'Cruel' new twist for The X Factor – Daily TV round-up

'X Factor' hopefuls were subject to a cruel new twist in the selection process, it has emerged, as acts believing they'd got through to the Judges' Houses stage had their places snatched away.

Judges Gary Barlow, Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger implemented the twist in front of an audience of 4000, with each judge choosing to send an act home or put them through.

Those not sent home were instead sent to one of six seats on the stage, thinking that they'd made it through to the next stage.

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But some hopefuls were shocked to find that even then they could still be replaced, with Sharon ditching two singers from her Overs category.

An insider told The Sun: “The two singers Sharon dumped walked off the stage in disbelief. They couldn’t believe they’d been replaced at the last minute as they thought they had made it through.

“Emotions were running high, particularly for the contestants who secured then lost their judges’ houses place. It was an unexpected twist.

“The changes meant all of the hopefuls were permanently on the edge of their seats, wondering if they would lose their place.

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“The final decision rested with the judges and they agonised over who to send home. Nobody’s place was secure until the very end.”

Audience members booed the decision to replace candidates who thought they'd been put through, with Osbourne branding the dissenters in the crowd 'rude'.

Gary Barlow, however, seemed to love the twist, however, later tweeting: “That was the most incredible and exciting X Factor session EVER!” [The Sun/Metro]

Also in today's press

Alan Davies has revealed that the new series of 'Jonathan Creek' is feeling the pinch from budget cuts. “People say, 'Where is the windmill? Why doesn't he live in the windmill?' The character's life has changed, he's married and lives in a house now,” he said. “But the fact is that when we did the show in the 1990s, we hired a windmill for a week, put sets on three different floors and created an iconic home for this character. It's the iconic image of the show, Creek in his windmill, the lonely, strange man. People loved it and it was a brilliant idea and the design department executed it excellently. But it's out of the question now to do that. We can't afford to do that and it does make a difference.” [The Sun]

Axed ice skating show 'Dancing On Ice' could be revived, according to reports, following the announcement that show trainers Torvill and Dean will leave after the final series later this year. A show insider told the Daily Mirror 'when the dust settled many at ITV have started to question the wisdom of axing the show. It still pulled in nearly seven million during the last series which is a great number'. [Daily Mirror]

Cheryl Cole has reportedly been ruled out of a job on the judging panel of 'The Voice'. Bosses on the show believe that the star is still too closely associated with rival show 'The X Factor'. [The Sun]