A "brutal" audience booed off several contestants on tonight's X Factor before sending call-centre worker Stevi Ritchie through to the next round.

Acts including 27-year-old Lottie Lou and 30-year-old Carly Cunningham were met with boos and chants of "off, off, off" from the audience at Wembley Arena.

Show supremo Simon Cowell credited the crowd with being "the fifth member" on the judging panel along with Louis Walsh, Mel B and Cheryl Fernandez-Versini.

He said: "T his lot are the most brutal audience we've ever had. If you're good they're fantastic, if you're bad they are horrendous."

But Stevi, a 33-year-old from Essex, managed to win them over with his take on the Queen hit Don't Stop Me Now, with Cheryl telling him: "You do have to take i nto consideration the audience and they all seem to want to see you again."

Voting to keep him in the hit singing show, Simon said: "I actually would have said no, but Stevi you know the audience has spoken, the other three have spoken and you're through to the next round."