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X Factor finalists set for showdown in Britain
AFP - 1 hour 2 minutes ago
LONDON (AFP) - - A Northern Irish teenager, a modern day Whitney Houston and a boyband will battle on British television on Saturday for a million pound recording contract and the chance at music stardom.
Up to 15 million viewers are set to watch the X Factor final in Britain with the three remaining finalists hoping to follow in the footsteps of the likes of past successful winners Leona Lewis and Leon Jackson.
Although the final has been billed as one of the most closely contested in years, the bookies' favourite is Alexandra Burke, the 20-year-old powerful singer from north London attracting odds of 8/13 at Ladbrokes.
"I've never ever been favourite in the competition until the last couple of weeks, it's really weird," Burke told the Daily Telegraph newspaper this week.
"But to be really honest, I never look at it because it can change from week to week. My motto is 'You're only as good as your last performance'."
A late surge in popularity for good looking boyband JLS has seen the four 20 somethings close the gap to 9/4 this week.
"It's official: I am in the JLS fan club. I will joining tomorrow," X Factor judge and British singer Cheryl Cole said during one of the shows.
The outsider is Eoghan Quigg, the youngest ever X Factor finalist and the first from Northern Ireland.
The 16-year-old with a mountain of hair and a voice that has won applause from Mariah Carey is at 9/2 odds to take the title.
As part of the show, all three finalists will perform a duet with an established artist. Although they have not been confirmed, several newspapers in Britain have tipped Beyonce Knowles and Westlife as the star acts.
All three have also recorded their own version of Leonard Cohen's classic Hallelujah, which is expected to become the Christmas number one upon release, selling one million CDs and downloads.
The finalists have returned to their home towns in the runup to the final to perform, with hundreds of fans turning out to see the singers.
The three have extra pressure to win after Simon Cowell said the credit crunch meant that he could not guarantee a record deal for the runner's up.
Only the winner, voted by the million-plus viewers, is assured of a one-million pound (1.5 million dollar) contract.
"I think under the current climate, I would say it was more important to win the show this year than any other," Cowell told reporters this week.
"Like every other business the record business is tougher than it was last year," he said.
However the X Factor bosses were embarrassed when details of the contracts signed by the finalists were leaked, showing that the much hyped winner's deal translated to a cash advance of just 150,000 pounds.
Cowell clarified that most of the sum was made up of the costs of recording and marketing the winner's records.
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Alexandra Burke is favourite to win the final of the X-Factor
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