X Factor 2014: Jack Walton trusted One Direction star Louis Tomlinson more than mentor Mel B

“I didn’t really like the song choices," says the 18-year-old following his elimination this weekend

Louis, 22, tweeted it was a “f****** joke” that Jack had been booted off Saturday night’s show.

And singer Jack, 18, thinks that Spice Girl Mel didn’t make the right judgements about his song choices.

He said: “I didn’t really like the song choices.

“Louis really believed in me though, he wanted me to do my own style. That’s what I wanted to do, and I should have stuck to that.

“I’ve got massive support from him, he’s been a massive help throughout the competition telling me what I should sing. I wish I had listened to him a little bit more. He’s been so involved. I trusted his judgment more than Mel B.

“He’s been there before, done it all. Mel B was honest but I didn’t quite get what she was trying to get out of me. I was doing completely different stuff every week. I just felt like I should stick to one type of style which is my own style and what I do at gigs.”


He said he found it difficult to talk to Mel B adding: “It’s difficult to pipe up infront of someone like that.”

And he revealed that even when contestants try and change their song choice producers normally convince them to keep the one they are given.

He said: “It’s all about making good TV. Their job is to get songs that viewers are going to like.

“Whether that suits the person or not, I don’t think they are really bothered. They would much rather you do the song they choose.

“If you say no, they will try and persuade you. Take Paul Akister, 25, for example, he was saying ‘no, no, no.’ “He went to a meeting to change it and for some reason they persuaded him to keep the song. I think the contestant should be wearing the trousers a bit in that situation.”


On Saturday Mel accidentally tweeted her fans urging them to support Jake Quickenden, 25 - who left the show last week.

And while Jack found it funny, Mel didn’t spend anytime with him backstage after the results.

He said: “There were no tears for me from Mel, she cried for Jake last week. I didn’t really see her after I got booted off. She just said ‘I’ll let you have your moment’, then she went.”

Now Jack would have preferred to be in Simon Cowell’s category.

He added: “I wouldn’t have minded to see what Simon could have done with me. He has been more positive and more real about me. He said I could be a recording artist and that is essentially what I wanted to be.”

And he won’t be watching the show next week. He said: “I don’t want to watch it. It doesn’t really interest me anyway. I’ve never watched it before. I’ll only watch it to see how my mates are doing, but I’ll be gigging. And at one of my gigs you won’t be seeing stuff like what I did on the show.”

Typical stuff here but I did laugh at Mel B saying ' I'll leave you have your moment' and then booting off!

Bitter contestant is bitter.

In fairness to Jack, I agree that the song choices for him weren't great but then that happens contestants every year and if anything, Louis Tomlinson was giving him false hope because let's face it, he's unlikely to be a worldwide superstar, he has a nice voice but artists like him are tenfold and he didn't ofer anything different really

I'm also not really sure why we're surprised that she cared less about his elimination than Jake's, she didn't pick him for her top three originally so she probably did care more about the other three.

Fair points, personally he seems a like-able lad but he would not even got to JH for me, his voice was too lightweight and if you took him you had to work with him in what his niche is which is a guy with a guitar doing a very individual thing. Not the worst thing but not what the XF does, XF does exactly what they did and give him totally unsuitable material and arrangements, it was doomed from the outset sadly for jack, felt really sorry for him.

Mel is really coming across as a bull in a china shop, but by the same token if you're a good enough artist you should be able to pull off anything that they throw at you, so it works both ways for me.

The outfit and song choice thrust upon him on Sat night was ridiculous but that's what you get with the X factor. Mel B made a career out of wearing outrageous outfits and so that is what she knows and that is what she sticks to. Cheryl is similar, she is far better at looking sexy and dancing than she is at singing and so she pushes performance in her girls hence Lauren having to do her 'difficult' dance routine.

Style over substance is the name of the game and that wasn't Jack. X Factor just wasn't the show for him but hopefully it's given him enough exposure to earn some good only from what he enjoys.

Oh shut up, absolute dullard. Lucky he lasted this long.

I absolutely hate it when contestants leave the show and begin to slag off the judges or their mentor. They should be grateful for the opportunity. People may have slated chloe jasmine but she was so gracious when she left the show- the right attitude. I saw jake last week on good morning britian he started slating simon by saying "I would like to see him up their singing". Terrible attitude.

Chloe - for all her affections - was so gracious. I think she is a big loss to the competition as she had something very interesting about her that I think would have grown and grown.

Jack has struck me as an entitled little brat from day one. Very weak performer who on the one hand doesn't want to be judged on his looks and then five minutes later is stripping off for a photo shoot. His performances were absolutely dreadful and these were simple songs that should not be beyond any finalist.

