THE X Factor backlash has well and truly begun has begun after four finalists were voted off last night.
Essex duo 2 Shoes, Jonjo Kerr, James Michael and Amelia Lily were all booted out of the competition.
Fans went online to complain, with dozens backing Middlesbrough teenager Amelia and calling for her to be given another chance.
Josh King tweeted: "Amelia Lily needs to come back", former News of the World journalist Dan Wootton wrote: "Cannot believe Amelia didn’t go through. I don’t agree with that decision. I think Amelia had so much potential."
Another fan, Ruth Payne, tweeted: "So disappointed in x factor this yr!! Dnt understand sending amelia home really disappointed!"
Amelia burst into tears after her mentor Kelly Rowland told her she was leaving.
Sporting a new pink hair-do, the 16-year-old student opened the show on Saturday with an energetic performance of Michael Jackson’s Billy Jean.
Rowland said: "Amelia has an incredible voice, all four of my girls are so amazing, I just had to make a decision.
"But let me tell you something, y’all are going to see this girl everywhere. She has an incredible voice, she’s confident, she’s bold and she’s young and the sky is the limit for her."
As the sobbing teenager walked off the stage, Rowland chased after her.
Each of the judges - Gary Barlow, Louis Walsh, Tulisa Contostavlos and Rowland - were forced to select one of the acts they were mentoring to send home.
The female judges both burst into tears as they delivered the news to their acts.
Contostavlos, who is nurturing the groups, said she made up her mind only half an hour before going on stage, adding: "You can’t imagine how much of a hard decision this has been for me.
"I have spent hours crying tears and pulling my hair out over the decision because I have got to know all of you and you are all my friends and I can say that from the bottom of my heart."
She chose to send 2 Shoes packing after the pair failed to impress the judging panel on the first of the live shows.
Charley Bird and Lucy Texeira sang the Girls Aloud party track Something Kinda Ooh while in a pink convertible on stage.
