It's been a pretty tough week for Fleur East, who has been accused of receiving favourable treatment from The X Factor Judges. But during Saturday night's semi-final she let everyone know exactly why she deserves a spot in the final with a stand out performance that had the judges on their feet.
The 26-year-old opened the show with her rendition of All I Want For Christmas Is You, and whilst she got favourable comments for her take on the Mariah Carey classic, it was her second performance of the night that had everyone talking.
Earlier this week The Daily Star reported that Fleur's fellow contestants had grown pretty sick with the way things were going behind the scenes, and believed the judges were pushing for Simon's contestant to win the show. “It's beginning to look obvious,” a source revealed. “It may as well be called The F Factor – it's very unfair.”
Fleur impressed the judges with her professional performance (ITV Pictures)
But Fleur seemed determined not to let the bad press affect her performance, even after making the risky decision to perform an obscure song. The aspiring star had originally planned to sing Superbass, but with just 24 hours to go until the live show, she opted for the relatively unknown Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars.
Luckily, the risk paid off, and her strong vocals and energetic dance moves won over the judges and had them up on their feet. All four were full of praise, with Mel B exclaiming, “Who cares if we didn't know the song? You killed it! That was by far your best performance. Let me tell you something right now, you are a superstar!”
Cheryl Fernandez-Versini was so impressed with the performance that she set aside her longtime feud with Simon Cowell to high five the mentor and explain, “What's interesting is I have a friend of mine here who isn't from this country, and in the dress rehearsal, he asked if you were a star or a guest. I guess this is why Simon does what he does”.
Simon, meanwhile, seemed pretty pleased with himself and his act. He claimed it was up there with the top three X Factor performances of all time, adding, “Let this moment sink in as this is the moment, I believe, you turned from a contestant into a star.”
Check out Fleur's killer performance below.
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