This isn't my favourite stage of competition, if  I'm honest. Too much is going on in a short amount of time, we're always missing someone and a lot of people forget the lyrics and many people fail (it hurts to watch such things from someone we fell in love with). But no matter how I feel, the contestants still need to face this stage of the competition. Who'll survive and move on to the JH, who'll fail miserably? ... It's time to face the music!

Recap after the JUMP ...

Last year we saw this girl, Aida Nikolaychuk, audition and it was epic (I'm talking Bella Ferraro epic for those watching the AU version) and then she really messed up in bootcamp (just like Bella again) but was not given a second chance (unlike Bella this time). The public got furious after that. We have this online contest, XF Online, where people send their videos and other people vote for them, and there's a winner every week who gets to perform as a guest on the results show and also wins a ticket to next year's bootcamp. Aida won one week and then performed an Adele song on the liveshows (not really the best rendition if you ask me) and now she's coming back to bootcamp. It's a lot of pressure for her, with about 5 million views on YouTube and the public's love, plus she's in the Overs and this is a really strong category this year (like this, for example). I'm pretty sure she is a lock for Top 24 at least but we're gonna have to look at the others first.


We are informed there're 268 acts. Contestants got divided into 4 groups (ugh, drama time?) and I expect one of the group to be booted but surprisingly, they are all staying. The first challenge is singing in groups for what they've got one night to prepare.

The first group to sing for their lives are three curvy girls. Two of them are great and one is not really so she is sent home. Darya Izumova(Дарья Изюмова) and Alexandra Prilepska (Александра Прилепска) are the ones staying.

Then we got to see Melen Passa (Мелен Пасса) performing with a previously unshown duo Egor &Crystel (Егор и Кристель) and Jacqueline (Жаклин). They are pretty decent and could be a real band actually. Of course they are staying.


The next trio consists of Katya Gumeniyuk (Катя Гуменюк), Nazar Khassan (Назар Хассан) and Sevil Believa (Севиль Белиева). Nazar is worried because the girls didn't include him and he had to prepare by himself (if honest I don't get all this relationship drama. For me the task is really simple, stay professional, learn the song and sing good enough to make it through). Igor says it wasn't a team. Nazar is staying, while the girls are sent home, which is kinda fair.


There are some people I really want to see tonight. Polina Sinelnikova, the police duo, Anna Hohlova and Alexey Smyrnov but all I get so far is this video with bites of their performances. Everyone makes it to the next round, so I can't complain much.


Up next are romantic duo Anastasiya and Artem (Анастасия и Артем), Violetta Kosakova (Виолетта Козакова) and Anatolyi Bessmertny (Анатолий Бессмертный). They are performing a love song. Good staging, good voices and great energy. All make it through.


All my favourites are through and I'm quite happy. Happy-ish because suddenly, the judging panel realize that there's too many people and that they have to cut them down to 50. So the drama continues! They split the acts into three groups, sending one of them home. It's a good trick to fill some air time but I'd prefer seeing more performances instead. After a huge amount of complaints, fears, tears and unhappiness and a good portion of ads, we finally see one third crying and heading home. Police duo is amongst them sadly.


Every act is going to sing one song in front of not only the judges but also an audience.

The first act is trio Beatris. Earlier, there was a clip of them singing acapella, and I must say I was really impressed. They are also said to be Serega's favourites so what can possibly go wrong? Oh god, everything goes wrong! Can I unhear this please?


We move on to Yakov from Yalta. Is he just a Louis Armstrong impersonator or is there more to him? Oh, a Vysotsky song, interesting. I'd choose Yakov for the Overs Top 6 if I was a judge because of his charming personality and stage presence.


Next is Dmytro Sysoev. The song he sings doesn't suit him with him being a rocker. But he is a good performer, he sets the stage alive and has something deep in his eyes.


The moment has finally come. Aida is performing! Well, it's not easy for her with the weight of 5 million YouTube views on her tiny shoulders.


Ilya Efimov performs next. I'm hypnotized with this husky, mature, god given voice of his. Please, let him stay!


Katya Sokolenko is the most genuine person I've ever seen in this competition. She is no winner material, of course, but I love her personality. She's not doing well right now though, forgetting almost every word of the song. Sadly it's time to go for her. And she shouts it herself with "Goodbye Katya" at the end of the song. I'm literally crying.


Vadim Rozumny, who was featured last year during bootcamp singing with an ill throat, is next. He was invited to come back this year, advancing straight to bootcamp. His time has finally come. All the notes hit all the right targets. I like him a lot.


Finally, we have Julia Plaksina, an early favourite (not mine though). Is it just me or she's really not special at all?


And that's it. Nobody else is shown singing at this stage. Really? I was dying to see Polina or Anna at least once. I'm afraid they aren't gonna make it. Time for results now. Of course, we are shown a long footage of the judges discussing everyone but I'd rather just write the names here.

Apparently, the groups weren't special at all, cause the judges form four new ones. First is Violetta and Anatoly, which is very understandable given that they shared some chemistry during their performance earlier.



They also create two trios. A male one, formed by Nazar Khassan, Danil Klyagin and Vyacheslav Efremov. I thought the latest was the right member for a boyband, so yeah I was so right about that. It's an interesting combination of voices, I'm looking forward to see them.



And a female one, formed by Sveta, Tanya and Sasha. And being brutally honest, they don't stand a chance.



The last group to be formed is Martynsh and Yulia Antipenko, which is also not a promising duo.

Boys - Seryoga Vadim Rozumny Ilya Efimov Dmytry Sysoev Alexey Smirnov Kirill Astapov Oleg Rubtsov Girls - Sosedov Julia Plaksina Janna Peregon Melen Passa Daria Izumova Anastasiya Rubtsova Maria Jitnikova

Overs - Kondratiuk Aida Nikolaychuck Eugeni Litvinkivitch Yakov Golovko Katya Sololenko Anna Hohlova Xenia Liardo Groups - Irina Two voices Egor &Crystel Violetta and Anatoly Boys trio Girls trio Martynsh and Yulia Antipenko