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Same Difference for X Factor?

19/08/2007

As the fourth series of The X Factor gets underway, one of the early contenders' band names appears to have horribly resonant overtones.

The brother and sister team of Sarah and Sean, who gleefully explained the logic of their name – "we're the same, but different" – were dispatched through to the boot camp after being condemned as "annoying" by the judges.

Their combination of adorable desperation, exaggerated facial expressions and excellent singing is the perfect curtain-raiser for a series which appears, to all intents and purposes, to be virtually identical to the last.

Even axed judge Louis Walsh was brought back onto the show after missing just the London auditions, as American choreographer Brian Friedman was judged a flop by the all-powerful Simon Cowell.

But judge Dannii Minogue and presenter Dermot O'Leary are fresh faces on the series, giving it enough new impetus to justify Cowell's claims of renewal. Both have yet to fully cement themselves in the formula, however.

For now the show is well and truly back on the road, however, with the first-round parade of misguided wannabes rolled out for yet another year.

Topping the bill yesterday was Emily, who wore a scarf over her mouth because she "urgently needed dentistry".

When her appalling performance was over and she had been rejected by the judges, she told Cowell: "You're a warm, charismatic person with great dentistry."

"[It's] not my fault that I've got good teeth," he replied.

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