Can Rikki Loney win the X Factor?

Can Rikki Loney win the X Factor? After disappointments in the past, might this finally be his year?

Rikki Loney is a 22-year old professional singer from Glasgow who sings in pubs and social clubs, but wants to be performing on a bigger stage.

This is not Rikki's first time around on the X Factor. In last year's series, he made is as far as boot camp but did not get picked to go on to the judge's houses, which he says hit him pretty hard.

Still, he picked himself up and came back for another attempt and it paid off. Singing Otis Redding's "These Arms of Mine" in his audition, he gave the judges and the audience an excellent performance.

All four judges were impressed not just with Rikki's audition but also with his determination to come back fighting. Louis said he had the X Factor, both Danii and Cheryl said he was fantastic, and Simon actually said the judges had made a mistake last year to let him go.

Things didn't go as well for Rikki during boot camp however. A throat infection caused him to almost completely lose his voice, but the judges were able to see through that and put him through to the final twelve.

Can Rikki Loney win the X Factor this year? Well, he's by no means the favourite as the bookies currently have his odds at only 20-1. But I predict he'll continue to improve, those odds will come down and he could well be in with a chance.