Reality TV

Pretty young singer Melanie McCabe made it through to judges' houses on last year's X Factor, but was sent home from Miami in favour of some largely forgettable singers. Seriously, I'm struggling to remember ANYONE from last year's line-up.

Melanie returns to the auditions stage with a version of the Simon and Garfunkel classic, Bridge Over Troubled Water. 

Here's the thing. Melanie's got a beautiful look, she'd definitely make a good girlband member. But her tendency to overindulge in vocal histrionics hurt her badly during this audition: she hit several bum notes, and exposed an unusually shril voice that I think might not be pleasant to listen to after a while.

We'd been promised that the groups on X Factor this year were some of the strongest ever. Except we haven't seen any evidence of that...until now.

Boyband trio Times Red hit the stage tonight and impressed us with a smart version of Amy Winehouse's Rehab. One of the guys started off on an acoustic guitar for a verse, then the other two kicked in with beatboxing and harmonies. 

The combination of unusual hip-hop beat and the Amy Winehouse classic won us over - as well as the audience in the stadium. Oh, and did we mention that all three are rocking chiseled abs and hunky good looks? Well, they are. And even Dermot O'Leary took a moment out to praise the guys for their perfect pecs.

Luke A walked away with the top prize on Monday night and viewers were only left waiting two days for the new series to start. Celebrity Big Brother began on Wednesday with a bunch of well-known stars entering the compound for the next couple of weeks.  Take a look at the 13 celebrities that may win the show...

After a quiet series of Big Brother (although there was lots of backstabbing and was claimed to be one of the 'bitchiest' houses ever) Luke A won the show after being fairly popular and seeming like a genuinely nice guy. The house was cleaned and spruced up for the next bunch of celebrity housemates that had been rumoured to enter for weeks.

Now that Caroline has been given the boot, there are just 9 people left battling it out to get to the final. With just two weeks left, is there a clear winner or could anyone make it to the finish line?

If you have ever felt painful becuase of your first relationship, you may know how it hurts.  It's getting painful everytime when you think of your first kiss, warm hugs, and your feeling of his heartbeats. But once you have breakup with him, you have to LET GO.

It wasn't feeling nice when you just carried those sweet hugs and kisses memories back, it's pain in a way that you cannot desribe, you just are thinking of it deeper and deeper, you want to find out a clear picture of you and him hugging in those days, becuase you just missed it so much.  

Big Brother is back with a bunch of nutty and fun housemates that we will follow for the next few weeks. The show has been on for just over a week and we have already had big drama with two housemates leaving and one entering! This is my initial thoughts on the housemates...

I auditioned in Greensboro, NC on May 1st and made it through all 3 rounds and was told they will give me a call if they wanted to use me. They also said if I don't hear from them by June 7 (which was yesterday) then they want be using me. I want to know if ANYbody got a call from producers. Please reply and say yes if you did, dont have to give a name. Do you know if ANY one in Greensboro got a call?

THANK YOU!

X Factor 2012 is set to be an interesting year and the auditions are already underway. Tulisa, Louis and Gary are back but after Kelly left the competition, they have yet to replace the singing star. Currently guest judges are taking the fourth place and yesterday it was Leona Lewis.

I've been really ambivalent about Phillip Phillips on this year's American Idol. Yes, I know he's an excellent singer, and he plays guitar - which always sends a contestant soaring upwards in my estimation. But for me, there's been no real spark.

Until now.

Last night, Phillip took on a Damien Rice song with the theme of "songs the contestant wishes they had written". He chose, Volcano, which is one of my personal favourites.

Last night we finally found out who the final 45 semi-finalists were and who might be wowing us during this fab week. With the series getting bigger ratings every week, will it find some real stars this year?