Danyl Johnson Through to Next Round of X Factor

Just a quick update to say that Danyl Johnson survived the first round of public voting and will be appearing in next week's live X Factor show. No real surprises there!

Danyl Johnson – X Factor Live Show 1

Danyl Johnson made his first appearance on the live finals of the X Factor last night, the last contestant to perform.

He chose the show tune "And I'm Telling You" from the musical "Dreamgirls", which is generally considered to be a big Diva song, not usually performed by male singers.

Danyl has been a bit up and down sing that monster first audition that had him appearing on international talk shows and touted as a second Susan Boyle. Since then, the pressure has always been on him to come up with something as good.

This song gave him the opportunity to flex his vocal chords and he gave a pretty good account of himself, but I don't think it came close to his first audition in terms of overall performance (although that last note was pretty huge!)

Mixed messages from the X Factor judges though. Louis told him he was over-confident, that he needed to be more likeable and that he hadn't won the competition yet. Danii made a bit of a faux-pas that she later had to apologise for with references to Danyl's sexuality, Cheryl agreed with Louis that he was in danger of getting too cocky and Simon of course thought he was wonderful (Simon Cowell is Danyl's mentor in the competition after all).

Still, with the talent he's shown to date, Danyl Johnson has to be one of the favorites to win the X Factor this year, in anyone's book.

Will Danyl Johnson Win the X Factor?

Will Danyl Johnson win the X Factor? After one of the most stunning first auditions ever seen on the show, many might have thought it was already a done deal, but since then the competition has definitely opened up.

Danyl Johnson is a 28-year old dance and drama teacher from Arborfield, near Reading in Berkshire. For his audition for the X Factor, he sang the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends" in the style of Joe Cocker, circa Woodstock 1969.

It was a truly amazing performance and the only audition I've seen on the show this year that had all four judges up on their feet applauding. Simon Cowell said that in all nine years he has been doing this and similar shows, Danyl Johnson's was the best first audition he had ever seen. Strong praise indeed!

By setting such a high bar with that first performance however, Danyl has made things a little more difficult for himself. His follow-up performances at boot camp were nowhere near as strong and the pressure was on. But he was back on form at Simon's house and was picked as one of the the final 12 contestants for the live finals.

Will Danyl Johnson win the X Factor? If he is able to maintain the level of his first audition and possibly raise the bar even higher, then to me he's one of the clear favourites.