Amelia Lily has been voted back into The X Factor by the public as 'X Factor' soars to 10.6m viewers!
The 17-year-old was chosen to return over James Michael, Jonjo Kerr and 2 Shoes in tonight's show. Host Dermot O'Leary revealed that she received 48% of the vote.
Our Markmeets poll showed that 77% of all entrie backed Amelia too!
All four were axed by their respective mentors Kelly Rowland, Gary Barlow, Louis Walsh and Tulisa Contostavlos in the first week of the live stages, but were given a reprieve following Frankie Cocozza's ejection on Tuesday (November 8).
When asked by O'Leary how it felt to be back in The X Factor, Lily replied: "Oh God, I've been so emotional backstage, I cannot believe I'm back in. Thank you everybody for believing in me."
She went on to describe the 48 hours since the announcement of the return twist as "the most stressful two days of my life, but so worth it".
Amelia sang 'The Show Must Go On' by Queen as her comeback performance, which received a hugely positive reaction from the audience and panellists.
"I don't know what to say, that was an amazing powerful vocal," Walsh said to her. "Welcome back, I think now you're going to get to show your proper talent. I want you to go far in the competition."
Contostavlos stated that Lily "deserve[d]" to return, having managed to hold her own against acts who "had weeks to progress and and perfect" themselves.
Barlow, meanwhile, described her performance as "absolutely sensational" and alluded to his own career with Take That by saying: "Let me tell you something from somebody who knows, the great British public love a comeback. Get ready."
Lily's mentor Rowland concluded the judging by excitedly announcing: "You mean some serious business and I love it! Welcome freakin' back!"
Lily then confessed to O'Leary that she had been "shaking" throughout her comeback performance.
"I'm so happy, I'm so grateful," she added. "I'm so happy to be back. It's just amazing."
X Factor bosses have denied claims that Amelia Lily's return was fixed after it was reported online an hour before the result was officially announced.
STV, which broadcasts ITV programmes in Scotland, published an article on its website at 8.06pm reporting that Lily had won the public vote to return over James Michael, Jonjo Kerr and 2 Shoes.
It said: "Amelia Lily is back in The X Factor after winning the public vote tonight. As Dermot O'Leary read out her name, mentor Kelly Rowland jumped to her feet screaming as Amelia Lily looked stunned.
"Now's the time for Amelia to prove that she really does have The X Factor and can take on the remaining acts in the competition as she goes on to deliver a performance of, appropriately, 'The Show Must Go On'."
Lily was later confirmed as the returning act, with Rowland reacting as the story predicted.
The mistake came after the start of The X Factor was delayed due to a power failure at London's BT Tower. STV insists it had pre-prepared articles in the event of all four acts returning.
On The Xtra Factor, Caroline Flack said: "A few people on Twitter have picked up on a mistake on the STV website about the result of the phone vote. We can assure we didn't know who was going to go through until the phone line actually closed."
STV told the Sunday Mirror: "The STV web team prepared stories regarding each contestant in anticipation of the result and due to a technical hitch, all four stories went live on our website. We would stress that this was purely a technical hitch and for this we apologise."
The X Factor press team also tweeted that a video was released by mistake due to technical difficulties and encouraged fans to continue voting.
The X Factor has been thrown into further chaos after tonight's show was delayed by technical difficulties.
Viewers were kept waiting for 15 minutes as they tuned in to see the final six perform a 'Lady GaGa vs Queen' tribute and discover who out of Amelia Lily, James Michael, Jonjo Kerr and 2 Shoes would be returning.
Instead, ITV screened a montage of some of the series's more notable auditions, including the debut performances of finalists Janet Devlin, Sami Brookes and Johnny Robinson, controversially-axed contestant Jade Richards and Goldie Cheung, who quit after being granted a spot in the final 16 by Louis Walsh.
X Factor announcer Peter Dickson was among those discussing the issue on Twitter, saying: "Omg! We have technical difficulties. People scrambling all over the studio now, hopefully on air soon."
The official X Factor Twitter account later clarified: "The studio is ready and raring to go... but there is a technical failure at BT Tower."
When the show finally began, host Dermot O'Leary apologised on behalf of the show and said that the delay was "beyond our control".
Lily, Michael, Kerr and 2 Shoes were granted the chance to re-enter The X Factor after Frankie Cocozza was ejected earlier this week.
