"The X Factor" 2011 - Top 12: Did America and the Judges get it right?

• Almost, but not quite! (62%, 8 Votes)
• Yes, absolutely! (23%, 3 Votes)
• Not even close! (8%, 1 Votes)
• Who cares? I'm waiting for 'American Idol" to return! (7%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 13

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Not only did The X Factor Top 12 take the stage last night, but America took to their phones and computers for the first time last night to vote for their favorites. I can’t help but wonder if we’ll hear host Steve Jones tell us how many votes they got since the numbers won’t even come close to the number of votes American Idol get.

The format for tonight’s show should follow the U.K. version, which means that Steve will announce the Bottom 2 at some point throughout the first 45 minutes of the show while filler and commercials will take up the rest of the time. The Bottom 2 will then sing for their life with the judges deciding which act to send home. If the judges split their votes, then the decision will revert back to the original America vote and the act with the lowest number of votes will go home.

Join me after the jump as I live blog tonight’s The X Factor results show.

Bottom 2: InTENsity and Stereo Hogzz
Going Home: InTENsity

It’s that time of the week, folks. This is when all the filler in the world comes together on stage to try and keep us occupied for an hour. Between the filler, though, there are some nuggets of a show. Ten acts will be announced safe while two are announced in the Bottom 2. Those two acts will sing for their life, after which the judges will decide which act is worth to go home. My hope is that InTENsity gets the boot.

Steve Jones takes the stage and dramatically announces that one judge will lose one of their acts. He then asks us to welcome the judges, which causes the on-stage screen to split and the judges to come out.

Uh-oh. It’s the group ensemble number. As apparently is the case with The X Factor, there is no announcement of the name of the song. Each act gets a small solo part during the song with mixed results. Some are good, some are bad. Really, really bad. And then there is Brian Bradley, who takes being bad to a whole new level. He forgot the lyrics to the rap he was doing. And he was breathy. Thankfully, he’s now done. And thankfully the song is done now.

Time for a video recap of what happened on stage and backstage last night. Hey, look! It’s a recap the kids group that doesn’t want to be considered a kids group doing a kids group song. Confused yet? Join the line.

Another bit of video filler. This time its the contestants talking about how exciting it would be to win the entire competition so that they can do a Pepsi commercial for the Superbowl. I believe them. Don’t you?

Outasight takes the stage to provide us with even more filler in the form of their single, “Tonight Is The Night.” It’s a great performance, but my mind is tired of all this filler. I’m ready for some results, something host Steve Jones promises will happen after this commercial break.

We’re back from commercial, and we get more video filler. This time, the contestants are talking about not wanting to go home now. Or how they want to be here for a long, long time. Ugh. Really? We really needed a five minute video about this? Oh great, now we get the obligatory, “my staying isn’t up to me, it’s up to millions of people.”

*facepalm*

Okay. Looks like we’re about to get some action. Steve is announcing each of the acts as they walk out on stage. Wasn’t expecting all twelve acts to take the stage at one. Steve is going to announce the Top 10 acts in no particular order. The two acts not named are in the Bottom 2.

The first act voted through to next week is Marcus Canty. Also safe is Drew. The third act safe is going to be revealed after the break.

Seriously??????????? We get a crappy video filler and only two safe acts? I’m really beginning to hate this show.

Okay. They’re back. The third act safe is LeRoy Bell. So much for ChuckRitt being a genius. Next safe is Brian Bradley. Ugh. The fifth act safe is Lakoda Rayne. Sixth act safe is Rachel Crow. Crap. There goes one of my Bottom 2. Next safe act is Chris Rene. This means all three of L.A. Reid’s boys are safe.

The eighth act safe is Josh Krajcik. Ninth act safe is Melanie Amaro. This means all of Simon’s Girls are safe. The final act guaranteed safe this week is Stacy Francis.

This means InTENsity and Stereo Hogzz are in the Bottom 2. Both of them are from Paula Abdul’s Groups category, which means she is losing someone tonight.

My pick to go home tonight is InTENsity, and I just don’t see the judges keeping them over Stereo Hogzz. Only if the Hogzz royally screw up will they go home.

The Stereo Hogzz are first to sing for their life tonight. Their lead singer has a nerdy look to him while the other four are all wearing black leather jackets. Even worse, there is something wrong with the song. They don’t sound in-sync with each other. Not even close. And several notes are missed. It’s a mess, but I wouldn’t call it a royal mess. There were some good harmonies in there.

InTENsity takes the stage. I still think they have to do a slam dunk to get the other three judges to vote for them. Smartly, they put Ellona, their best singer, in the lead for the song. Oh boy. They sound great. No mistakes so far. Spoke too soon. One of the weaker male singers takes the lead for the second verse and blows it. The whole thing begins to fall apart as notes are missed. Ellona wraps up the singing on a good note, but I don’t think it will be enough.

The final decision after the break.

Let’s see who the judges vote for.

Simon Cowell votes to send home: Stereo Hogzz
Paula Abdul votes to send home: InTENsity
Nicole Scherzinger votes to send home: InTENsity
L.A. Reid votes to send home: InTENsity

So InTENsity is the first act sent home. While I didn’t expect the Stereo Hogzz to be in danger tonight, InTENsity just wasn’t a surprise. Simon was off his rocker in the first place thinking that America was going to take to a group of 10. Just wasn’t going to happen.

So what did you think of tonight’s show? Did the correct act go home? Vote in our poll at the top of the page and leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Also, don’t forget to join me for the Idol Radio Show on tonight at 11 PM ET / 10 PM CT as I talk about tonight’s X Factor results, American Idol news, and anything else in the entertainment industry that needs to be discussed. Simply click the “Listen Live” banner in the right column when the show starts at 11 PM ET / 10 PM CT.