Scott Bruton has become the third person to be eliminated from the live finals of The X Factor, after losing out to Daniel Evans in the sing-off. The former Pontins Bluecoat, who had been one of the favourites to go - found himself in the bottom two despite impressing the judges with his rendition of the Frank Sinatra song That's Life. And despite an emotional performance of George Michael's I Can't Make You Love Me in the sing-off, he still lost the judges' vote by three to one - the first time this series that someone has been eliminated on the judges' decision alone rather than relying on the public vote. While Simon, who was Scott's mentor, voted to keep him in the competition, the other judges all opted for Daniel, who delivered an emotional rendition of the Josh Groban song The Way You Are. "I have to do it judged on the last performance," Cheryl said, "I don't want to send either of them home but because of the passion and belief in the last performance I am sending home Scott." Meanwhile Louis, who had been less than complimentary towards Daniel in recent weeks, was in tears as he delivered his verdict. "Sometimes it's not easy being a judge on this show," he said. "I think the public got it absolutely right with the two in the bottom two tonight but in the sing-off one person went through the motions and sang every word like he meant it, so I'm going to have to send home Scott." A disappointed Simon said afterwards that the standard of the show had been exceptionally high, and that Scott was just unlucky to have been voted out. "It was one of those nights. A couple of years ago that would have kept you in but it was just bad luck tonight," he told him. And Scott could barely hide his own emotions as the verdict was delivered. "I'd just like to thank all my friends and family and thank everyone at Pontins for believing in me," he told Dermot O'Leary. The results show also saw the finalists previewing their charity single, a cover version of Mariah Carey's Hero. Eliminated groups Bad Lashes and Girlband returned for the performance of the song, the proceeds from which will go to the charity Help For Heroes. The remaining nine finalists will sing disco songs on next Saturday's show.
