Press Release
It was club night on The X Factor South Africa on Saturday (15 November), but sadly the judges and viewers didn’t think Gavin Edwards got his groove on and brought his X Factor dream to an abrupt halt.
As the live gala show component of the competition neared the halfway mark, the heat was clearly on the remaining seven contestants during Saturday’s party-themed programme.
With Avodah being the first group to be voted off from the show last week, both Arno Carstens and Oskido had felt the pain of having their mentees voted off. The question on everyone’s lips was: would Zonke’s run of luck with her over-24s hold out?
The stage was transformed into a dancefloor as the top seven got the party started with their spirited renditions of monster club hits. Gavin tackled DJ Avicii’s Wake Me Up, Princess sang Free by Ralf Gum featuring Portia Monique, Four nailed Love You Better by Crazy White Boy, and Eliezer gave his all to Usher’s DJ Got Us Falling In Love.
After that came Bubblez performing Meghan Trainor’s All About the Bass, Iziqhaza taking on DJ Vetkuk’s club remix of Letta Mbulu’s Not Yet Uhuru, and Wandaboy getting on down to Donald’s I Deserve.
The banging beats sent viewers reaching for their cellphones to vote for their favourites, and songbird Naima Kay’s performance provided a welcome distraction from the knife-edge tension before Andile Ncube revealed that Eliezer and Gavin Edwards had received the least votes.
A tense sing-off followed, before the judges made the agonising decision that the sand in the X Factor SA hourglass had finally run out for Gavin Edwards.
The remaining top six were, however, buoyed by the news that superstar Kirk Whalum had decided to take two contestants under his wing for a month of personal mentorship in the United States. The legendary jazzman personally hand-picked Bubblez and Gavin Edwards for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to head to Memphis and learn from the best in the business.
But first they have to knuckle down and work like the blazes to ensure their X Factor SA odyssey continues … It’s heading for crunch time as the top six continue to sing their hearts out on The X Factor SA on SABC1 next Saturday, 22 November 2014, at 18:00, with the results show at 19:30.
To vote for your favourite act, SMS their number to 33121 (SMSes charged at R1.50). For bonus X Factor SA footage, be sure to watch XtraFactor on SABC3 on Friday, 21 November 2014, at 19:30.