The 5 are safe, but earn X Factor judges’ wrath

They're safe, and they'll be continuing their quest for glory in The X Factor, but The 5's performance on Saturday night did not please the celebrity judges on the TV talent show.

Ragheb Alama warned the newly formed boyband, whose members hail from Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Algeria, that they would have to do better, and said only BMD – the Algerian rapper – had delivered a decent performance.

“Said and Kazem, you were average, and Adil and Ahmed, you were both below average. In this competition, you all have to be well above average, all of you,” said Alama.

The 5 sang Rag'een, which was a hit for Amr Diab in 1995 and a favourite of the group.

The theme of the evening was classic hits.

By the end of the night, the 12 hopefuls had been reduced to 11 as the first act was voted off the show.

The four singers in Alama’s “solo international” category and the four in Elissa’s “solo Arabic” category made it to the next round, but Egyptian judge Donia Ghanem lost one of her groups – the Aves Band.

Despite their mediocre performance, The band – created by the judges on The X Factor, not unlike how Simon Cowell created One Direction – are clearly the favourites of the audience, and the most talked about contestants on social media.

Saturday’s episode gave fans the chance to learn more about the five young men. The boys teased and jostled one another, and revealed a little bit about their personalities.

“All of us in the group consider Adil to be our big brother,” said Said Karmouz, 19. BMD, 21, added, “Adil is the factor that brings us all together as one.”

BMD wrote original verses that the band added into both Rag'een, which the group sang on Saturday, and Saad Lamjarred's Enty, which they sang live last week. He said he wrote the new lyrics so that he could add a rap element into the songs and give them an edge.

“In any song we sing, when we reach BMD’s part and he starts singing, the entire audience reacts with him,” said Said.

“But he has one problem,” added Ahmed Hassan, 21. “If a war erupted beside him, he wouldn’t wake up.”

Adil Echbiy, 29, said: “The best thing about Ahmed is his self-confidence. When he has such confidence, it affects all of us in the group.”

That left Kazem Chamas, 19, whom the group loves to tease for his young age.

“Just like he said about himself in his audition, Kazem has all the perfect qualities,” said Said, while the rest of the band laughed. “He just needs to develop them!”

• The next live episode of The X Factor will air on Saturday at 10pm on MBC4 and two acts will be voted off this week

arstslife@thenational.ae