Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets now – we have the longlist of X Factor contestants, and bookies are already calling the winner.
Tonight saw the small room auditions draw to a close, with bootcamp getting under way tomorrow evening, so many of us already have our favourites that we’ll be looking out for as the competition progresses.
But according to the bookies, the one we should be watching is Caitlyn Vanbeck, who is William Hill’s 9/2 favourite to win.
The bookmaker’s spokesman Joe Crilly said: “Caitlyn has been the favourite since the first show but over the last couple of weeks we have seen some challengers emerge, not least in tonightâs show where we saw no less than three acts move into contention.”
Caitlyn, 19, talked about her previous struggles with being bullied when she came onto the ITV show to audition, and Simon Cowell was so impressed with her voice that he compared her to American Idol superstar Kelly Clarkson.
In tonight’s show, Christopher Peyton, Four of Diamonds and Samantha Atkinson all did so well that they’ve steamed straight into the list of frontrunners, all at 14/1 to win.
Favourites also include returning contestants The Brooks, Emily Middlemas and Gifty Louise.
William Hill’s predictions for this year’s X Factor winner are as follows: 9/2 Caitlyn Vanbeck; 5/1 Matt Terry; 7/1 The Brooks; 10/1 5am; 10/1 Freddy Parker; 10/1 Olivia Garcia; 12/1 Emily Middlemas; 12/1 James Wilson; 14/1 Christopher Peyton; 14/1 Four of Diamonds; 14/1 Samantha Atkinson; 16/1 Gifty Louise; 16/1 Kayleigh Maroe Morgan; 16/1 Soheila Clifford; 20/1 Cosmic Riot; 20/1 Ivy Grace Paredes; 20/1 Ryan Lawrie; 25/1