Who knew an ash cloud would become such a regular part of our week. Once again it drifted to our doorstep and almost kept our Judge Robert C Kelly from making it to the show! But low and behold he sailed in (literally) just in the nick of time. And boy was he lucky he did. What a night!

Yesterday we reached the halfway mark and our finalists gave a nod to the biggest and best musical numbers from a time gone with our ‘Classics’ theme for the evening. With 9 performers left in the competition they really had to knock one out of the park to stand out from the crowd. And once again they didn’t disappoint.

Michael opened the show with a sexy performance of ‘Cabaret’ and the Judges loved it! Robert felt it was a ‘phenomenal’ performance and Simon expressed his concern for the other finalists. Roisin’s ‘I can’t say no’ received a mixed response. Robert was not a fan. Erica loved it and Simon thought it was her best performance yet. Once again the Judges disagreed over Conleth’s ‘Some Enchanted Evening’. Robert called it a ‘Cabaret’ version of the song and didn’t find it believable. Simon thought it was beautiful and Erica felt he took in the whole room with his performance. “Now your talking” was the first comment out of Simon’s mouth after Caoimhe sang ‘Something Better than This’. All the Judges agreed she has come along way and Robert considered her ‘most improved performer’ since last week yet still said she was not there yet. Sarah once again topped the polls with our Judges. Her ‘breathtaking’ rendition of ‘My Funny Valentine’ stole their hearts and gave them goosebumps. Robert said it was ‘beautifully executed’ and Erica congratulated her on starting the song fully. Robert named Sean Carey our ‘dark horse’ of the competition after he sang ‘Miracle of Miracles’ from Fiddler on The Roof. Erica felt he showed commitment and Simon thought that although it was pitchy he handled himself well. Jessica closed the competition with ‘Can’t Help Loving That Man of Mine’. The Judges were stunned by her ‘staggering power and control’. Erica and Simon could not get over how someone of her age could deliver this mature song in the way that she did. A hot favourite with the crowd the banter with Jessica and Simon continued as the north side jokes begin! Two other favourites with our crowd and Judges were Ben and Hollie. Robert thought Hollie ‘stormed it’ with her song choice ‘Wherever He Ain’t’ and Erica said that she belongs on the stage. Simon felt Ben’s performance of ‘If I Loved You ‘ from Carousel was ‘a prime example of how to sing a love song’ and whoever he was thinking of was a lucky person! ‘A Leading Man’ was how Erica described him and Robert felt he did a fantastic job of a hard song.

However even with such heavyweight endorsement the voting public disagreed with our 3 Judges and Hollie and Ben found themselves in the bottom two and had to ‘sing off for survival’. Reluctantly Simon and Erica saved Ben over Hollie and Robert expressed his upset at the way it had fallen. However the show must go on and next week Ben will have another chance to win your votes with a ‘Big Band’ number as we head into the final stages of our show......