We still remember the look on Simon Cowell, Cheryl Fernandez Versini, Louis Walsh and Mel B's faces, when Italian native Andrea Faustini sang for the first time in the X Factor room audition back in August. Since then, Andrea has proven to be one talented singer who can put his voice to any song.
After wowing the judges in the small room audition, it wasn't surprising when he made it past the arena auditions, the six chair challenge during bootcamp and the judges houses round where he was overcome with excitement about performing in front of Mel B AND Emma Bunton. Who remembers the moment he declared that he was a big fan of the Spice Girls? and luckily for him, both were impressed when he sang Jennifer Hudson's 'And I Am Telling You'. He even made Mel cry!
So, with a place in the live finals, Andrea was well and truly embracing his journey on the show. And he had every right to, especially when he told EntertainmentWise that he gave up a place on the Italian version of the X Factor to appear in the UK version. He said at the start of the live finals: "Yes, I tried four times. For the first three times I didn't even go in front of the judges. This year, the fourth time, I went in front of the judges, I had three yeses, but then I had three yeses here. I felt like my heart and my passion was here and is here now." And what about the language barrier? How did the 20 year-old adjust? Well, this was his explanation: "Sometimes I don't understand. So my best strategy is, 'Andrea, just laugh!' A big laugh. Obviously this strategy is not always good. In fact, a few days ago a guy asked me if I had a lighter. And I just laughed. It was really bad."
Andrea has enjoyed being mentored by Mel (ITV)
With his sweet personality, it came to no surprise when Andrea was billed as the favourite to win so early on. But like a true professional, he didn't let it get to him when he told us: "It's like I'm not realising what's happening at all. It's like I'm having this experience from another point of view - it's like seeing myself from the other side. It's a little bit weird. So I just want to enjoy myself at the end of the day. If I won, obviously I would be happy, but I'm not thinking about it right now."
As the live shows got under way, Andrea definitely showed his diverse talent, taking on a variation of songs from Beyonce's hit 'Listen' to Whitney Houston's 'I Have Nothing'. But the one performance we remember is his Halloween performance which saw him painted in gold. In fact, Simon Cowell found it hilariously funny and couldn't stop laughing when Andrea strutted over for feedback.
But as talented as Andrea is, he wasn't immune from some criticism, in particular from Simon who admitted that he wasn't too impressed with his rendition of 'Summertime' during big Band Week. The media mogul, who has two acts in the grand final, said at the time: "It lacked that gritty passion you do well. I thought it was going somewhere but it didn't go where I wanted it to go. You are pulling these terrible faces and not just during the performance but afterwards. I was disappointed.” Along with the criticism, Andrea also found himself in to the bottom two TWICE. The first time, he performed against Stevi Ritchie in week seven and just last weekend, he was once against singing for survival when he was up against fellow semi-finalist Lauren Platt.
Andrea is one talented guy (ITV)
So, Andrea has wowed, been criticised and has been in the bottom two. What else did the talented singer experience during his time on the competition? Those pesky rumours that's what. Following his place in the bottom two against Stevi, the rumour mill went in to overdrive, claiming that he was so upset that he was in the bottom two that he locked himself in his hotel room. But Andrea just proved how cheerful he was when he gave the perfect response to the false rumours.
"I can tell you that it's completely created from nothing because actually after Sunday's show, I did some filming with Mel and my family so I wasn't alone in my room", the rising star said, before adding: "Obviously yes I was upset because it was hard for me to be in the bottom two but I was not devastated like I read...It was hard but at the same time, it made me realise that I had to work even harder."
Do you think Andrea has what it takes to win on Sunday?
The X Factor final will take place at Wembley arena this weekend (December 13 and 14) on ITV.
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