Aiden Grimshaw has become the eighth act to be voted out of The X Factor after a shock defeat to Katie Waissel.
The 18-year-old student performed his chosen survival song of Crowded House's 'Don't Dream It's Over' in an attempt to win the judges' vote over Cheryl Cole's controversial act, who found herself in the bottom two for the fourth time.
After the performances, host Dermot O'Leary approached Simon Cowell, who paused for an extremely long time as he deliberated which act to vote out of the competition. Eventually, the 51-year-old declared that he liked both acts and opted to save Waissel.
Next, Cheryl Cole announced that both acts had "been fantastic contenders throughout this competition", before stating, "My loyalty is to Katie."
Dannii Minogue also backed her own act, Aiden Grimshaw, handing Louis Walsh the deciding vote yet again. The Irish judge branded the choice as "a really difficult one", before opting to save Grimshaw and send the vote to deadlock.
O'Leary then revealed that Grimshaw had in fact received the fewest amount of public votes, much to the surprise of a visibly-stunned Waissel and an angered studio audience, who booed as the two acts hugged.
When asked about what O'Leary described as a "shock" elimination, Grimshaw simply stated, "You win some you lose some", and added that he was now most looking forward to having a beer.
After losing her second act, Grimshaw's mentor Dannii Minogue commented: "It's so hard because nobody wants to leave the competition. They do their best every week, [it's just] the people at home aren't voting."
The X Factor continues next Saturday at 8pm on ITV1.