Shock Factor: Ella Henderson leaves the X Factor in shock deadlock decision

Ella Henderson became the latest act to be eliminated from the X Factor after finding herself in the bottom two with James Arthur.

The result of the viewers’ vote was met with shock and disapproval from the studio audience and with huge surprise from the judges.

Both acts returned to the stage to perform in the sing-off against one another. Henderson performed a rendition of Daniel Bedingfield’s ‘If You’re Not The One’ before Arthur sang ‘Fallin’ by Alicia Keys.

Host Dermot O’Leary then turned to the judges for their votes.

Henderson’s mentor Tulisa Contostavlos expressed her anger at the “ridiculous” result, saying that viewers were voting for the “wrong people”. She then chose to send home James Arthur, adding: “even although i love you to death and I should not have had to make that decision tonight.”

Nicole Scherzinger, Arthur’s mentor, said: “No matter what happens tonight, this will be a great travesty for the show as you two are some of the most talented people ever to grace this stage,” before sending home Ella and sticking by “her boy”.

Louis Walsh commented on the fact that both acts had so much potential in the competition, before choosing to send home James Arthur. Gary Barlow chose to send home Henderson and took the decision to Deadlock.

It was then revealed that the 16-year-old had the fewest amount of votes from the public.

Henderson was visibly upset at her exit from the competition and was consoled by James Arthur following the announcement.

On The Xtra Factor, Tulisa said she was “lost for words” after losing her final act in the competition. When asked if her act could have done any more this week to help her survive, she said she could not. She described Ella’s performance of ‘You’re The One That I Want’ as “one of her best”.

Both Ella and James had been widely tipped to make the final after consistently positive comments from the judges