btw fll, i do think they're underpriced, but not quite as much as you clearly do!!

gtl - girlfriend in her mid 20s, how did you do that you scoundrel...

LOL nick - i'm in my 20s myself, so not some dirty old man like you lot!! [;)]

fll - i think she just sees them all as little sweethearts that are having a great time and not showing any rudeness/arrogance/ego - just lovely lads.  and i can see a few of the older mums out there thinking the same.

not that any of that necessarily translates into votes.

Current odds give me the option of buying off my rather reckless 1D red and still be fat green on Rebecca and Matt but I just don't think it's worth it. I hope I don't live to regret it, maybe if they drift a bit more....

Apparently, Simon himself is taking to the stage, for the first time since Wonderdog, to sing a Rat-Pack medley with Sepp Blagger,Robert Mugabe and Nigel West Dickens.

is that the biffy clyro live lounger cover?  it's not bad, but i don't think matt would have any say in what song he gets to sing with rihanna.

whatever anyone does is going to struggle to compete with rebecca/christina singing beautiful - if that's what happens.

Thanks Gym didn't know about the Biffy Clyro cover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJAklQZ7kBg

If he does this it seals his victory - no question in my mind.  'Beautiful' will be great I'm sure, but this will have miles more impact.

aa good luck with the snow - I had that last week, tough work, a shock to the system! 

We have seen contestants do a twist on a classic song many times on Idol in particular, Cowell loves it.  I suspect they had this song in mind when they approached Rihanna.  As long as his voice holds up this would have a massive impact on Saturday night.

Having said that these rumours are probably rubbish anyway - the early ones normally are.

Agree with Mikey there. Not sure where FLL is coming from at all. Rihanna is now far bigger than Christina. Most people have probably forgotten all about the latter tbh.

you guys need to think about whose votes these performances need to win over.

beautiful is a fantastic song, and everyone (particularly women) can connect to it in some way i guess.

the song builds and builds with a huge ending.  can definitely see rebecca and christina raising the roof with this.

I'm green on the front three and was waiting on the duets announcement to balance up my book.

So speaking as a relative neutral (one that was big on Rebecca in the early stages, but convinced that Matt had it in the bag for the second half of the competition), I would say that this definitely swings it in favour of Rebecca.  Christina is different class to Rihanna (as Dannii knows as she's been fighting for Matt to get the hook up) and with Beautiful they'll have a killer punch.  If nothing else it certainly evens out the contest in the final stages.

It's got to be a two horse race now - Cher and One D are out of it based on that line up and it's a straight head to head.

yes Umbrella is a huge song I don't want them doing this - hopefully they'll do that rude boy song

Also Christina done an awful version of Beautiful on one of the dancing shows recently

Must admit whilst it could be anyone if Christina and Rebecca do sing 'Beautiful' it is a lovely song so a plus for Rebecca there if they do it.

One other thing to consider is don't they do about three songs in all so the 'celeb' one is only a third of their act.  They've still all got to impress with their own two songs.

1D now rumoured to be with Take That. Didn't think Bieber would
do it.

Dizzy

Excatly she hasn't had one.  Rebecca backers will biasedly say she's had one but we all know she just hasn't whereas Matt's undoubtably had at least three (that's why he's odds on favourite and she's over three times his price!) Of course he'll do that song wouldn't you if you knew it was your showstopper.  Do you think Macca's ever finished off his gigs with 'Hey Jude' once or twice?

Just been watching the Press Conference, Rebecca announcing her duet:

'I'm singing with Christina Aguilera and I'm very happy, she's very talented'

Could she be any less restrained in her excitement?  Contrast this with Alexandra - her duet with Beyonce was clearly the most extrordinary thing that had ever happened to her, it was an amazing moment that defined the series.  We're simply not going to get that on Saturday - can anyone imagine Rebecca dissolving into tears half way through the performance?

Dizzy

I surmise you're talking about Rebecca.  Yes agreed she seems so nice and quiet that even if she won she'd probably just say 'Oh goodie" or something like that.  Perhaps that's rather endearing though to be fair but she is running out of time to really deliver a 'wow' moment.  Her fans promise it every week yet in about a dozen attemots so far she still hasn't.

spot on fll!

yep sadly they do.  but it is complete unprofessional nonsense.

i thought burke was a t*sser back then, and not seen anything to change my mind.  and that has nothing to do with the fact she cost me a few quid!!

She would have cost me too if I hadn't read in The Star that she topped the vote in the quarters. It was all over then, given Cowell clearly wanted her to win.

As for her OTT reaction during her Beyonce duet, I'm not sure that did her much good.
She won because she was clearly the best in the final and if anyone was in any doubt that she was the best, you had reminders from Cowell every 10 minutes.