The X Factor USA Season 2 Divas Week Double Elimination: Jennel Garcia and Lyric 145 – Another Two Bite the Dust

The X Factor USA Season 2 Divas Week Double Elimination: Jennel Garcia and Lyric 145 – Another Two Bite the Dust

Last night, on X-Factor USA’s double elimination episode, the sparks flew, the cuckoos banged their head against the table, and a not-so-shocking elimination rocked the X-Factor studios. The first act that was sent home with immediate effect was Lyric145 – a not so surprising vote. The safe acts were called out one after another, and it came down to the overrated Paige Thomas and the pointless Demi Lovato clone, Jennel Garcia. The votes fell in Paige’s favour – 3-1 (L.A. Reid voted Jennel, Britney Spears voted Jennel, Demi Lovato voted Paige, and Simon Cowell voted Jennel) Let’s theorize the crumbling of the cookie, shall we?

Lyric 145’s elimination was a given. They drifted so far away from what we loved about them, that during Wednesday night’s live show, the group was almost unrecognizable. They came into the competition below-the-radar, and lacked the strong voting bloc that several of the other contestants have had throughout the competition. They were battling more than just a weekly singing competition; they were battling unfavourable odds. Their elimination was overdue. Jennel Garcia and Paige Thomas, on the other hand, were not battling against the group act suicide slot that so many group acts have had to face during the UK/US versions of X-Factor. In fact, only one group has ever won the X-Factor – Little Mix on the UK version of the show, and they only did so very recently, about a season ago.

Paige’s cumbersome performances have been the root of her criticism throughout most of the competition. She went from an endearing and loveable underdog to a stereotype crafted by the X-Factor machine. Her individuality fell through the floorboards, and Paige’s weekly attempt at being disco-pop became too much to bear for audiences at home.  Jennel, in contrast, became a dysfunctional tribute act with forced vocals and heavy handed performances. Her elimination caused a massive voting bloc to crumble and look for greener pastures, and we think the immigration will take them to Carly or Beatrice’s arena. It’s extremely difficult to predict the voting, as a fickle audience allows the voting blocs to crumble when an act becomes either “safe” or “less endearing”. We’ve seen it happen about a million times on American Idol and other talent TV shows, where the audience just completely stops voting for an act due to their popularity, and move over to another act.

The public popularity poll had a significant change in positions, with Diamond White having the biggest loss in position of a non-eliminated contestant, and CeCe Frey having the biggest gain. There’s no popularity poll for the eliminated contestants, so we placed them in position of elimination.

12th place – Lyric 145 (9th place last week – three spots down in ranking) – ELIMINATED

11th place – Jennel Garcia (7th place last week – four spots down in ranking) – ELIMINATED

10th place – Paige Thomas (8th place last week – moved two spots down in ranking)

9th place – Arin Ray (11th place last week – moved up two spots in ranking)

8th place – Beatrice Miller (10th place last week – moved up two spots in ranking)

7th place – Diamond White (4th place last week – moved down three spots in ranking) – BIGGEST LOSS

6th place – Fifth Harmony (5th place last week – moved one spot down in ranking)

5th place – CeCe Frey (12th place last week – moved up seven spots in ranking) – BIGGEST GAIN

4th place – Emblem 3 (6th place last week – moved up two spots in ranking)

3rd place – Vino Alan (Position unchanged)

2nd place – Carly Rose Sonenclar (Position unchanged)

1st place – Tate Stevens (Position unchanged)