X Factor: bad news for Bad Lashes!

Girl group Bad Lashes have become the first act to be given the boot from the live finals of The X Factor5.

The quartet's time on the ITV1 show came to an abrupt end after they found themselves in the bottom two with fellow all-female group Girlband.

Both acts then had to perform again in a bid to stay in the competition - but in a new twist they had to perform a different song of their choice rather than the one they had sung on the earlier show.

Girlband chose the 80s hit That's What Friends Are For, while Bad Lashes opted for Wonderwall, the song which had impressed mentor Louis Walsh enough to put them through to the finals in the first place.

But when it came time for the judges to choose which act to send home, Simon opted for Bad Lashes, and both Cheryl and Dannii voted for Girlband. Louis forced a tie by voting for Bad Lashes.

"I'm not going to vote off any of my acts, I'm loyal to both of them," he explained.

All of which meant that the result of the public vote was used to settle the deadlock - and Dermot O'Leary revealed that Bad Lashes had received the least number of votes, reducing several members of the band to tears.

"I'm devastated for the girls," Louis said afterwards, "they had so much more to give and they proved it by doing Wonderwall."

The eleven remaining acts will perform the hits of Michael Jackson on next week's show, which will also see Cheryl performing with Girls Aloud.