Irish singer netted almost half of X Factor votes

IRISH singer Janet Devlin lived up to her hot favourite title at the start of the X Factor after newly released figures reveal she had a landslide victory of just under half of the public votes.

The 17 year old got off to a storming start by winning the first four public votes and came runner-up in the fifth week when Amelia Lily made her comeback and pulled in the biggest number of votes.

Just three weeks later Devlin’s incredible backing had dwindled away when she landed in the bottom two after fluffing the words of the song and was voted off. It is thought a big Irish vote kept the young singer coming out on top during the early weeks.

While the teenage singer won the most public votes, the overall winners, Little Mix, came in just behind her by winning three public votes including the all important semi-final and final with Amelia Lily winning two of the weeks.

The teenager, who looked visibly less comfortable in the latter stages of the X Factor, admitted afterwards that she was exhausted by the juggernaut show. She also came in for criticism for confessing that she felt like a karaoke singer on the ITV show watched by millions.

It also emerged that Devlin had 18.3% of the vote compared to Misha B’s 14.5% but her mentor Kelly Rowland abstained from the vote on the week she exited. Devlin would have been saved if the Destiny’s Child judge had allowed it to go to deadlock and be decided by the public vote.

But in the aftermath of the Little Mix win, it emerged that the public were not the only people to back the red-headed singer to win.

It was revealed that her mentor Kelly Rowland had tipped her to win on sealed predictions written by the judges after bootcamp but before they were assigned their categories.

Louis Walsh tipped both Janet Devlin and Frankie Cocozza to be in the final while Gary Barlow also expected his expelled contestant Frankie Cocozza to come out on top in the competition. The winning judge Tulisa had forecast the group Nu Vibe to take the overall title.

Meanwhile, Devlin, who was one the first contestants to be approached with a record deal, has revealed she will be moving to London to pursue her singing career.

Devlin in the details

Week 1:

The judges vote out 2 Shoes, Amelia Lily, James Michael and JonJo Kerr.

Week 2:

Janet Devlin — 23.6%

The Risk — 10.9%

Sophie Habibis — 8.9%

Little Mix — 8.7%

Misha B — 7.8%

Craig Colton — 6.9%

Marcus Collins — 6.8%

Johnny Robinson — 6.5%

Sami Brookes — 6.2%

Kitty Brucknell — 5.9%

Frankie Cocozza — 5.2%

Nu Vibe — 2.6%

Week 3:

Janet Devlin — 17.2%

Johnny Robinson — 17.1%

Misha B — 11.8%

Marcus Collins — 11.2%

The Risk — 8.3%

Little Mix — 6%

Frankie Cocozza — 6%

Craig Colton — 6%

Sophie Habibis — 5.8%

Sami Brookes — 5.6%

Kitty Brucknell — 5%

Week 4:

Janet Devlin — 14.7%

Little Mix — 13.7%

Craig Colton — 13%

Kitty Brucknell — 12.9%

Johnny Robinson — 12.2%

Marcus Collins — 10.1%

The Risk — 7.2%

Frankie Cocozza — 5.7%

Sophie Habibis — 5.4%

Misha B — 5.1%

Week 5:

Janet Devlin — 18%

Marcus Collins — 16%

Misha B — 12.2%

Little Mix — 11.9%

Craig Colton — 10.1%

Frankie Cocozza — 8.7%

Johnny Robinson — 8.3%

Kitty Brucknell — 7.6%

The Risk — 7.2%

Week 6 vote in:

Amelia Lily — 48.8%

Week 6:

Amelia Lily — 27.4%

Janet Devlin — 17.4%

Little Mix — 15.3%

Marcus Collins — 12.9%

Craig Colton — 10.6%

Kitty Brucknell — 8.4%

Misha B — 8%

Week 7:

Little Mix — 26.1%

Misha B — 22.5%

Janet Devlin — 14.8%

Marcus Collins — 14.4%

Amelia Lily — 11.3%

Craig Colton — 10.9%

Week 8:

Amelia Lily — 23.8%

Little Mix — 22.4%

Marcus Collins — 21%

Janet Devlin — 18.3%

Misha B — 14.5%

The semi-final:

Little Mix — 34.4%

Marcus Collins — 24%

Amelia Lily — 21.4%

Misha B — 20.2%

The final — vote freeze:

Little Mix — 39%

Marcus Collins — 34.5%

Amelia Lily — 26.5%

The final results:

Little Mix — 48.3%

Marcus Collins — 42.8%

Amelia Lily (carried over from before voting freeze) — 8.9%