It was at this stage lastyear that groups Hope and Futureproof were tipped as hands down favourite to win the show, And somehow bombed midway through the competition (Hope Vs Futureproof in the sing off, simon foolishly voting off his greatest chance of winning the series. also Hope appearing endless times in the bottom 2 after this occasion).

what I would like to know is what everyone else thinks. which of the favourites do you lot think will turn into the cannon fodder?

and which of the cannon fodder to you think may slip under the radar to make the final stages?

Personally, despite all the support I can see Laura making an early exit, perhaps Ruth and JLS also....

from the outsiders Its possible to see Scott surprise everyone.

Outsider wise I can see Ruth surprising everyone and going very far.

It's obvious one or two of the favourites are gonna leave about half way. It could be any of them.

No, I can't see Laura flopping. Her voice is too strong for that. I don't think the two girl bands will do well.

maybe your right, no one I know seems to be backing Laura at the moment. then again...most of my co-workers and friends support the males anyway :-/

Yeah, I'm agree with you about the girlbands. Which is a shame to me, I'd love to see a new, fresh girl band in the mainstream industry. Its seems so hard for them to breakthrough now, the only current sucessful girlbands from the UK I can think of are Girls Aloud and Sugababes :-S

I suppose The Saturdays are trying, but it just seems that most of the GBP are quite oblivious to this rather large gap in the market.

I can see JLS leaving early, although they're brilliant, all of the really tight male vocal groups have left quite early, both 4tune and 4sure finished 11th, and futureproof last year finished 9th (rwould have been 10th if it wasn't for Emily's exit), and Eton road were more fun and camp than JLS or any of the other male groups I've mentioned. JLS are brilliant, so hopefully they can break the mould?

I reckon once one girlband goes, the other one has a good chance of top 3! But no further than that

Also, one of the girls in the Saturday's was in the band Fallen Angelz. They auditioned, and were pretty good, but just missed out on the judges houses

were 4sure the 4 piece who sorta had the Boys II Men look/sound?

I think if JLS can make it midway in the competition they may be able to carve a career, especially if they go down the R'n'B route as they have that sounds. There really marketable, and this may sound abit of an exaggeration but I could even see America getting into them.

Fallen Angelz were probably the best group image wise last year. I really loved harmonies too, I always had a feeling they already had management. they had quite abit of exposure before auditioning for x-factor...