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im sure they could hire a call centre if they needed too......but it would leak and be bad for them. I think its now up to us.....who do we went.......

we told them enough all the way through the show.......they didnt listen......now they have too

I just can't get that horrible nagging feeling out of my head that Sam will win.

I think Jessie is Nancy - the reaction tonight to going through was the nearest thing seen to someone tough fighting on but vulnerable. Their big problem is getting there, deciding Sam isn't and somehow persuading people that Jodie isn't the best choice.

One problem is that they have horribly confused things. they have stressed what the youngsters can't do whilst telling us it doesn't matter or won't be a problem in 6 months.

Another is that they got rid of all the professionals who I think could have done a decent job playing a Jodie type Nancy and who would have looked better candidates than Jodie.

A third is that getting rid of good people has left a lot of upset and baffled viewers. I would be mad as Rachel tonight to find I had spent weeks going for a role only to be excluded the week before the final solely because I was not a teen talent and wasn't acceptable from day one.


The biggest one though is that Jodie has a journey story, she comes from the people and they may well adore her and she doesn't actually do anything badly. Its very difficult to beat people like that on reality TV unless you are clearly better than them and don't give people anything to put them off you. The answer was not to put anyone who was likely to be that popular in if you didn't want them to win.

I agree with alot of that, and they should not have said we could have a younger or older Nancy...........and the public wanted the more experienced. If Sam is not getting the public behind her.....Rachel beat her this week then I think it will be down to Jodie and Jessie.

Jessie cant move on stage.....I think it will be difficult to say she is better than Jodie.......

Betting Odds now have Jodie to win

Jodie can move but she isn't as fit which may be a similar problem.

The younger or older thing was a mess. If they wanted younger why have older? Why have pros if you want raw? If they couldn't find enough of one type why not have a shorter series? If they don't do that and still want young and raw they probably really have to show us why. They have to convince us what we are getting - which means letting Jessie have good songs every week and teaching her less but better.. Then they needed to tell us why maturer was not suitable - telling us what was wrong with Jodie more and telling us why a maturer looking Nancy won't work as well perhaps by playing a few scenes with their Bill.

They couldn't do much of that because of the other inbuilt problem that we are being asked to compare Jessie after another 6 months of training to Jodie now. The end result is invisible in the future and the result of any acting task at the moment is that the experienced look more experienced. As tasks go, predicting the future was not a sensible one to set the audience either.

With those problems we have a choice where the trained look trained and the flawed look flawed and we are told to buy something that only exists in ALW and CAM's heads. Its going to take a really great performance on the night - and probably a lot of new viewers too - for anyone but Jodie to win

well if Jodie is not fit which I dont believe, she has 6mths to get fit.......she lost 10 stone in 6 months.......it should be a breeze for her.

They are asking us to vote on what we see now, we dont know if Jessie will get any better, she has been two months at this.....and look at her. Im not sure people buy into the dream or wish of ALW or Cameron and will vote on the here and now definate.....rather than maybe.

I want Jodie to win......she shows all the sides of Nancy........

A Nancy. Its a safe Nancy though like you would find in the Rovers return in a quiet year. There's not the edge you would find in Albert Square outside of the laundrette and I can see why you wouldn't want it with angelic raw Olivers and edgy Bean/Fagin . Raw and very talented fits the rest of the bigger picture wheras safe and traditional doesn't.

Surprised CAM didn't just save up and buy an Eastender's actress who can sing - Kat Slater or Bianca would do nicely. i wouldn't be surprised if they wanted the publicity from a TV show and found that they couldn't actually have a show around the olivers so they threw Nancy in on top with a suitably short contract for the winner.

Both Jessie and Jodie have a quirkiness about them. They would both look right in the role and suited working with the Olivers. I actually think that Sam would do better in another role as a starlet leading lady. She is just too polished with her beauty and sensational voice.

Anyone know if ALW gets to choose out of the final 2?

Final 3 now are all down to the public vote.

Exactly. Sam has time to iron out her imperfections, but not Jodie? It's utterly ludicrous.

I also think that the panel are told not to criticize Sam too much because I felt that Denise was saying Sam's performance was wonderful but I did not quite believe her or hear the conviction in her voice.

Denise seems to like Jodie, though.

I think when they do a show like this, and hand it over to the public choice at the end..they have to accept who the public want. They put Jodie in, they thought she was a Nancy........they cant now say...well.eemmm........we have changed our mind. The public want Jodie, its very clear.

They cant have their cake and eat it.

ALW gets no choice now

Three go up......GBP vote....one goes out....final with the last two........public vote....winner announced...

all the public

there seems to be no credibility behind the praise Sam gets from them. Its like they are selling a dud.........no one quite believes it. I think the GBP are starting to trust their own eyes and ears now. They have no faith in what the panel are telling them is valid.

No - according to Totally Vocal 2 who was there... reports in this weekend show threads .

Yep. The more they hype up Sam and never mention all the obvious faults that every other contestant has been pulled up on (the same movements/choreography, no vulnerability, too young, blah blah) the more I think the audience vote with their fingers.

I think this week was the worst so far - they wanted to see her soft, vunerable side and for her to break their hearts with a song. Something she has not done so far in the whole competition, and when she *doesn't*, John says "Oh well, it doesn't matter". That kind of bias and unfairness in the face of all the critique every other Nancy has had was so blatant I think the public had had enough.

Totally agreed. It may have been John that put her in the bottom two. Saying 'it doesn't matter' that she didn't move him, after mauling Jessie for absolutely everything under the sun, came across as ridiculously biased. The voters reacted against it.

Do you think they have been told not to critique her ?

do you think thats why the GBP have lost faith in Sam and like Rachel are not supporting her?

TotallyVocal seems to suggest that it's easy for the public to "get it wrong" and that what one sees on stage is somewhat other. This I can believe.

Thanks to TV for an interesting post.

Cam and co have their own notions plus their commercial acumen to guide them. I suppose the series has done its job and generated many pre-opening ticket sales. I don't see why they would say anything that did not reflect their views. They might well tone down some comments for public consumption.

Hey, it looks Cam will make a packet. Atkinson will have ensured commercial success. He can hype up some kind of disharmony between him and his actress and it'll still be money in the bank. Controversy is great for publicity.

I don't much care for conspiracy theories, but I have this nagging scenario in the back of my mind:

If, as has been speculated, Jodie has actually been the public favourite by a long way for some time, it's not much of a TV show if viewers think she's a shoo-in and therefore there's no point voting.

If, on the other hand, they CREATE a 'this is too close to call' situation, fans will be voting like mad, the forums will be buzzing and it'll make better TV (not to mention selling tickets for the actual show which, after all, is the main point).

So bigging up the other contestants and making Jodie the plucky underdog may just be part of a fiendish plan....

... to make sure Jodie wins.

I also wondered this but then decided it was unlikely because the first person ALW was nasty to (and particularly nasty, imo) was Ashley, so this theory would really suggest that Ashley were the contestant he was trying to engineer into the underdog and eventual winner.

I don't think CM and ALW are very much in touch with public opinion. I think they're being rather pretentious when they talk about "redefining the role of Nancy".

However I won't be unduly upset if any of the girls win it. They all have their good and not so good points. And the musical will be a box office cert whoever wins.

You just dont know...........eh.........but know its the public vote........they will just have to accept who we pick.

yea she was that bad ALW offered her a job.....makes you wonder eh.......

As he actually offered her a job?!
I know he said when he dropped her that he hoped to work with her one day, but have there been developments?