Published Sunday, 07 October 2012
Gary Barlow walks off the X Factor stage as Carolynne is voted off (© Rex Features)
Carolynne Poole was voted off the competition after a tension-fuelled elimination show which saw Louis Walsh unable to make up his mind and go to a surprise deadlock on Sunday night.
Carolynne and Rylan, who were in the bottom two, were forced into a sing off.
The 22-year-old male model struggled throughout his rendition of One Night Only by Jennifer Hudson, while the 32-year-old country singer belted out There You'll Be by Faith Hill.
A confident Gary praised her performance, adding: "This makes this decision incredibly easy for all the judges."
He also made a snide remark about Rylan's survival performance, telling him: "I'm glad you learned the trick that when you pull the mic away - we don't hear what you're singing."
On Saturday, he told Rylan he was embarrassed that his fellow judges had kept him in the competition.
But Nicole Scherzinger chose to stick with her boy during the results show, while Tulisa Contostavlos said she was voting for Carolynne based on the night's performance.
Louis had the final vote and he appeared unable to make up his mind for several minutes.
"Carolynne I love country music and I love what you bring to the competition," Louis said.
"Rylan you're the entertainment factor, I love what you do."
Host Dermot O'Leary urged Louis to hurry up and make a call before the show ran out of air time.
"Who are you sending home... we're running out of time, now Louis," Dermot said. "Louis make the call, I need a name now."
To help keep her contestant on the show, Nicole was arguing her case from the other side of the judge's table.
"It's entertainment, it's the X Factor, there's nobody else like Rylan on the show," she told Louis.
When asked for the name of the act he was sending home, Louis then said: "It's a really difficult one. I'm going to go with Carolynne... I want to keep Carolynne."
"So you're going to send home Rylan?" Dermot said. "Who are you sending home Louis, what did you just say?"
"I wanna save Rylan and I wanna save Carolynne", he uttered. "I want to take it to deadlock."
"Why deadlock?" a furious Gary gasped as he got up from his chair. And as the public vote result was announced he stormed off, shaking his head in disbelief.
After the show, he told Xtra Factor hosts Olly Murs and Caroline Flack he was "gutted" that the singer had lost out to a "joke act".
Carolynne had returned to the X Factor in a bid to win a second chance at success after Louis sent her home at Judges Houses last year.
Asked if she was surprised by Louis' decision to go to deadlock, the singer said: "Louis never saves me".
"I'm okay, I'm glad Rylan's got a shot because you know he's been given a bit of a tough time and he's a nice guy," she added.
Earlier former X Factor champion Leona Lewis and R&B star Ne-Yo took to the stage for their guest performances.