Uh-oh, favour alert!  It would seem that in good old fashioned X Factor style, this year will not be sidestepping the tradition of starting in a media flurry of controversy, as one of entrants of this year’s competition not only knows judge, Tulisa, but toured with her!

Singer Jaya auditioned London’s O2 Arena earlier this year and made it through to the judge’s houses round of the show, which begins airing its audition stages next Saturday night.

However, it has now emerged that this was not the first time she had met judge, Tulisa, as she had previously toured with her and her hip-hop group, N-Dubz, back in 2009, and has also been on the road supporting Tinie Tempah, who is reportedly being lined up for one of the judge’s guest mentors, and Peter Andre too, according to the Sun newspaper!

The Italian singer has even released her own single, DJ Do It Again, which made it to the number 2 position on the MTV dance chart.

Jaya’s website states: “Jaya has already found her set of celebrity fans in the form of urban pop leaders N-Dubz and Tinie Tempah who both featured on the DJ Remix.”

A friend of the wannabe commented: Jaya tried for The X Factor to get “her big break”.

Adding: “But viewers and other acts might not take too kindly knowing she has already toured with N-Dubz.”

Meanwhile, last night, an X Factor insider denied Jaya received any special treatment.

The source said: “She has performed on the same bill as N-Dubz before but Tulisa doesn’t know her.”

The X Factor returns to our screens this Saturday at 8pm on ITV1/ITV1 HD.