- Of course I'm very loyal ... LOL.

I totally agree with 'peeve's' posting - still dont know how to post a quote in a reply (if you see what I mean!) Anyone able to tell me how to do it> Ta very much x

^Just click on the quote button at the bottom of the post you want to quote.

and it should come up like this!

There are many clues in this years ALW event.

Firstly, why do people assume ALW wants a good singer?

A second clue is that the winner will not be performing in an ALW production (he is just doing it for another producer).

ALW distinguishes between the "older/more mature" performers (whom the team seemed bent on promoting) and the "younger talent" (where ALW solved the problem by asking for a sing off, because he wanted to keep them).

ALW wants a "raw talent"

ALW said Rachel made him tingle

ALW said (Jesse/Samantha or Niamh) one was "world class"

ALW cannot hide his emotions

If all that sounds like a game of Cluedo, it is. ...and very few on DS have solved the puzzle.

Well come on - give us a clue, if you are so much more in the know than everyone else.
I have to say, I am absolutely certain that ALW is not that bothered by the quality of the singing - he made that perfectly clear last year.

Jessie from day one. She is head and shoulders above all the rest.

Sorry for chopping your post up a bit, but I wanted to respond to the parts I've highlighted.

I dipped in and out of the Maria shows, but was completely addicted to the Joseph shows. Lee wasn't my favourite - Ben was. However, having seen Lee in the show I have to say that he probably suited the role more than the others and did a really great job. In my opinion he was far more than 'acceptable' and has made the role his own.

I have also seen Ben in Hairspray (swoon ) in which he was brilliant and is far more suited to that particular role. It was apparent to me on the Joseph shows that Ben had a pretty rough ride. First of all ALW kept saving him and then when Ben started to get increasingly popular with the viewers and was being voted straight through, he was given awful songs - 'Crying' anyone? which landed him back in the vulnerable sing-offs again. The final nail in the coffin was ALW depriving him off his much deserved place in the final by saving Lewis - supporting the theory that Lewis was ALW's chosen one all along.

I didn't realise that ALW will be deciding on the final 2 - meaning that only one Nancy will be put into the final by the viewers. Not sure I like that idea!

Cluedo requires the clues to eliminate and imply culprits though. These clues lead to whichever one of at least 4 of them the person choosing liked anyway.

Essentially its probably clear who the last half dozen should be but its not clear which ALW wants and if that person can sell themselves to the public over possibly more popular choices.

I like the fact that at the moment there is no stand-out winner. However time will tell and it may become obvious over the next week or so who will be Nancy. I hope that we have Nancy-esque tasks/acting/songs as I belive the accent and overall Nancy persona is key.

John Barrowman confirmed 2 of my assertions this morning in interview viz the winner does not need to be a good singer and they are looking for a "raw talent". This eliminates some Nancy's right away, eg Sarah is too refined as a singer

In the "world class" clip, ALW showed no emotion when Jesse sang. However, she has her supporters amongst the rest of the team. Within that clip, ALW does show emotion at one point. I will put the clip up on the website tomorrow.

But there are 2 clear clues, as to which Nancy, ALW likes best. 1985 is a significant date.

John Barrowman in his interview today alleged that there were 2 that he though would fight out the finish. His opinion is closest to ALW's.

(PS this isn't a deliberate wind up, I am still trying to secure the best odds)

My problem is that the cutting on the youtube I saw is such that you can't tell who ALW is reacting to - the one singing, the one crying or the one who has just sung. I don't get the rawness angle either as the inexperienced are not necessarily raw and the young are not actually always the inexperienced. The nearest one to Amy Winehouse is actually one of the better singers and has experience. At that point I find all definitions of raw are too vague.

