Day 2 of bootcamp and the 50 from yesterday must become the 24 of tomorrow. 6 acts in each category to jet off to the “judges’ houses” round. A list of 25 songs to choose from this time, with each act performing just one song in front of only the judges – no audience – and with only 24 hours to prepare.

The hour passed quickly, with some fine performances, some surprise bad performances from people for whom the stress was beginning to bite, and some total meltdowns. We caught the supposed-to-be-tension-building judges’ comments immediately after each act – was Austin a bit “desperate”? Why were they so much worse than yesterday? What’s happened?

Overall, you could still make a pretty valid prediction who would get through based on the air-time the acts had. With only 50 acts and an hour programme, we were never going to see everyone, but there was one act we hadn’t seen until this very show. In a “surprise twist” that had echoes of last year, a new boy band appeared on the scene: manufactured from solo artists that had failed their auditions. The judges “saw something” in them, and “wondered” if they could make it as a band.

Why are some chosen, and others not? Simple. The producers and the judges look at the usual pile of dross that has turned up to audition in the groups category and realised that they are never going to be able to pick 6 that are good enough to get past boot camp. So they need to make one up. Stinks really, but that’s showbiz. So welcome onto the scene “Priority” and as soon as you heard their name and knew what was going on, you knew there were a dead cert to get through bootcamp.

So it was the end of the road for 80-year-old Cyril, who took it all in good part, and 45-year-old Jeffrey Paterson, who didn’t take it quite so well. Poor Jeffrey has been chasing his dream of singing the big time for 20 years, and has pretty much run out of runway. Or at least, run out of the stamina to keep taking the knock backs. Shoulders shaking as he sobbed for the loss of his rainbow, he stood as a moving reminder of the human side of X Factor.

It was the end of the road also for Liam Payne – the Michael-Bublé-lite of this year’s X Factor. And then it was the other end of the road. The one you start at. Because Simon had another one of his “we’ve made a mistake, we can’t let this chance pass” moments, called him back, and told him he was in after all. That must really mess with your head. And it must really mess with the numbers, since they’d already chosen 24 to go through, and there are still 24 on the list. So who had the downside of this story, and was told they were through and then dropped? Or was it all a scam – another production wrinkle to wring the most emotion out of the gullible audience? I wonder…

With the final judges’ deliberations revealed and the tears and the joyful leaping about over, it was time to find out which judge would catch for which category. Simon’s comment at the end of the selections “and I know who’s going to win” was mirrored by his later declaration that he wanted the girls’ category, so I think we can assume that, as far as he is concerned anyway, this year’s winner will be found in that category. It’s only his opinion, but he’s been right more often than he’s been wrong.

In the Over 25′s category – and jetting off to St Tropez to spend a few days with judge Dannii Minogue are:
Daniel Evans*
Suzie Furlonger
Louise Heatly*
Rachel Hylton*
Ruth Lorenzo
James Williams

In the 14-24 boys category, and flying out to beautiful Barbados with mentor Simon Cowell are:
Scott Bruton*
Austin Drage*
Mali-Michael McCalla
Liam Payne*
Eoghan Quigg
Alan Turner

In the 14-24 girls category and following judge Cheryl Cole to cheeky Cannes are:
Annastacia Baker
Hannah Bradbeer
Alexandra Burke*
Amy Connolly*
Diana Vickers
Laura White*

And finally in the Groups category and – you have to feel sorry for them – trudging over to Ireland to shiver alongside mentor Louis Walsh are:
4 Instinct
Bad Lashes*
Desire
Girlband
JLS*
Priority*

The asterisks are my guesses for who’s going through, based purely on the amount of air-time they’ve had so far. The only category this doesn’t really work for is the 14-24 boys, where I think it’s a toss-up between Liam Payne – who although he has been given a second chance might still blow it, because he’s not really that good – and Eoghan Quigg – who’s had masses of exposure so far in the show. I’ve plumped for Liam, or perhaps it’s more accurate to say I’ve plumped against Eoghan, because I just don’t buy the “twinkly Irish chappy” act and I think he needs to be a year or two older to really be any good. And because I don’t want to have to put up with another Tabby for the next 12 weeks.