The fact that he gives more credibility to the opinions of the weakest puppet in a boyband of very limited abilities than his mentor shows he has absolutely no idea.

Bitter loser and absolutely no loss to the competition.

He's probably right in what he says but it's been 10 years so no one can claim to not know exactly what XF is about. No one is dragged kicking and screaming to auditions and forced at gunpoint to sell their soul to Cowell. They willingly do so for a chance of quick, easy fame and then moan when it doesn't go their way.

Nicely put

I don't think he's bitter at all. He's just being honest and I suspect everything he's saying is correct. He wasn't my cup of tea, however there's no doubt that he is a very talented musician/singer. I understand what people are getting at by sayign he should be grateful for the opportunity, however he's a young boy, he's talented and saw this as his chance to really make it in the industry...yet he was given bad songs to sing and not treated very well. Obviously teh show ahs been on for 11 years so people go on it should know what to expect, however when you're a 18 year old young boy it's still not going to be pleasant. The show treats people in such a horrible way, even the winners. Then when you're not successful the show then comes out with the line of "we give them the opportunity, it's up to them what they do". It's just ridiculous.

I thought Jack was genuine and a nice guy but totally gone off him if this is what he said. If it wasn't for Mel B, he wouldn't have even been on the show. He comes across as nasty and ungrateful in that article!

Yes he is just being honest, some of them go along with it but the smart ones just say it like it is

We all knew as soon as the songs were revealed that he would go, Bleeding Love would be torn to shreads just like it has been done before. He was always the chosen one to go

Good luck to him!

By the same throw of the dice, once you're on X Factor, that tag is stuck with you in everything you try to do afterwards. He didn't really show who he was and didn't do well because of his song choices. That means he now has an uphill struggle where it should have been a good platform.

I wasn't a fan of him and could tell be thought he was above the show, and it's always good to find out what exactly happened.

As I've said in other threads Jack was my favourite. He clearly knew the sort of artist he wanted to be but this show wasn't really right for him. Had he stuck with the guitar, singing the sorts of songs he wanted to, the judges would have branded him boring/repetative/one trick pony etc like they always seem to do when someone knows their style.

I get why he'd angry but with someone like Jack it's probably nice to sit at home listening to that sort of album, or chill out at a festival listening to that sort of thing but it's not really prime time viewing unfortunately for him.

I don't think anything Jack has said is out of line. We all know it's an entertainment show first and foremost but I don't think it's unreasonable for a contestant to expect a bit of support from their 'mentor' in that they are not being made to do something they aren't entirely comfortable with.

Jacks only saying what most people allready know about how the show is run none of the acts are allowed to be who they want to be

Jack has been gracious in other interviews, and acknowledges the opportunity he was given. I suspect he probably did express gratitude In this one too, but it has been left out. Even so, what he has said is just him being honest and I doubt he's made any of it up.

Id feel very hard done by if I were Jack he had some potential, just crap song choices and bad mentoring. Paul is also having some trouble with his song choices as did Jake and Andreas ridiculous stage make up was never going to help his popularity. Scary spice? More like crazy spice.

Mel was the wrong mentor for Jack and did give him crap songs so it's no wonder he's cheesed off.. What the hell was she doing giving him 'Bleeding Love'. It's like she wanted him to go and she couldn't care less. Mel is a disgrace!

As for Cheryl, she didn't give Lauren a hard routine, it was really quite simple. I think that Cheryl did an amazing job with Lauren and like Simon said, it really worked and was ideal for Lauren. Cheryl is toughening Lauren up without being nasty. Unlike Mel!

I thought the line "I don't know much about her to be honest. But apparently she is a big deal'' was really bitchy!

I was dissapointed when he initailly didn't make it through to the live shows but now regret feeling this as he doesn't seem to be a nice person. Whatever he thinks of the show now, I think he should have the decency to least thank Mel B for putting him through to judges houses as he's now got a platform/exposure to build upon which he wouldn't have got if he continued busking on the streets.

Exactly this, what was Mel thinking this week. Was she on a death wish for her boys. All three were uncomfortable with their songs and what they had to do. So unfair and Mel should be sacked. It's Mels way or the highway it seems, no thought about what her boys want to do.

I dont think Mel's got much of a say in songs or outfits. They seem to use the same songs every year and the outfits are dictated by the weeks theme. Didn't Mel get rid of Jack at judges houses?

Yes, he was the wildcard for her group.

Are the contests still contractually obliged to appear appear on the final show with their mentor on stage as in previous years?

Could be a bit awkward between Mel and Jack if that's the case.

Not sure what was so amazing. It's a formulaic little pop star course for Lauren. Cheryl can't teach her much about singing so she sticks to the packaging as performing is what she can legitimately mentor.