Last night was the first time I actually found it uncomfortable to watch, I almost turned off when Madonna's photo of her kids appeared on the screen and then she started pleading tearfully about her "babies"

But if that was bad, then Craig was another thing altogther, my god, his act was awful anyway but his shamless begging at the end was disgusting. The fake welling up and pretending to cry, the speech that he had worked so hard travelling the country in a little van all these years, and then the old chesnut of "i had a sore throat", actually had me laughing by the end. He was practically on his hands and knees mouthing "please please please" to Simon in the vote off.........where was his dignity.

He was laying it on so thick that Ant & Dec should have given him a trowel

I know, I had the obligatory cushion in front of my face by that time!

It was bad. I thought Craig was being sarcastic to start with it was that forced. But then I realised the guy is for real.

Don't they realise begging puts people OFF voting!

Not sure if it was Ant or Dec but one of them shut Craig up when he tried to say that a comedian should be in the final.

I noticed that; I appreciate bigging up the act that beats you, as that is good showman ship but he just came across... I don't know - like he was saying it to make him look good.

I don't condone sob storys and it drives me insane...But for the 1st time I felt for Madonna...I totally understand her story..Yes the producers overplayed it and the photo was a little bit too much but I can completely understand her circumstance.

Yesterday was horrific for the sob stories. I found the pictures of Madonna's kids tacky and if I had intended to vote for her, that alone would have made me stop.

And as for Craig's begging that was pathetic. He had to drive up and down motorways!!! My heart bleeds.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one to feel the same way - it was more Yuk! than Ahh! - I know the 'sob-stories' are part & parcel of reality shows, but I'm getting so bored with it now.

He was like a pantomime dame when he choked on his words and started sobbing (but no real tears I see )

Yeah, real suffering is walking several miles a day to fetch water for your kids, not a drive up the M25!

Exaclty, he should be ashamed for his lack of diginity.

How terrible that he is so hard done by that he can afford to own a car within which he can drive up and down motorways. If there was any chance of me voting for him it was eliminated at that moment.

Begging is an art form. They have trained/practised for years to beg on prime time television to an audience of millions. Give credit where credit's due. I thought the quality of the begging was brilliant last night!

The photos of the children was cheesy and offputting and worked against her. Craig too blubbing was pathetic and his act was crap.

Me too - it was quite uncomfortable to watch and explains why he hasn't been as successful as he might have been. I imagine him moaning on about how he hasn't had the breaks etc. He really had a bad attitude.

I hate the begging that seems to be an obligatory part of these sort of shows. "This is my last chance" etc etc - so what? Lots of people don't get the opportunity for a first chance, let alone a last! And the sob stories "my poor little kids..." etc - where's the kids dad? I know quite a few people from the Phillipines and they manage to make a living. And the "Victim of bullies" - sad, but that doesn't entitle you to automatic votes!

I'd say cut out the background stories altogether.

The ones I really felt for were Peir Dem: they just lost it, whether through nerves, or whatever, who knows. But anyone who has performed or competed knows what a total nightmare it is when things go wrong at the start, and whatever you do only seems to make it worse!

I agree about the photos but I wouldn't be surprised if the production team suggested it. I felt it handicapped her more than it helped her and her performance was below par anyway. Very unfair of Amanda to say "You're doing that for your babies" on the first audition too because that was then ingrained in people's minds. It's time they eliminated the background stories or at least made them less saccharine.

I agree about Craig - it was embarrasing but it seemed to work for him because he was in the top three.

I hate taking the moral high ground or appearing incompassionate, but people who complain about how they've been dealt a difficult hand in life annoy the hell out of me. You can visit certain countries and no matter how hard you work or how much you want something, you will never get it.

The UK is not one of those places so perhaps these people who think they've been hard done by should go travelling. Then they know how hard it is to struggle through life or how unfair life can be (assuming that they don't spend all their time complaining the relative quality of a 4 star hotel in the country compared to UK 4 star).

I sat stone faced through Craigs act, it was neither funny, nor did he sound like the people he was impersonating. He showed that his "boyzone" act was his only funny 2 minutes in his whole reportoire. How the hell does he do a 2 hour show. It was only his shamless begging that got him into the top 3.

Hmm, I know they realised early on that they cocked up, but their attitude was shocking! More diva than Mariah Carey there. Why be angry? You were 1 of only 40 acts to get through. What about the other people who didn't get put through? Pah! Their sob story was "we're two ordinary lads stuck in a Tescos, we're the next big thing". Hmm, no, you're not. They'll be hearing the cries of "clean up on aisle 6" before you know it

tbh, all of them had sob stories.

Sorry, wrong.

Signature doesn't have a sob story.

I don't think that it would have been her idea to use the picture of her kids though. I think she is a genuine person and she said she wanted to control her tears but it must have been very difficult for her to hide her emotions in such circumstances.

I do feel sorry for Madonna but it's never a good idea to harp on about things like that on a show like this, it only turns people against you and puts them off you.

It was Craig who annoyed me more though. Madonna was probably interviewed about he personal life but Craig was not even asked about his but started going on about his sore throat, his last chance, getting up early in the mornings, having kids, travelling the motorway... Jesus! How many sob stories can one person have? I quite liked him up until then, that completely put me off him, to the point where I was willing him to not get through to the final.