X Factor: Final 16 announced

The final 16 contestants for the X Factor have been revealed.

Gary Barlow kicked off tonight’s proceedings picking his top four to go through to the live shows. He chose Marcus Collins, Craig Colton, Frankie Cocozza (pictured) and James Michael. John Wilding, who was axed by Dannii Minogue at this stage last year failed to persuade Gary to take him through. Joe Cox, Max Vickers and Luke Lucas were also told ‘no’. Luke impressed all the judges’ at his first audition when he belted out Michael Jackson’s ‘Who’s Loving You?’, but struggled during last night’s show.

There was a shock in the groups category when Tulisa rejected The Keys and The Risk but then decided to take Charlie, lead singer of The Keys, and place him with three members of The Risk. They were joined by 2 Shoes, Nu Vibe and Rhythmix which left Tulisa saying goodbye to Girl v Boy, The Lovettes and Estrella.

The rumours that Goldie Cheung decided to leave the show after she was chosen to be in the live shows was true. It was announced that Sami Brookes would be replacing her in Louis Walsh’s Over 25 category. Joining her will be Johnny Robinson, Jonjo Kerr and ‘diva’ Kitty Brucknell. A newspaper report regarding Terry Winstanley also turned out to be true as Louis rejected him alongside Carolynne Poole and Joesph Gilligan.

 Kelly Rowland was the last to announce who she would be choosing. After crying over Jade Richards at her audition, she shocking decided not take her through. The successful girls’ were Amelia Lily, Sophie Habibis, Janet Devlin and Misha Bryan. Sarah Watson, Melanie McCabe and Holly Repton were unsuccessful.

It was announced their would be a ‘big twist’ for the first live show next Saturday.