X Factor: Louis Walsh apologises over bullying claims

X Factor judge Louis Walsh apologised live on air yesterday for accusing contestant Misha Bryan a ‘bully’.

On Saturday, Louis and fellow judge Tulisa Contostavlos alleged that some of their acts had been ‘bullied’ by Misha. Louis said last night: “Lots of things are said backstage that I don’t know about. I shouldn’t have called Misha a bully and I apologise.”

Speaking to The Mirror newspaper this morning, Misha has spoken about being bullied when she was at school but admits that she had bullied herself. “At school I was bullied – and I did bully people myself, but I am a different person now. When I was younger, the stuff that I had to deal with was tough. You make mistakes and learn from them.”

The results show, which seen Sami Brookes leave the competition, was watched by 11 million viewers.