The five lads in Hackney’s boy band Kingslad Road are devastated they have reached the end of the road on their journey on ITV’s hit talent show, the X Factor.
Jay Scott, Josh Zare, Joe Conaboy, JJ Thompson and Matt Cahill’s hopes of winning were dashed last night when judges Louis Walsh and Sharon Osborne favoured Tamera Foster – who despite being billed as one of the favourites to win had also received the lowest number of public votes after a disco-themed show Saturday night.
The band’s mentor Gary Barlow said the singers from Haggerson - who named themselves after the stretch of A10 running from Stoke Newington to Shoreditch - did not deserve to go home.
“They should stick with what they’re doing,” he told the show’s host Dermot O’Leary.
“They are a hit band and they will be a hit band in the future I’m certain of it.”
On an appearance on Lorraine Kelly’s chat show this morning, Jay said they hope to be invited back to the X Factor next year to promote their next single.
Lorraine pointed out that it’s not always necessary to win the show to be successful, citing One Direction.
Former CBBC presenter Andy Peters agreed: “Statistically based on number one hits, JLS are the most successful group to come from the X Factor, therefore I don’t think it’s about winning, it’s about getting exposure and having the audience get to know you.”
Last night was the second time the boys have been in the bottom two, and Lorraine remarked on how they managed to “come out and get through the emotion”.
“It was difficult but we’ve been there before, so kind of just knew how to deal with it,” replied Josh.
Andy Peters asked them: “When you knew it was you and Tamera did you think, “Hang on a minute we can’t beat her,” or did you think for every minute you will try your hardest?”
“With us for every minute on that show we thought we would give it everything we’ve got, we didn’t ever want to be defeated, but of course Tamera, she looks like a superstar, there’s no denying that,” replied Matt.
“We are so grateful for the platform of X Factor, we want to take the experience we’ve got from it and take it forward.”
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