Brendan survives tense X Factor sing-off

Published: Mon 29 Oct 2018, 9:30 AM

Last updated: Mon 29 Oct 2018, 10:06 AM

IT was his toughest night on The X Factor so far but Tuam’s Brendan Murray survived a gripping sing-off to make it through to next week’s show.

The 21-year-old gave one of his most emotional performances of the show so far after the results left him singing for his survival against the impressive LMA Choir.

Brendan has since paid tribute to everyone who voted for him and has pledged to “bounce back” for Saturday when the theme is ‘Fright Night’. He vowed to have “no regrets” after his next performance.

His mentor, One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson apologised to Brendan saying that he hadn’t done enough in relation to Brendan’s previous song choices.

It was a dramatic end to the show. With a vote each from their own mentors, the contestants anxiously awaited the decision of the remaining judges Ayda Williams and Simon Cowell. Brendan’s head fell when Simon voted to send him home and the head judge’s decision got a disgusted reaction from Louis Tomlinson.

However, Ayda Williams brought the sing-off to Deadlock when she couldn’t decide between the two acts. It was an extremely tense moment as everyone waited for host Dermot O’Leary to announce the crucial result of the public vote.

Brendan survived having achieved more votes than LMA Choir who along with singer Janice Robinson were eliminated on the second weekend of X Factor live shows.

Brendan says without the public’s support he would be out of the show and described his fans as “legends”. No doubt much of that support came from Ireland and the West of Ireland as while viewers here can’t use the app to vote, a special premium rate number is in place.

On Saturday night Brendan’s version of Cher’s ‘Believe’ failed to overly impress the judges who were critical of the song choice.

However, his sing-off performance of Radiohead's 'High and Dry' was one where he “took charge” according to Ayda Williams and which Robbie Williams commented showed him the “tiger” in Brendan that he’d been looking for.