I felt betrayed by Louis and Gary never liked me: X factor loser Nicky hits out at judges

X factor runner-up Nicholas McDonald has criticised judges Gary Barlow and Louis Walsh over their treatment of him in the final.

The 17-year-old has accused Take That singer Barlow of ‘not liking’ him after he was the only one of the four judges to refuse him a standing ovation for his performance.

The Scots schoolboy was also ‘disappointed’ by his own mentor, after Walsh urged viewers to vote for his rival, winner Sam Bailey.

The judges’ actions were met with fury by family and fans of the singer, known as Nicky, with his mother Eileen branding them unprofessional.

However Nicholas said he was not disappointed to have lost out to 36-year-old prison officer Sam Bailey, because it means he will be able to return home to Scotland for Christmas.

The runner-up, from Motherwell, Lanarkshire, yesterday revealed his frustrations over the TV talent show final.

He said: ‘Gary had a problem with me throughout the whole show. He never seemed to like me and whenever I gave a good performance he would pick up on the smallest things in the world.

‘I was disappointed with Louis saying, “Vote for Sam and her single everyone”. It felt like Sam was getting all the love.’ 

The teenager’s mother went further, saying: ‘It was completely unprofessional, Gary refusing to stand after Nicholas’s song. 

‘As for Louis, I don’t know what that was about and it was rude of him. 

'He should have been backing his own act and not encouraging the public to vote for their opponent. 

'I think Louis just speaks without thinking sometimes.’

                                   
                        

Walsh made the comment after Bailey sang Power of Love in the first part of the results show. He then went on to praise her again, saying her winner’s single would be the Christmas number one.

The negative comments from Barlow followed Nicholas’s rendition of Robbie Williams hit Candy.

The judge, who wrote the song, said: ‘On a night like tonight it is all about showcasing your strengths and I just didn’t think that song showcased your voice.

‘I think Nicky is a balladeer at heart and that was going in another area I have never heard you go before.’

In the second part of the results show, he was the only judge not to give Nicholas a standing ovation.

X Factor bosses refused to comment on the actions of the judges, but confirmed that Nicholas was one of the contestants who did not attend Barlow’s star-studded after-show party at the Dorchester hotel.

Barlow has subsequently said he wants to write songs for Sam Bailey, whose victory will see her supporting Beyoncé on the superstar’s world tour next year.

While she begins promoting her single, a cover of Demi Lovato’s Skyscraper, Nicholas will this week be heading home.

 

Early next year he is expected to find out if he will be signed to Simon Cowell’s record company, Syco Music, joining acts such as One Direction and Olly Murs. 

He will begin the X Factor tour in February and says his plan is to bring out an album and perform in his own tour following that.

The teenager yesterday confided that he was not completely dismayed to finish second.

On Sunday night he swiftly left the VIP X Factor after-party at the Hilton to go to the Quality Hotel Wembley to see his family. 

Now, after six months of separation during the show, he will get to spend Christmas with them.

He said: ‘I am really happy I can just go home and spend Christmas with my friends and family. 

‘If you came in first, I knew you would be doing your promo for your album, singing it everywhere and doing a lot of things. 

The teenager said he was glad opponent Sam Bailey (left won the competition as he can now spend Christmas at home in Scotland

‘I was more than ready to do it but I was also more than happy for Sam to get the title and all the pressure of being the one with the X Factor. Second place means I can go home and spend Christmas with my family instead.’

The relatives he will be reunited with are his mother, his father Derrick, brothers Kevin, 18, and Lewis, 13, and his eight-year-old sister, Antonia.

Mrs McDonald said: ‘It has been a long time since June and we have missed Nicholas terribly, we just want to have a normal family Christmas together.

‘We are so proud of what he has achieved and in my eyes, wherever he came in the competition, he was always the winner.’