Following her impressive audition piece in last week’s episode of “The X Factor UK,” Filipina singer Alisah Bonaobra advanced to the Boot Camp round of the competition where she faced off with contestants Natalie Lomax, Rai-Elle Williams and fellow Filipina Gaga Lord.
But in a stunning turn of events, Alisah found herself eliminated together with Natalie and Gaga Lord after the judges chose Rai-Elle to advance to the next round.
A visibly upset and tearful Alisah refused to leave the stage as she kept pleading to judge Simon Cowell, who said, “It’s not just me, we made a decision unanimously. Sorry.”
When Alisah still wouldn’t leave the stage, her most vocal supporter among the four judges, Nicole Scherzinger, approached her and asked what she wanted to do. Alisah then said she just wanted a second chance.
Then, to everyone’s surprise, Alisah sang excerpts from Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together,” the group’s performance song. Impressed with both her singing and determination, Simon said, “Based on what you’ve just done there, from what I can hear, we’re going to give you a pass on this one.”
Presenter Dermot O’ Leary embraced Alisah who was still crying as she finally left the stage and told her, “Get out there tomorrow and do your thing. No more tears.”
The next day, Alisah came back to the show. Asked by judge Sharon Osbourne how she was doing, the 22-year-old wedding singer, who was only able to travel to London through the generosity of her mother’s friend, said, “I don’t want this battle to be over yet. This battle is for my family.”
“So you got a point to prove now, haven’t you?,” Simon said to her.
Alisah said yes and explained her choice of song to the hard-to-please judge. “I chose ‘Defying Gravity’ because this is me, this is my life. I just want to own this stage right now,” she said.
Alisah then went on to deliver a soaring, note-perfect performance of the well-loved show tune from the musical “Wicked” that brought the house down. It also prompted Nicole and Sharon to join the rest of the studio audience, including Alisah’s mother, in giving her a standing ovation while Simon and another judge, Louis Walsh, smiled in appreciation.
Alisah is now moving on to the Six Chair Challenge phase of the competition.
“The X Factor UK” airs first and exclusive on RTL CBS Entertainment same day as the UK on Sundays and Mondays at 10:30am with primetime encores Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays at 9:00pm.
RTL CBS Entertainment is available on SKYcable channels 53(SD) and 196(HD), SKYdirect channel 35, Destiny Cable channel 53, and Cablelink channels 37(SD) and 313(HD).
