Jake Quickenden has been voted off The X Factor leaving his mentor Mel B in tears.

The handsome contender, who lost out at the judges' houses stage in 2012, saw his singing dreams come to an end for a second time on this weekend's live elimination show.

He lost the sing-off to band Only The Young in which he sang Daniel Merriweather's Red, but supremo Simon Cowell was not impressed by either act.

"I don't know what is going on with these sing-offs at the moment but they were both horrible," he said.

Simon chose to send Jake home, and unfortunately for the wannabe so did Louis Walsh and Cheryl Fernandez-Versini.

Cheryl said his performance was "very passionate", adding: "I think you came out fighting."

Even though she told Only The Young that she thought they had not found their "comfort zone" yet, she gave the group of two boys and two girls another chance.

After his fate was sealed, Jake's mentor Mel B sang his praises as she struggled to talk through tears.

"He's just an amazing guy," she said, adding: "He's been through so much."

In the sing-off, Only The Young sang Abba's The Winner Takes It All.

Bookmaker Coral last night made Jake the 5-4 favourite to receive the least votes, after his performance of She's Like The Wind, from Dirty Dancing.

Andrea Faustini has been trimmed to 13-8 (from 2-1) following the latest round where he sits ahead of 3-1 second favourite Lauren Platt going into the Halloween weekend of the show.

Coral's John Hill said: "Jake was very popular in our next elimination market following his performance on Saturday so the result tonight will go down well with punters.

"Andrea has shortened to win the show after a solid weekend but the biggest mover in the outright betting has been Fleur East who is now fourth best."

Meanwhile, Ed Sheeran and One Republic performed in the studio.