The X Factor 2013 Review: Bizarre Cat man Colin Stacey, Dolly Rockers and super star Shelley Clarke were just some of week 2’s offering

Week two of The X Factor auditions severed up a number of returning contestants, together with the usually mix of the bizarre, the bad and the simply brilliant. These are our highlights:

The Bizarre

Cat Man Colin Stacey: Not sure what he was on, but he came across as living in a different world to you and me. There is nothing wrong with loving your cat but bringing a photo to your audition just strikes us as strange.

The 45 year old salesman from South East London told Dermott: “This is my household pet cat called Patch. Patch has been living with me for two or three years. It’s a big day, we all need something to make us relax. You can see he’s very observant, his judge of character is fantastic. I’ve yet to get a round of applause but I’m working on it.”

Unfortunately, Colin’s vocals were suited to singing to cats than humans. However, the backing vocals courtesy of Nicole and Gary was a real treat.

Stuart Mason: 53 year old tree surgeon Stuart Mason from Glasgow promised much but delivered very little.

Before singing Beneath Your Beautiful by Labrinth for the panel, Stuart told Dermot O’Leary:

“Gardening’s not so much a passion but everyone’s got to earn a crust haven’t they? Singing, yeah, it is a passion. I love it.”

“I have been singing since I was knee high. I’ve got my own styleand I write my own music. When I sing for people, they seem to like it. They say it was lovely.”

“I just want to sing, so if I get four yeses it will blow me away.”

I think Stuart would be best advised not to give up his day job.

The Bad

Girl groups The Dolly Rockers  and  Euphoria Girls are two acts that failed to hit the right notes with the judges during the arena auditions.

They clearly need to do much more work on their all-round performance especially vocals, and we believe that was evident at their first audition, so the judges should never have put them through.

Simply Brilliant:

It was definitely a weekend for the girls on The X Factor this weekend and for us these three were simply brilliant:

Abi Alton : This 19 year old is a star in the making. The Morrison’s sales assistant from Guisborough near Middlesbrough impressed the panel in both audition rounds.

Before her arena tryout Abi said:

“Since my room audition there is quite a lot of things that have happened in my life and that’s where the inspiration for the song I am singing today comes from. I am not very good at expressing my emotions when I talk so songwriting is my way of doing that. It’s a huge risk doing my own song but I am hoping that the judges and audience will get what I mean when they hear my lyrics. It’s about a boy who broke my heart so I think it’s a risk worth taking.”

Melanie McCabe: The 19 year old Irish singer has tried out for the show four times so it is very high stakes for her this time around. She said:

“This is my fourth year to do the X Factor. I did it in 2008 when I was only 14, in 2011 I got to Kelly Rowland’s house in Miami which was a huge big milestone in my life, because not many girls from Ireland get to do something like that.”

“I remember just feeling totally pulled apart. I had to go back to school and all my friends were like ‘Melanie are you back? I thought you were on the X Factor?’. My dream had just been crushed into a million pieces.”

“I picked myself up and came back last year and I got to bootcamp. Then when it was a no again, it was like Deja Vu. I was so, so devastated.”

Shelley Clarke: Van driver Shelley Clarke surprised everyone at the arena auditions with an unbelievable performance of Feeling Good by Nina Simone. Just watch this: