What was ALW thinking, a compleatly rediculous decision. Fran is fantastic and deserved to go all the way. I could totally see her playing Nancy. She conducted herself brilliantly tonight, a true professional. I have no doubt that great success is around the corner.

Me too - I'm so glad that Fran got to hear the nice comments on here about her - she and Sarah were my favourites. Fran if anyones reading this to you (or maybe you can read it yourself now) - you go girl!!

Agreed!

i'm really dissapointed Francesca has gone, she should have gone all the way, i thought she is much better than Ashley, i can't understand why ALW saved Ashley when he has criticised her two weeks in a row saying "he doesn't like her voice" and "people may get bored with her voice" so i can't understand why he saved her, what a strange way to behave.

I'm pretty gutted too. At the Nancy school etc I wasn't sure about her but as soon as I saw her on week one I really liked her.

I think she's got a great future ahead of her and she suffered because she was labelled as 'the professional' which isn't fair because there are other girls on the show that are also professional.

Also the fact it was Ashley ALW chose to save is just bizarre.

ALW has made the sing off completely pointless as he is completely ignoring the performances - probably got rid of Fran as a potential threat to his favoured ones

If Francesca was actually better than ALW's 'favored ones', then she would have been allowed to stay.

ALW has no personal interest in pushing for a specific girl. However, he does have a professional reason to push the 'right' girl, meaning a girl who (he believes) can do well. Why would he care to push for his "favorite" unless he thought his favorite was actually a superior performer?

The reason for the sing-off is to allow ALW some control over the the public choice. I'd assume he has people he thinks are better than others in terms of performing quality and will get rid of weaker ones at the sing-off (or get rid of those that he doesn't believe will make a good Nancy).

That said, I like Fran and I think she was gotten rid of too early. She had a great voice and potential to be a good Nancy had she gotten her tuning issue resolved.

But I think this is the issue for ALW.

I've been willing her to do well.
I liked her, thought she looked right and the huskiness to her voice was really fitting, but for a pro. she really has mucked up too often to be reliable. She has been given several chances to improve, if she still has issues to resolve at this stage I think it was the right decision.

But she was far superior to Ashley in the sing off, so it was a shame for her to go out on that performance.

(I don't think her "Noddy" make up helped either!)

I am not a particular fan of Francesca but it was a really bad decision by ALW. He has done nothing but criticise Ashley, even pulling faces at her when she is singing. Francesca was by far better in the sing off, I just don't understand his decision. I can only think that he wanted her out of the way because he thinks she is a danger to his favourite.

I agree. Fran was given multiple chances and didn't deliver as compared to some of the others.

I think she was a strong contender in the panel's eyes in part because she has performed on the West End stage. But then she gave only so-so performances. The other pros were outshining her.

There's already been other threads discussing why she was picked over Ashley so I won't go into that here, but it's too bad that Fran was kicked out so early...I think she should have stayed a bit longer.

Francesca was on BBC Breakfast this morning.

She was really nice and said how devastated she had been when she was kicked off. But she also said she knew the writing was on the wall when Andrew said here we have a professional and another

Then she went on to say there are girls who are far more professional than her in the competition, but didn't elaborate further.

She thinks that either Rachel or Jessie will win, but wants it to be Sarah or Samantha.

I don't think I understood that sentence...?

The only reason Francesca survived the first sing off was because it would have been truly ridiculous to choose Amy over anyone. Ashley is a different matter and in my opinion ALW's comments about her voice are misplaced (JB made a very fair point) and neither she nor Francesca deserved to be in the bottom two last night.

It was clear that Francesca was never going to survive another sing off and wouldn't have had she been up against anyone but the worst singer in the last 12 in the first one.

In ALW's eyes, Francesca is this year's Daniel and Rachel is this year's Lee.

That is exactly what she said, which I took to mean that if a professional was unpopular with the public, then he would get rid of her. Unless someone else heard it differently... ?

Why professional? Is she saying that had she not been a professional, she would have stayed in? I'm confused.

I think we've yet to see the 'Daniel' of this year. Give it a few more weeks and one of the stronger Nancys (Sarah/Jodie) who threatens the ultimate favourite will find themselves ousted.

Although I would have chosen Ashley (by a mile) to go last night, for me it was simple with Francesca. She didn't sing one song completely in tune and I've never been to a WE show where any performer didn't sing in tune.

She's not a bad singer or anything like it, just not quite good enough for a singing role when up against others who do sing in tune.

I do feel really sorry for her though, as it must be gutting to have got your career moving before the show and then getting a place in the final 12 only to be eliminated to early on. Obviously it could have been a huge leap forward for her if she'd managed to pull it off (like it was for Lea Mead and will be for Rachel if she wins).

I thought she seemed a great personality and has potential in theatre, but I do hope this experience doesn't have a detrimental effect on her career prospects. Last night proves it is a very risky strategy for any pro to do a show like this. I mean if ALW chooses someone like Ashley over Francesca...

That's what I took her to mean, yes

Francesca - if you read this I would just like to say how much I enjoyed your performances and how sorry I am that you've gone.

You weren't the closest to my idea of Nancy, but all the same, I think the weekly shows will be poorer without you.

Best of luck for the future, I hope something good comes out of this for you.

I think that while ALW is prepared to forgive a young, non-professional like Sam, or Niamh (Ashley?) a few mistakes, and hope that they can be trained to improve, he would have expected Francesca, with her experience, to be better than she was.

He probably gave her a second chance the first time she was out of tune in case it was just a one-off, but it clearly wasn't (it worried me that she couldn't hear it herself!). She has done it repeatedly, and really shouldn't given her experience.

So, I think that is why he referred to Fran as a professional and the above is what he meant.

I also believe that JB was right to point out that, if ALW hated Ashley's voice so much, he shouldn't have put her through at all. I do believe the rest of the panel pointed out to him how unfair he was being to Ashley and he was feeling guilty about that.

Now, I don't really rate Ashley, but did feel that he was unnecessarily harsh to her, compared to the easy ride he is giving the younger girls.

So he was trying to make up to her, as well as saying to Fran that she'd had many chances to impress & hadn't taken them (until the sing off, which was too late.)

Ok, I understand now. ALW sees her as a professional who has constant tuning issues which she shouldn't have. Basically, not someone who has been able to improve while other girls are. I can see that as one more thing that the judges will look at.

I wonder if Franseca sees it that way though? She didn't say that she thought her performance was poor.

Agree that JB was making a pointed statement at ALW. He expressed the same sentiment as many of the posters. I wish the judges would do that more often....

I think Francesca will find work no problem.
She is good enough to bounce back from all this.

Thank you, marks thespot - you explained it perfectly. My brain wasn't functioning well enough to articulate that earlier

I watched the Breakfast interview and took it that Fran was making a more general point that being labelled a professional right at the start had hindered rather than helped her in the competition. She wasn't the only with who'd worked professionally but it seemed to be emphasised more for her.

Overall though, whilst clearly upset at not getting to be Nancy, Fran was very smiley, positive about being on IDA and supportive to the other girls.

I'm sure she'll do well in the future.

I just watched her exit interview on the bbc site and it nearly made me cry for her! She said that if she could go back in time she wouldn't do the show again, she seems to have lost all confidence in herself. I hope she can pick herself up again as she surely has a bright future.