This week the X-factor contestants were flown to a selection of exciting places to hone their skills and then perform in front of their selected judges.
The groups and the girls were shipped off to Marbella and Ascot respectively.
Simon Cowell was looking after the groups and they went bananas when he first appeared in front of them. Sinitta was helping Simon out with his judging and sporting a rather unusual headband.
Twem were first up, a combination of sweets smiles and good singing only let down by one of them appearing to be wearing an old P.E. kit.
Belle Aime were good, especially considering they were pushed together at the last minute. They did a great cover of Faith and worked well together.
Princes and Rogues were up next and charmed with their preppy look. They came across as exactly the sort of boys you’d take home to meet your mum.
Husstle were okay, but Simon said they were one star and four backing singers and that’s not a good sign.
The Reason weren’t on screen for nearly long enough. They are some serious hunks of muscle who can sing and wear hats. That’s properly multitalented. Also if the selection comes down to a fight the Reason would definitely win.
One of the members of One Direction managed to cut his foot on a sea urchin but he managed to perform anyway with a slightly wonky foot. They sang well and given that the entire group are just variations of a theme of Justin Bieber, they will probably do okay.
F.Y.D. were earnest and even managed to do a little dance routine while they sang. They could have got away without it though as their singing was amazing. There were proper harmonies and everything.
Diva Fever’s performance was a bit painful. It was okay but you could see Simon wasn’t amused, we expect they will be coming home soon.
The girls
The girls were the strongest category by a long way and they all seemed very excited to meet Cheryl Cole and Will.I.iam. The chemistry between the two judges was a bit strange, but we could just blame that on jetlag.
Rebecca Ferguson opened up for the girls. She was endearingly shy but still managed to belt out a great cover of fireflies in her husky voice.
Gamu Nhengu was a confident as ever and really sold her performance. She was nervous after she had performed which was silly because she was great.
Annastasia Baker and Raquel Thomas rattled through their performances. Keri Arrindell was great too; we could have done with seeing a bit more of her.
Katie Waisell’s performance was memorable. She took a brolly in with her and broke down halfway through the song.
She almost managed to carry on but then had to stop and start again. It was worth it thought to hear a bit more of her smoky singing voice.
Did anyone else notice how Cheryl seemed to not like her at all?
Tracey Cohen was up next and was super confident and rightly so but the real star of the evening was Cher Lloyd.
Cher has been battling stress and a sore throat all week. She had a first attempt at her song but had to stop and started crying.
Cheryl gave her a hug and whispered into Cher’s ear, ‘Calm down take this as your moment.’
Cher said, ‘I just know I could have done better.’
Cheryl said ‘You haven’t finished.’
This made us want Cheryl to be our mate now. Cher had another crack at singing but couldn’t manage it.
Our hearts broke about a dozen times when she whispered 'I'm done now, I'm done' and slowly walked off stage.
It was worse than when Bambi's mum got shot, Even Will.I.iam appeared to get something in his eye.
Best. Episode. Ever.
So who do you think should go through from the groups and the girls?