Well, the way I see it, ALW may have said that one of the girl was 'world class' but that was based on one (small) performance. He could just as easily meant that that performance given made the girl sound world class, doesn't mean he still believes that now.
The thing is, I think on these shows, people take to heart too much out of one performance, and one comment. It's the way the show is set up, that we have to base our judging on one performance per week.
But I don't think that's how ALW + panel are judging the girls.
I think they take into account the cumulative performances and when a girl can pull out one really great performance, they'll compliment her on it, but that doesn't mean they'll continue to do so the next week when she pulls a bomb. And I think the panel knows that just because a girl can pull a 'Nancy' this week, doesn't mean they are 'good'. Consistency, after all, is far more important than being able to sporadically pull out a good show.
So I'm not taking the comment that one of the girls is 'world class' too seriously. I think ALW is intelligent enough to know not to pick a girl based on one 'world class' performance, nor to truly consider a girl 'world class' based on one performance.
In fact, I think ALW + panel are also judging based on the auditions, Nancy School, rehersals, as well as live performances. Unfortunately, we don't get to see most of that, and that may explain the peculiar opinions that the have.
I don't know who Andrew favors right now, and I'm not sure he knows either. I think he has a 'short list' of possible candidates and he probably reshuffles the ranking every week based on what he's seen in front and behind the cameras. Once some of the girls start pulling ahead, he may seriously start pulling for them as favorites.
