon, the boy is dull as dishwater, it isn't a figure of speech when I say i make a coffee and check my emails when he's singing. That's exactly what I did last saturday, and if you read this thread you'll see I'm not alone. The boy could come on stage with a machine gun, kill 20 people in the audience and people would still be flicking the channel over in boredom.

The scottish vote is the only plausible explanation how someone with not only no stage presence but no presence at all is getting votes.

/\ Some people really are quite thick aren't they - dunno why i waste my time replying to these sorts of comments.

Since when was Rhydian so damn interesting? A good singer yes, but hardly striking personality personified!

Well that's just you though isn't it? I find myself going out when SD and Niki are on stage. I usually watch Rhydian all the way through, but last week he was a bit boring so on the repeats I only bothered to watch Leon. Different strokes for different folks....

Just a quick point for the record. Rhydian has never really had any more hype in South Wales than the others. Back at the start of the contest, there were Andy posters EVERYWHERE. He went out, and still, not once have i seen a Rhydian poster or anything suggesting to back him cos he's Welsh.

Funny that....when Canadians Celine Dion and Michael Bublé (yes, I'm milking this for all it's worth ) clearly sees the talent in Leon.

The crowd at Wembley were going wild for Leon when he was singing with Bublé. Was that Scotland crammed into the stadium in London? I think NOT.

I've never seen a Leon poster....apart from on DS.

*boom* *boom*