We’re sure the entire United Kingdom was in shock over Sunday night’s X Factor elimination. Misha B and Sophie Habibis, two of the most talented hopefuls in this year’s competition, were singing for survival. But the question was, why?

X Factor ratings have dropped significantly this series and Saturday night saw the ITV program being overtaken by Strictly Come Dancing on BBC  One.

It is the first time in three years that Strictly has overtaken the X Factor in viewer ratings. 11.5 million people chose to watch pensioner presenters, pensioner panelists and C list celebrities prance around doing ballroom dancing compared to the 11 million that tuned in to the popular singing competition.

So what do X factor do to entice more people to switch back? Have a dramatic and totally unexpected (if not completely unbelievable) showdown between two of the girls in the missing judge’s category.

With Kelly Rowland away in a ratings scandal ploy of her own (and delivering the most cringe-worthy sickie phone call ever broadcast) it’s the perfect excuse for why both acts in the final two were from the ‘girls’ category. We can see the producers and X Factor minions trying to justify it now, ‘The girls clearly suffered without their mentor this week’ yada yada. Yawn…

It was clear before the judges even announced their unanimous verdicts that Sophie had to be the one to fall. She wasn’t making enough headlines. Misha has had the bullying story, she’s the motherless child. She has brought a bit more drama to the table. Not only did Misha sing for her survival on Sunday night, but she was also singing for the survival of the show.

What do you guys think of the final two this week? Do you agree that it’s a tactic to get X Factor ratings back up?

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