The X Factor review, One Direction and Sam Smith perform 

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As One Direction returned to their roots back on the X Factor stage, another one of this year\'s hopefuls had to go

One Direction performing at the X Factor live show Photo: Tom Dymond/Syco/Thames/Corbis

It might not get quite as many viewers as Strictly each week, but X Factor is still one powerful beast. On last Sunday’s results show, the two guest acts performing live were John Legend and the newly surname-free Cheryl. A week later, and Cheryl has broken records to go straight to number one in the singles chart, while Legend’s latest album has climbed a whopping 83 places.

Of course, tonight’s star booking, One Direction, know just how powerful the show can be.

When they came third in 2010, they were cheeky, wide-eyed teenagers. Now they’re the biggest pop band in the world and they’ve grown into hairy, tattooed, leather-clad, slightly sullen-faced men who look like they’ve seen things most of us will never see. They’re living the life that all of the contestants want – but very few are likely to achieve.

For instance, it’s unlikely that this year’s grow-your-own-boy-band Stereo Kicks will become as humungously successful as One Direction, but it seems that last night’s stage invasion from comedy act Lee Nelson did serve them well because, after a shaky few weeks, tonight they sailed through in the phone vote.

We then learned that Ben Haenow, Fleur East, Andrea Faustini, Only The Young, Lauren Platt and novelty act Stevi Ritchie will all be joining them in next weekend’s Big Band special. Yes, they’re doing the Big Band thing again – might it be time for some new ideas?

One Direction\'s Midnight Memories: cheeky, lusty and tub-thumping

This week, two male solo singers found themselves in the bottom two – handsome Welsh sensitive type Jay James from Simon’s over 25s category and personality-free crooner Paul Akister, one of Mel B’s two remaining boys. After a polished but somewhat bland sing-off and some textbook faffing around from the judges, the result went to deadlock, and Paul learned that he was going home.

Some acts come over all humble at this point – but Paul looked plain angry, as did his mentor Mel. When you fancy yourself as a serious singer, it must be tough to be booted off in favour of token jesters like Stevi, but it’s fair to say that Paul will miss the X Factor a lot more than the X Factor will miss Paul.

It’s pretty obvious at this stage that the judges are hoping for a winner like 17 year old Lauren – straight out of school, she’s malleable enough to do what she’s told without any silly jumped-up ideas about what her musical direction should be.

The problem is, next to some of the competition she’s starting to appear cocky and cold, so Cheryl might need to give her some lessons in becoming the nation’s princess if she’s hoping to take her all the way.

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Isabel Mohan felt the fear of X Factor\'s Halloween-themed night, as one act got the chop

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