The fate was almost written, especially if the public is mostly in control at this stage. The Copper Jitters were the first eliminated contestants of the 19th edition of XFactor. The epilogue of their television career, at least in this phase of their lives, was almost written because the thermometer that counts, that of the people who follow the Sky program with enthusiasm, had marked very specific peaks. The band composed of Fabio Valvassori, Donato Sardone, Matteo Genesio Traisci and Matteo Vazquez lasted at XFactor – as they say – like a cat on the ring road.

Their Achilles Heel

The four had been very convincing in the previous stages of the program, at the auditions and bootcamps. But last calls had been their Achilles’ heel. Lauro, however, had believed in them and had made a big mistake for the audience at home and in the studio. Despite the distortions of the band’s name (Blur), an objectively poorly sung song and a place already assigned to a solid and highly appreciated group (Plastic Haze), the idolized judge had decided to let them enter the live shows. “I watch the whole process, not just a performance,” Achille Lauro repeated several times to the boos of the audience: a scene that has rarely been so disruptive at XFactor.

A subdued edition

Giving that chair to the Copper Jitters wasn’t a mistake just because they were undeserving, but because they were ‘stealing’ it from a band that had all it took to reach the final, in an edition that – let’s face it – is very subdued compared to the previous ones (with a few excellent exceptions). And so, as soon as the opportunity arose, Lauro paid the price for an ill-considered choice, perhaps dictated by his attraction to a band of rowdies who somehow reminded him of Puncake, a band he loved in the last edition and made up of kids who – although very young – knew very well what to do and how to do it. Or perhaps because he couldn’t (humbly) take back that XPass he played.

It’s not just a question of skill, that at XFactor is sometimes relative. But of attitude. The Copper Jitters presented themselves from the beginning as a group of overconfident kids, judgmental towards those who were in the same boat, childish. And no one liked this, especially Jake La Furia, who harshly criticized his colleague’s choice to take them to the live shows and which, in fact, had a significant impact on the discreet performance of ‘Tutti Frutti’ in the first episode of the competition: “I remember that they were not criticized for a performance, but for their attitude like children who drank Tavernello. That thing over there doesn’t change with the white clothes and it still doesn’t suit me.” pleasure,” said the rapper.

Thus, faced with a run-off wanted by the public with Amanda, Jake’s team, already a weak character who brought a boring version of Wrecking Ball, the two needles of the scales did not have many doubts. Even within the limits of political correctness (which is making this edition too soft), Francesco Gabbani and Paola Iezzi confirmed the public’s will: the Copper Jitters out. An elimination that makes you think: if that place hadn’t been wasted by Lauro and assigned to whoever was more deserving, perhaps the first elimination would have been less obvious.