‘The X Factor’ UK rankings: Lucy Spraggan falls; James Arthur stays #1

It has clearly been a chaotic week on “The X Factor” UK, as we have more or less seen one contestant stay down for the count due to illness, and a member of one of the boy bands is suffering from the same exact thing. Will these two end up returning in time for the live shows on Saturday? It is hard to say, but this has to at least be taken into some consideration in the latest version of our contestant rankings.

In case you are just popping in here for the first time, we judge this based on more than performance quality; we also look at fan base, voting trends, and also how the contestant is being perceived in the media (which is especially important this week).

9. Lucy Spraggan (last week: 5) – Lucy’s dramatic fall this week is based largely on the fact that she may not even make it to the live show. If she does end up quitting the competition (as it has been rumored), we wonder if Jade Ellis will get a second kick in the can. The only other consideration here would be that this would keep the show from needing to have a standard double-elimination to make it to the end. We just have to rank her last due to the uncertainty, and it’s also up for debate if she should have been allowed to continue, anyway.

8. Rylan Clark (11) – Congratulations, Rylan! You’re not in last this time! This guy has somehow proven to have a following over the past couple of weeks, but we can’t justify a high ranking for a couple reasons. He has been in the bottom two before, and no about of theatrics can cover up that you are not a very good singer. The other former bottom two residents are all more capable of delivering a knockout performance, even if Rylan is promising to slow it down.

7. Christopher Maloney (9) – Regardless of whether or not he has been in the bottom two, he is the show’s biggest weak link outside of Rylan. At some point, that Liverpool fan following is going to fall asleep for a week, and he has no hope of staying in the bottom two against really anyone.

6. District3 (6) – They are coming off of a pretty bad performance, and they have been in the bottom before. There’s going to be a good bit of pressure on this boy band, and they may not feel that same drive since they were safe, anyway, last week following an off night.

5. Kye Sones (7) – There is still little question that Kye is in danger, but last week’s performance was his biggest comeback performance in that he was not only one of the best of the night, but he was safe despite being in the dreaded lead-off spot on the show. Save for Lucy (who may not be around this week), he is consistently better than everyone ranked below him here.

4. Union J (3) – The fact that Union J is coming off of a bottom two appearance should motivate both them and their fan base, and their odds of being danger are pretty low this week even with one of their band members ill. There have been some flashes of brilliance here, though at times the song choice has completely doomed them.

3. Ella Henderson (2) – For the second straight week, Ella drops slightly here after a performance of “Bring Me to Life” that was her worst of the season so far. What she really needs at this point is a return to her roots, and that means a soft, piano ballad with a chance to remind everyone what a roaring voice she has.

2. Jahmene Douglas (4) – Jahmene may not have the same sort of onstage swag as our #1 pick here, but he makes up for it somewhat in polish. This guy is just a gifted technical singer who can literally belt out anything. He also has yet to have a bad performance all season.

1. James Arthur (1) – As of right now it feels almost as though Nicole Scherzinger is going to dominate the top two based on the performances. James is the only artist all season right now (save for sadly Lucy) who feels more like a recording artist than a singing competition contestant, and not even Gary Barlow on a bad day could find anything to criticize here.