The X Factor - Audition Room 1.

As always there was a huge media frenzy surrounding the return of the infamous X factor. The veteran of reality television is celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year and with the return of Sharon Osbourne it is set to be one of the most interesting years to date.

The new format which sees the constantans appear in front of the judges in their first audition taking the show back to its old school ways, and boy are we glad! The big arena auditions felt far too much like BGT for our liking and meant a large helping of contestant, who let’s face it, couldn’t sing, got through based on audience reaction. Thankfully the old format of the intimate auditions means (hopefully) by the next stage we’re treated to people who can hold a note.

Last nights show kicked off in Cardiff where we met Luke Friend. A rather unique 17 year old, who Nicole described as 'a dirty haired diamond in the rough.' His quirky tone sent him through to the arena with a big yes from the judges.

The boys led the way in this first installment with Alejandro scraping his way through to the arena auditions, a little too theatre for Gary, but we liked it! Then there was Tom Mann, handsome? Check. Guitar? Check. Great voice? Check! His beautiful rendition of Passengers ‘Let her go’ had us shouting, YES please!

Speaking of adorable boys Luke Britnell’s audition was possibly one of the sweetest things to grace our TV screens. A Justin Bieber impersonator who gave the female judges flowers and sang a song about being happy, what a sweetheart. I must admit as soon as he uttered the words ‘Justin Bieber’ I thought there was no saving this audition, but boy were we wrong, I’ve had ‘woohoo’ stuck in my head all night.

Now it wouldn’t be a classic X Factor audition episode without the bizarre, so along came JStar Valentine who was sure his star quality would get him through to the next around, but his haunting ghostly like tone left the judges in shock. He was re-e-e-e-e-aly bad.

Now the good and bad montages were not of an even stature in last night’s show. The one with awful people including the boy that sang Busted (Who made Sharon literally hysterical with laughter) and the guy who sounded ‘like a dolphin’ went on a bit too long. The bad ones are funny but sometimes you just want to shed a tear at the moments that are going to memorable.

Then came Hannah Barrett, the teenager that works part time in Greggs (we’re not just going to be nice about her in the hope she’ll buy us a steak bake, honest) who’s just lost her Father and has been kicked out of her home after a troubled relationship with her Mother. Sometimes you can really feel pain and honesty in someone’s voice, she sang her heart out and won over the judges with her raw emotion, it was a special moment and our first Emeli Sande claxon of the series.

The worst act of the show to get through was definitely the Euphoria Girls with their high-pitched caterwauling. Watching the auditions, I tweeted that they reminded me hopelessly of an all-female S Club Juniors… you know, if they could sing and harmonise well. I agreed with Sharon when she said it was like a performance at an end-of-year dance recital, and that’s not necessarily a good thing.

The show ended with Sam Bailey an unassuming prison officer and what a breath of fresh air amongst the heavily made-up teenage girls I spotted amongst the crowds auditioning yesterday. She’s a woman with ambition and a dream, and with her amazing performance of Beyonce’s “Listen” had me, and the judges, rendered speechless. When any contestant makes that song choice, I always hold my breath – it’s such a difficult song to sing, but Sam smashed it in her first audition last night, hitting all the right notes and channeling her inner Beyonce so well it gave me goosebumps.

The line up of judges is already one of the best there has been, it’s evident that they seemed to be bringing the best out in each other Mrs O doesn’t hold back on the giggling which means Gary and Louis let loose a little more too. The gorgeous Nicole was positive and wonderful as usual and always wants to make people feel comfortable, she’s shamazing!

Show one is over, and it was good but not OUTSTANDING. The judges are already proving a hit and Mrs O has given the X Factor just what it’s needed, a bit of extra attitude.

Tune in to ITV1 tonight at 8pm to see how this batch of contestants do in front of 4000 people.

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