It was like an X Factor UK version of musical chairs before judge Simon Cowell identified his final six for the girls category on the fifth week of the reality singing competition.
The X Factor UK is now on the six chair challenge round where contestants are narrowed down to six acts for every category to move forward on the competition. This round started with the Girls category under the mentoring of Cowell.
The 15 girls who passed the judges deliberation were called one by one to perform again for Simon to decide who gets a chair.
Maria Laroco was the fifth performer to be called, before she sang Whitney Houston’s “Queen of the Night,” Cowell asked if she can cope with the pressure despite being only 17 years old.
“Well, I’m really nervous but I can do this,” Maria responded.
During her performance, Maria clearly impressed Cowell when she sang the high notes of the song with no hesitation, the camera caught the judge’s reaction where his lips said “wow!”
After her song number, Maria got praised by judge Robbie Williams, “You’ve got a huge personality, a huge voice, you’re incredible, baby!”
Cowell then made her take the next available seat however it was not guaranteed until everyone has finished performing.
After a couple of performances, Cowell then asked the 23-year-old Jennifer Owens to take the young singer’s seat, supposedly eliminating her from this round. The audience was clearly not pleased and started booing Cowell, demanding to bring Maria back.
Judge Williams also expressed his disapproval by telling Cowell, “I don’t understand.” Simon then asked Maria to come back on stage and traded another contestant’s seat.
When the rest of the girls started performing, it got more difficult for the Girls category mentor to decide. Down to the last act, Cowell opted to give contestant Scarlet Lee a seat which prompted him to ask for a sing-off between Maria and another competitor Georgia Burgess. Belting out their audition pieces, Cowell decided to keep them both and let go of Jennifer Owens who initially took Maria’s chair.
Maria Laroco now moves on to the next round of The X Factor UK, which airs first and exclusive, same day as the UK on Blue Ant Entertainment every Sunday and Monday at 7:55 p.m..