'The X Factor' Season 1, Episode 6 Recap - 'Boot Camp #2'

Last night! On "The X Factor!" A bunch of attention-starved drama queens cried in pain and screamed with joy depending on whether they were asked to remain on TV or not!

There will undoubtedly be more screaming and crying tonight, as the 100-ish contestants will be narrowed down to just 32 after tonight's continuation of Boot Camp.

We're still in the middle of the ensemble challenge, and the next group will be Brennin, Equality, Marcus, Matthew, Ma'at, Chris and his sister Gina, who will be performing "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye. We didn't see Rene in the audition episodes... apparently she did a good job but is lacking in confidence. We'll see if she's more confident performing with her brother.

Their performance starts with all of them pretending to greet each other. It's awkward. Matthew and Marcus are especially impressive, but Chris doesn't sound so great. The judges note how good Marcus was, but also note that one of the girls "has got to go." Are they talking about Ma'at or Rene? Neither was particularly strong, but Rene seemed especially lost.

We fast-forward through a couple of groups who sing "Kids in America" and "I'm Every Woman." Cool, we didn't have to listen to those. Mathew, Tim, hannah, Thomas, Jeremy and the group Kingston are next, and they'll be singing "I Won't Let Go" by Rascal Flatts, the first country number we've seen. They do very well overall, and Simon gives "the guy in the hat" some compliments.

The final group includes The Brewer Boys, Henri, James, Emma, Hannah, Ryan, Kyle and Christa. Emma and Hannah have a little spat as they both want a particular segment of their song... which, by the way, is "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. That's the second Snow Patrol song we've heard. Could this show be trying to save money on music rights? Seems so.

There are a couple of weak voices in the group, but Kyle and Christa are impressive. Emma and Henri seem a little lost, but both of them have a great tone.

Time for some cuts! Get ready for some delicious tears! Looks like Emma is among the group that goes home tonight, as well as Reina, who stepped up and tried to rap along with Brian.

Those that made it include some obvious choices like Chris, Marcus and Melanie, but also some that seemed on the fence, including Tiger and Tiah. So now there's 64 left, and they will be given a selection of 35 songs to choose their favorite from. Then, tomorrow, each contestant or group will sing in front of the judges and a crowd. So... basically we're back to the auditions. Fun!

Rachel Crow is the first one up (again), and she's smiley and energetic as ever. But she takes it down a notch when she starts singing "If I Were a Boy." She nearly brings the house down, and not just because she's solid vocally... it's because she clearly feels the song, and sings it with passion and meaning. Nicole is absolutely in tears.

Audrey Turner also gets some screen time, and gives a very heartfelt performance. She's followed by Paige, who sings a fairly boring-sounding rendition of "Somewhere Only We Know." Tiger comes out and does a slowed-down "Billie Jean," and does more of his vocal showy stuff... but is it enough?

Josh comes out and gives a little speech before launching into Kelly Clarkson's "Up to the Mountain." He's predictably awesome.

Simone Battle is up next, and is still calling herself "fierce." It's still annoying. She gives a big speech about how she believes she can be the next pop icon, but she gets up on stage and forgets just about every single word to "Your Song." It's incredibly uncomfortable. Maybe she should have spent more time learning the lyrics and less time working on her big speech.

She's followed by some other rough acts, including 4Shore, Makenna and Brock, and the beyond awful Siameze. Brennin comes out and does what Simon calls a "weirdo version" of Alicia Keys' "Nothing At All," which Simon stops halfway through. Ouch.

The Stereo Hogzz come out and turn things around, though, with a strange but interesting arrangement of "Cry Me a River," complete with their trademark choreography. It's a marked improvement over their previous performances. They're followed by some strong performances from Chris Rene, Nick Dean, and others.

That brings us to Stacy, who reveals that her father died the day that she arrived at boot camp. She even missed the funeral to be here. She gives a heartfelt performance of "Summertime," though she still goes a little overboard on the high notes.

The girls are starting to show some very strong performances as well, including Tiah, who is still impressive to watch but is clearly not on Nicole's good side. Drew is sounding good as ever, and Caitlin seems to really impress L.A. and Paula.

Leroy, who I still don't believe is 59, finished up the performances by singing "Make You Feel My Love," and quite well too... even though we don't get to hear all of it, you can tell he was feeling it.

So the judges sit down to argue and claw their way through the cuts to decide which 32 will remain: there will be eight in each category, which are Boys, Girls, Over 30s, and Groups. Here they are:

Girls: Caitlin, Torah, Simone, Drew, Rachel, Jazzlyn, Melanie, Tiah

Boys: Brennin, Brian, Skyelor, Nick, Tim, Philip, Marcus, Chris

Groups: Stereo Hogzz, 2Squared, 4Shore, Brewer Boys, Illusion Confusion, The Anser

Over 30s: Elaine, Tiger, Leroy, James, Josh, Christa, Dexter, Stacy

Great to see Rachel and Tiah going through. Simone was a big surprise after that train wreck of a performance, and Dexter was a big surprise too... he seemed to never be able to take direction. But his moment with Paula was really touching. Brennin had his performance halted halfway through but somehow still made it, and it's surprising to see Brian here after L.A. said he's "just too young."

But notice that there are only six groups... so the judges bring a bunch of the boys and girls back in and put them into two groups to compete in that category instead. A switcheroo, eh? Shenanigans!

As for the mentorships, the judges are sent off to await their phone calls. L.A. is in New York while Paula and Nicole are in LA. Confusing. Even more confusing is why Simon is on vacation in the south of France. You're supposed to be shooting a reality show, dude.

Nobody seems to want to work with the groups. Nicole seems unable to say anything of any weight or value. Nicole gets the Over 30's, and you can see the disappointment on her face. L.A. gets the boys, and starts laughing evilly. Paula gets the groups and feels overwhelmed. Simon gets the girls, and reacts as if he were a villain getting a call from a henchman saying that they captured James Bond. Get ready for him to be totally creepy from here on in.

Next week will bring us performances from the judges' homes, where they will make further cuts to determine their best finalists to compete against the other categories. Hopefully Simon won't abduct anyone.