Credit: ITV
An X Factor contestant is to be eliminated from the competition tomorrow night in a shock decision made by Simon Cowell.
As head judge, Simon's hoping to give those remaining in the competition a "wake-up call", because he's furious with the poor quality of some of the performances.
In what's been reported to be a 20-minute rant, he explained how the person with the lowest number of votes at the end of Saturday night's live show is to be sent home, with another following on the Sunday.
During the crisis meeting on Wednesday, October 29 he said to the hopefuls: "The biggest problem I've got is the sing-offs, which have been horrendous, and there's no excuse.
"Michael Jackson was once asked the three things which make you into a star. And he said, 'rehearse, rehearse, rehearse'. "That's what it's all about. It's not about mucking around with your friends in the house.
"There are no second chances. This is how important the performance is on Saturday and Sunday. You all need a bit of a wake-up call. You've all got to build up your game and you've got to be the best you've ever been as this is what the music business is like.
"You put out a rubbish record, it doesn't chart. You do a rubbish performance on the night, you're out."
The contestants were all supposedly "shell-shocked" by the outburst and are now doing their best to work harder and stay in the competition.
The Sun was told by a source: "Simon was fuming. He cares deeply about this show and if the acts aren't performing, that reflects badly on him.
"Viewing figures haven't been great recently and Simon is desperate to do something about it.
"It's safe to say the contestants got the message loud and clear.
"They were shell-shocked. Just because they have made the live shows, it does not mean they are superstars. If they get booted off at this stage, they will probably just fade off into total obscurity."
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