Hands up if you blubbed over Judges’ Houses this weekend. We certainly did. Oh, how we blubbed! Especially when Nicole delivered the sad news to Melanie McCabe that she wouldn’t be going through to the live shows.

But it seems we weren’t the only one. Nicole shed a fair few tears herself after giving Melanie her verdict – which makes us feel marginally better about being unable to control our emotions.

“I cried after I saw Melanie – I knew this was her fourth time on the show and I knew how badly she wanted it. Honestly, it was so hard to let go of all three of them – Jade, Relley and Melanie – but my Judges’ Houses was something else. Everyone agreed with me, the whole production team. It was the hardest Judges’ Houses in the competition, ever. 

“It was Melanie who particularly got to me. They all showed up and knocked it out of the park. It really was like splitting hairs making that decision.”

Having made the brutal choice to let these girls go, Nicole is now focussing on making her three finalists as amazing as they can be – and tells us exclusively why she picked Hannah, Abi and Tamera.

“They are so different and are each so unique in their own way,” she explains. “Hannah has my heart – she is my little soul singer. I think she’s timeless, the talent is real. She’s so raw too – I’m captivated when I watch her. 

“Tamera has a lot of potential to be a great R&B pop star. She has the whole package. She needs to put in a little more work but she’s showed a lot of improvement and just shines. 

“Then there’s Abi – she is just my wild flower because she’s different from everyone else. She really knows who she is as an artist – I don’t really need to do more work with her. She works on her own.” 

So there we have our three Girls – and next week they will begin their fight to stay in the live shows, along with Gary’s Groups, Louis’ Boys and Sharon’s Over 25s.

Join us next Saturday and Sunday at 8pm on ITV to see who survives.

Source: The X Factor