It was a battle of the girls in the bottom two, as Hope and Alisha sang to save their place in the contest.

Simon and Sharon both opted to save their own acts, leaving the decision on who stayed and who went to Louis and Dannii. A tearful Dannii voted to send Alisha home. Louis agonised over his choice, saying “Alisha has so much more to give [...] do I ruin one person’s dream of five people’s? [...] I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t!”
After much deliberation Louis finally decided to send Alisha home, leaving Sharon with no acts.

Earlier there was some controversy when sibling duo Same Difference were booed by the studio audience after being told they were the first act through to the next week.

Louis Walsh has spoken out about Sharon’s shock ‘nearly-exit’ from the X Factor. Since the incident, many people, including many commenters on this site, have claimed that Alisha is being unfairly favoured by the judges so as not to upset Sharon.

Louis said:

“She was seriously considering walking away. It was not a publicity stunt, but she knew she had to come back for her two acts. It’s life, it’s real. It’s part Jerry Springer. And I stick by Sharon totally. She was loyal to me when I was sacked.”

“They can’t replace her because there’s no-one else like her. And Simon Cowell cannot control her. That’s what makes it fantastic telly.”

Whatever the truth behind Sharon’s exit-or-not, if it was a publicity stunt it doesn’t seem to have worked – BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing had almost one million more viewers than Saturday’s X Factor.

X Factor hopeful Rhydian Roberts has spoken out against the judges and producers of the program who he, like Daniel, blames for the premature exit of contestants.

“They’re too rich to give a **** about contestants. I think Dannii does because it’s a big gig for her, and she wants it next year. But the others have got money pouring out of their sweat.”

Rhydian is particularly annoyed about the way he has been presented, with ‘Phantom of the Opera’ regularly playing in the background when he is speaking, intercut with freeze-frame shots to make him seem strange. He says he has been forced to dye his hair and given a ‘ridiculous’ wardrobe to reinforce the image the producers made for him earlier in the series.

Whatever the producers and judges are up to, it doesn’t seem to be working – judging by the comments here at X Factor blog Rhydian is one of the most popular contestants on the show!

Sharon Osbourne’s ‘shock quit’ story rumbles on, with her appearance last night on Channel 4′s Paul O’Grady Show. Sharon used the opportunity to vent steam, saying:

I’d had it up to here — it was like a bloody circus. It was a pantomime, with the pyro, feathers, girls dancing and wiggling. It’s not my show — I’m just a hired hand. It’s Simon Cowell’s show”

Sharon claims that the reason she’s not spoken to anyone from the programme is that they haven’t called her. A spokesman for the X Factor last night said they “look forward to welcoming Sharon back on the show”.