X FactorLouis Walsh admitted he can't manage girl bands', say first X Factor rejects Bad Lashes

X Factor rejects Bad Lashes have blamed mentor Louis Walsh for them being the first of the final 12 to be ejected from the ITV show.

The group - friends from Durham and Hartlepool, Stacey Lincoln, 20, Sophie Wilson, 23, Emily McNamee, 19, and Sam Bennett, 21 - revealed yesterday how Walsh had told them he does not know how to manage girl bands.

McNamee said: 'Louis said "Look I know how boy bands work, I've done it with Westlife, blah blah blah.". He said he managed Girls Aloud for a bit and wasn't very good.'

Dumped: Bad Lashes after their terrible version of Oasis song Wonderwall

Asked if Walsh spent more time with his boy band JLS, Bennett said: 'A little bit. He loves boy groups, that's his thing. Boy groups are totally his thing.'

Wilson added: 'We don't really know how many phone calls he made different but generally he just chatted to them a little bit more. Louis generally is better with male boy bands.'

The band confessed they would have preferred to have had Girls Aloud's Cheryl Cole as their mentor, and even Walsh told them to seek her advice.

Lincoln said: 'Louis has admitted to us that he is more boy bands and not girl bands. So he really knows what to do with JLS, it's easy to choose songs for them and stuff. Whereas girl bands - he said listen to Cheryl. So Cheryl was helping us and being a mentor a little bit as well. So maybe if we had of had Cheryl it could have been a bit different.'

Lucky: Girlband just scrapped through - but they will need to raise their game next week

Not good with girl bands: Louis Walsh looks bemused during the live show

McNamee said: 'When we found out we got Louis I was a bit gutted because I secretly wanted Cheryl the whole time. We all did. We wanted Cheryl because obviously, being in Girls Aloud, she knows what she's talking about. She's done it all, she's been in the same position as we have with Pop Stars: The Rivals.

'She's a woman, she was close to our age, she knows our style. When we were speaking to her she said she knew what songs she would have chosen for us. She got us straight away. Where as I think Louis found us a bit harder to get.'

However, the girls are not giving up their dream of becoming singers and plan to move to London to pursue a record deal.

Lincoln said: 'We've got an awesome album name, so we need to get signed. It's Champagne Taste, Lemonade Money.' Bennett added: 'This is not the end of Bad Lashes, and if all this fails we'll bring out our own eyelash range or makeup range.'

Quirky: Diana Vickers sang a brilliant U2 song

Top form: Austin Drage held back the tears and the nerves with a star performance

Meanwhile, X Factor beat rival TV show Strictly Come Dancing in the ratings, it was revealed last night.

ITV1 said that 10.4 million viewers tuned in to watch the 12 final acts perform live in front of the X Factor judges on Saturday.

This represented 44 per cent of the total audience figures, according to the broadcaster. The two-hour ITV1 show was aired from 7.15-9.15pm.

Eight million viewers tuned into the later X Factor live results show, when girl band Bad Lashes became the first contenders to be voted off the new series.

Sorry: Scott Bruton's song Yeh Yeh was panned by the judges

Hearthrob: Eoghan Quigg, 16. set the pulses racing among the girls

Celebrity dance competition Strictly Come Dancing attracted a peak audience figure of 8.9 million during the 80-minute show, which was on air from 5.50pm, the BBC said.

Viewers tuned in to see the remaining seven female stars take to the dance floor last night in the fourth round of the BBC1 reality show.

A former X Factor winner yesterday hit out at the reality television talent show, describing it as a human form of bear baiting.

Steve Brookstein, who won the first series of X Factor in 2004, made his remarks after Bad Lashes were axed.

Mr Brookstein told BBC Radio 5 Live: 'It is sad that there are going to be people who are going to be publicly humiliated. It is a form of bear-baiting. I've been banging the drum about what it's about - people shouldn't call in and they shouldn't waste their money.'

Daniel Evans: 'Ricky Gervais singing karaoke'

Star of the night: Laura White blew the judges away and got a standing ovation

Lovely: Simon admitted he 'fancied' Spanish beauty Ruth Lorenzo

X Factor chart Heroes: Finalists perform on charity single which will be in shops this month

Viewers will only find out who has made the last 12 on tonight's X Factor show, but already the finalists have recorded their first single.

The track, a cover of diva Mariah Carey's Hero, will be in shops on October 27, months before the winner is picked.

It will raise much needed funds for the Help for Heroes charity, which supports wounded troops, and the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal.

Anastasia Baker, left, and Laura Heatley could perform on the charity single Hero in aid of wounded troops- but only if they make the final cut on tonight's X Factor

Will they feature? Only the 12 finalists will perform on the charity single and tonight X Factor viewers will see them selected by the judges

An insider source told the Sun: 'I've never heard Simon more excited about anything - there's a real buzz about this single. It's going to blow everyone away when they hear it.'

The track will be performed live on the show for the first time on October 25.

Producer Cowell, 48, is said to be confident the track will head straight to the top of the charts.

X Factor supremo Simon Cowell is confident the song will top the charts

Will hopefuls Austin Drage and Diana Vikers compete for a place in the final - and on the Mariah Carey song

A source told the Star: 'It's a genius idea. in the past no-one has been allowed to release a song before the winner. But Simon has relaxed the rules and is releasing a single featuring all of the finalists.

'Not everyone who makes the live shows ends up with a record deal so this is a real gift for them.'