At the beginning of Sunday night’s show, all six of the seats in Cheryl’s Six Chair Challenge had been filled, meaning that if either of the two remaining acts were going to progress, they’d have to steal a spot from someone else.
To make matters even more tense, two members of the remaining groups were related, with Rachel McIntosh of Silver Tone going up against her brother, Nathan McIntosh, and his group BEKLN - two groups who both met at the same gospel choir in London.
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Silver Tone
Rachel said before taking to the stage: “Even though he’s my brother, it is still a competition… it’s either us or them, and that’s not a nice feeling.”
The girls were the first to perform, wowing the judges with their take on Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’.
Cheryl told the group: “This is where it gets very hard for all of us, as you can see, the seats are full, and they’re all very strong.”
After giving them a seat, it was then time for BEKLN to perform, though it seemed the ‘Fight For This Love' Singer was less taken by them.
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Cheryl Fernandez-Versini had a tough decision to make
She said: “I thought that was a really beautiful current song that you made sound your own… however, I’m looking over here, and I don’t see anyone I could switch you out with at this point in the competition.”
Following outstanding chants from the audience to give the boys a seat, Cheryl then added: “Having said that, I’m going to have to give you a seat.”
That definitely means there’ll be one less awkward car ride back to the McIntosh residence, if nothing else.
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Cheryl and her six groups
BEKLN and Silver Tone will join Menn On Point, Alien, 4th Impact and The First Kings at Judges’ Houses, where Jess Glynne will help Cheryl decide who should make it through to live shows.
Tune into ‘The X Factor’ next weekend on ITV, to see who makes the cut.
Despite her inability to spell the word 'Addictiv', Fleur East of Addictiv Ladies later returned to 'The X Factor' nine years later as a solo artist. So, yes, that's why she looks so familiar... (credit:Rex/Ken McKay)
4Tune (Series 3)(02 of10)
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Do you get it? Because there are four of them. And they sing tunes. Brilliant. (credit:Rex/Ken McKay)
4Sure (Series 4)(03 of10)
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We're guessing a similar thought process went into naming 4Sure to naming 4Tune... (credit:Rex/Ken McKay)
Little Mix (Series 8)(04 of10)
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A name derived from the fact that Tulisa used to refer to them as her "little muffins".To us, they'll always just be Rhytmix. Still, the name has hardly held them back so far, has it? (credit:Rex/Ken McKay/Talkback Thames)
Stereo Kicks (Series 11)(05 of10)
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This is what happened when you draw two unrelated 'youth-based' terms out of a hat and name your band whatever comes out. Stereo Kicks could just as easily have been called 'Selfie Twerk' or 'Hollyoaks Software Update'. (credit:Thames TV/Syco/Corbis)
Girlband (Series 5)(06 of10)
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We wonder how long this imaginative name took to think of. (credit:Rex/Ken McKay/Talkback Thames)
2 To Go (Series 1)(07 of10)
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Probably best to not make the name of your group sound like you're ordering at a drive thru, yeah..? (credit:Rex/Ken McKay)
JLS (Series 5)(08 of10)
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Not the worst name in the world, until you realise it stands for 'Jack The Lad Swagger'. Good grief. (credit:Rex/Ken McKay)
Belle Amie (Series 7)(09 of10)
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A nice enough band name, it's just unfortunate that it's also the name of an Eastern European gay adult film company, isn't it? (credit:Rex/Ken McKay/Talkback Thames)
Overload Generation (Series 11)(10 of10)
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Well, at least it's a name they weren't stuck with for long, eh..? (credit:Thames TV/Syco/Corbis)