Freddy Parker said he was “devastated” as he became the second act to be eliminated from this year’s X Factor.
The 18-year-old hopeful got the boot after losing to Finnish contestant Saara Aalto in the sing-off during Sunday night’s results show.
He said: “I’m devastated to go at this point because I have loved every second of this amazing experience and I just really didn’t want it to end.”
He added that he was “grateful” for the opportunity to take part in the ITV competition.
The teenager found himself in the bottom two after failing to impress with his rendition of Ain’t No Mountain High Enough during Motown week on Saturday night, with judge Louis Walsh saying it was “too big” a song for him.
In the sing-off, Freddy performed Rihanna’s Stay, while Saara delivered a powerful version of Snow Patrol’s Run, which had judges Sharon Osbourne, Louis and Nicole Scherzinger on their feet.
When it came to decision time, Sharon and Nicole both voted to save their own acts – Sharon mentors Saara in the overs while the former Pussycat Doll is in charge of the boys category.
Louis quickly chose to save Saara, but Simon Cowell appeared to be torn, saying: “Freddy, you were like a different person.”
He decided to go with his “gut feeling”, saving Freddy and sending the vote to deadlock.
This meant that host Dermot O’Leary went to the public vote to see who had received the fewest votes.
He announced that Freddy was the one to be sent packing.
Leaving the #XFactor tonight, it’s @FreddyParker98. pic.twitter.com/IOa10qg3L9
— The X Factor (@TheXFactor) October 16, 2016
At the end of the show Dermot spun the X Factor jukebox to determine the theme for next week, and it landed on Divas.