X Factor 2008 finalists - Groups

Tuesday, 7 October 2008

Three wannabe chart acts - Bad Lashes, Girlband and JLS - were chosen by Louis Walsh to be the three bands he'll take to the live X Factor finals which begin on 11th October.

Louis had the help of Shane Filan, the lead singer in Westlife, the super-successful boy band Louis manages, when choosing which three groups would have the best chance at winning the competition.
Let's take a closer look at the three groups they picked...

Bad Lashes

Emily McNamee, Sam Bennett, Sophie Wilson and Stacey Lincoln are the four feisty North East girls that make up Bad Lashes.

They are overjoyed after landing a place in the X Factor finals as they didn't get great compliments from the judges at first, being told by Louis Walsh in their first audition: "It's like four hairdressers trying to be a girl band."

Simon Cowell added: "You've over thought all of this girls, it's all too thought out and methodical."

But they eventually won Louis Walsh over at the Judges Houses stage.

Meet the girls... Bad Lashes band profile.

Girlband

Bristol-based female quartet Girlband didn;t have a proper name when they first entered the competition, so they've kept "Girlband" - but as judge Simon Cowell said in their first audition: "That's ok".

Tita Lau, Phoebe Jay Lau, Marisa Billitteri, Layla Manoochehri have all had their doubters when it comes to solo success, having failed numerous times to become singers on their own.

But the band is hoping to do well in the X Factor after being told by Louis: "You should be really proud to have come this far."

Find out a little bit more about the girls in Girlband...

JLS

Four-strong London-based vocal harmony group JLS only just scraped through to the live finals in Louis Walsh's house after an off-key performance.

Before they heard the good news, Marvin Humes, Jonathan Gill (JB), Ortise Williams, Aston Merrygold were left sweating, knowing they may have messed up their chance.

Marvin said to the X Factor cameras: "We want to do well so badly. We want to progress in this competition.

"If it's a no the walls are going to come crashing down."

But when Louis gave them the nod, saying: "You're going through", they nearly fell over each other hugging!

Meet the fab foursome that makes JLS...

Do you want Bad Lashes, Girlband or JLS to win? Vote in our X Factor poll.

X Factor photo gallery.

Meet the X Factor boys, the X Factor girls and the X Factor over 25s.