Logically you are right about Sarah but I have no idea whether she can rough up unless they get her to try - her CV suggests she could if they want to make her a contender. Is Rachel too unraw or not - Francesca may be? Jessie seems to fit your description until you get to the ALW response bit. My bet would be on Jodie and Samantha as the last two but thats based on Samantha's singing a Nancy song in her audition and looking really good and we may not see teh finished article again till they unwind it for us - I wouldn't call her raw though or a weak singer. There's also the question of whether their winner can communicate with the voters and somehow overcome any natural bias towards voting for Jodie

Good point. It's early days yet, but it seems to me that, if they have someone other than Jodie earmarked as their winner, they may have a problem on their hands. BTW, who do you think is most like Any Winehouse?

They have their ways and means - usually in the way they edit the main programmes or the choice of songs. If Jodie is not one of their 'chosen ones' they will have a way of editing the shows to show her in a less favourable light, or maybe just not focus on her as much as their favourites.

Daniel was really popular in the early shows of ADWD but the editing made him seem incredibly arrogant etc and, coupled with a dodgy song, he was soon in the bottom 2.

To be honest, it may already be the editing at work, but I am starting to get slightly frustrated with Jodie's apparent over-the-top desperation for the role.

I think you're right though that it's early days and anything could happen...

Oh yes, I am familiar with the methods. They do it on The X Factor too but, as Simon Cowell has discovered, it doesn't always work. Viewers are becoming increasingly clued in to all this attempted manipulation and, consequently, more resistant.

In what way was he made to seem arrogant? I would have said he was portrayed as very dull (there was that VT where he went back to the office to do the filing). I agree he got bad songs.

I can't remember exactly (I've slept since then ) but I remember one week certainly he was made to sound quite arrogant. I'm pretty sure that was the week he ended up in the bottom two, but my memory may be failing me.

But again, this just shows that it can be down to different people's perceptions. I thought he came across as arrogant, you thought he was made to seem boring! I guess that's why - as lulu g says - the attempts to edit people in a certain way don't always work and sometimes completely backfire.

The only week he could possibly have sounded arrogant (and I don't think he ever did) was when he was saying that he had also worked professionally and not just Lee.

The week he went out with that dull as ditchwater 'Evergreen' song was the week that he had the dull 'back to do my filing' VT

I think you are getting mixed up with Seamos and the arrogant tag which then transferred to Ben after S was eliminated. Daniel had the beige dull tag!

Oh yes getting back to IDA there are lots of ways to manipulate us into voting for THEIR choice

No I'm not getting mixed up with Seamus - it would be hard to forget him! And any attempts to show Ben as arrogant were way off the mark and totally misleading. It must have just been my perception of Daniel then - I seem to have picked up a different vibe than you all did!

I think so ... and having met Daniel he is so far removed from being arrogant!

I'm much more cynical this year ... after some of what happened last year - so am not taking any of the VTs at face value.

I think you are right; I remember Daniel being shown supposedly disagreeing with ALW the week he sang "Maggie May", and comments immediately appeared here saying he was arrogant and should have listened to the expert. The odd thing then was that ALW himself then said that it was the best version of the song he had ever heard, but the next week he retracted this and said it wasn't very good after all!!! But I honestly think Daniel had them worried; and I think that if we have a similar situation this year with someone like Jodie (who doesn't seem to be one of the chosen ones), then we should all be on our guard not to be influenced by odd VTs and poor song choices.
Do I sound completely paranoid????

Ahh none of the tags matter now Dan has his dream job and is soooo much better than he was ever shown on tv.

The clip remains crucial. I can see Samantha as the one with the range of talents and the pop singer angle. However she doesn't connect that much with me. Jessie was looking strong tonight and got the Lord's blessing and she does have the look for me. The other people with the suffering look Nancy and Amy have both been removed from her path too. Which of them was it - the one singing or the one that had just sung when we see ALW's look.

But that was my point though - that the VTs can be edited to give misleading impressions of people. I wasn't saying that I thought Daniel was arrogant, but that some of the editing created that impression (to me).

I agree with you about taking the VTs with a pinch of salt. This year Keisha is coming across quite negatively in her VTs but I doubt that is a totally accurate image