It would seem that the fifth week of an X Factor series, is a particularly dangerous time for any talented female contestants taking part.

Last night we saw young Lucie Jones getting voted off after Simon voted to save John and Edward Grimes. The backlash today has been enormous, just read the fans comments on any of our posts on the decision. However if you cast your minds back this is not the first time such a controversial eviction has occurred.

Back in 2005, it was week five which saw Maria Lawson lose her place to the abominable Conway Sisters. The media backlash against Louis Walsh who voted to save them, almost caused him to leave the show…..if only he had followed through!

Last year it was Laura White who left in the fifth week, despite having at one point being tipped to win the show by bookies and experts alike.

We know that thousands of X Factor auditionees read Unreality TV, so next year female singers beware week five! Choose your song and outfit wisely, cry A LOT, snog a judge….anything at all to grab you some much needed votes. You don’t want to fall foul of the week five female curse.

OK, Laura White was an X Factor favourite of ours last year, and we were totally devastated when she got booted off the show. You may remember that the scandal surrounding her departure, and how it got mentioned in parliament.

Now, Laura has released her first single You Should Have Known, and it’s a pretty good pop record. Really, go and look it up on YouTube.

However, over the last month or two, Unreality TV has been swamped with spam from so-called ‘fans’, urging people to go to YouTube, Laura’s official site or her Twitter account. We’ve seen this class of low-rent marketing tactic in the past, but real fans don’t go and leave spammy comments all over the place.

It’s not clear whether anyone from Laura’s management, record company or promotions people are involved in this, but the spam is coming from the same two or three people. I’m taking the step of mentioning it here, because you can’t force people to listen to a single if they don’t want to. And if Laura’s management can’t get the song proper UK airplay, what good will bombarding websites with spam do?

Now, we at Unreality TV genuinely believe that Laura White deserves to have a successful pop career. We just don’t agree with the tactics some people are using to promote her single – whether that’s her management or a bunch of fundamentalist fans.

Laura White - X factor 2008

Laura White has defended her pal Rikki Loney, who was booted off the X Factor last Sunday night.

Laura, whose departure was a shock moment during last year’s series, knew Rikki from last year’s bootcamp and told stv.tv:

“I know we have just lost Rikki and Rikki is one of my friends, he is amazing. It’s so sad he has gone week two. With his talent, he definitely deserved to stay a lot longer.”

Laura also admitted that she thinks the decision to send an act home should be left entirely up to the public.

She said:

“It is a talent show so I think the public deserve to have their opinion, I think it should be on just the public vote,” Laura said.

“I think a lot of the time, the judges can often do tactical voting and sometimes it’s not fair.”

Heat magazine has reported that X factor judge, Cheryl Cole, has become quite pally with an X Factor contestant Rikki Loney.

Rikki auditioned for the show last year and made it to the final 24 acts before being sent home. He has come back this year and been befriended by Cheryl Cole because of his close friendship with last year’s Laura White.

A source said: “Cheryl and Rikki are getting on really well. They bonded immediately because of Laura and it’s just the boost he needed.”

This would all fit in with reports that Cheryl will be mentoring the under 25 boys this year….expect to see more of Rikki.

Laura White performed her new track ‘You Should Have Known’ on GMTV this week and it was nice to see her back.

Laura was one of the most talented singers on last year’s X Factor and definitely the most original, it was a shame that she only made it to week five.

What do you think of the song? Does it live up to your expectations? Leave your comments below.

Laura White - X factor 2008

Singer/songwriter Laura White has claimed that she is unlike other X Factor stars, because she signed to a small, independent record label.

Laura was controversially sent home from the ITV show in week five of last year’s series.

She told the BBC: “I have done it completely different. In a way this is why I don’t associate myself with a normal X Factor contestant just because I literally was the only one that didn’t sign a massive major deal.

“I went to a smaller independent label. I’ve signed to the label which [songwriter] Ian Green is with.”

She continued: “In that sense I have to work a lot harder to speak to my fans more and I have to work harder in general because I don’t have a massive major label pushing me.”

When asked if she will watch the new series of The X Factor, she added: “I will. I always say to everybody it is the most amazing show on TV. When I was on it I felt so blessed because it can literally change somebody’s life so much.”

Laura White - X factor 2008

Laura White is gearing up to release her first single and she wants you to choose it.

Laura caused controversy last year when she was booted off ITV’s X Factor in week five, causing her supporters to plead her case to the British parliament no less. Many credited her early departure to the fact that she was dating the head of The Applause Store, a company who organises the audience for the weekly live shows. Her boyfriend Mathew Firsht is even on speaking terms with Mr Cowell himself, conspiracy theories were rife!

Now Laura has moved on, she recently performed at the Miss England competition and now has released four snippets of her album tracks for her fans to vote on. Head to her official site to vote for your favourite choice for Laura’s debut single.

By the way, do you want to know how we found out about Laura’s latest news? We received a mass mailout from The Applause Store of course. Who says it’s not who you know?

Former X factor singer, Laura White has revealed that she is backing boyband JLS to win this years series.

Laura left the competition in a shock result last month, and hasn’t missed a show since. She told MSN:

"If it’s in terms of talent I would like Alex to do it because she’s a talented girl but I’d like someone different to win."

"Just something different because I think this year The X Factor has been so different and I would like a band to win, so I am backing JLS."

Laura White - X factor 2008

Laura White has confirmed that she and Adele are planning to record a duet together in the near future.

The Chasing Pavements star was a big fan of Laura’s on the show and publicly blasted the judges when she left. Laura told MSN:

“I was so excited when I heard what Adele had said because I am one of her biggest fans. She is incredible.

“I have spoken to her about it. She wants to do a duet and I really want to do it too, so it is just working out the timing,” she said.

Lily Allen and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin have also publicly backed the jazz singer, and she said the support has been “so inspiring”.

“I think about all the people who have come out in support of me and I think I’m just little Laura – if you saw where I was from and I used to play tiny jazz bars to four people.

“When you leave The X Factor you think ‘oh is that it now for me’ and I worked so hard to get there, but there are still so many people who believe in me,” she said.

X factor judge, Dannii Minogue has said that despite thousands of people signing a petition begging for Laura White’s reinstatement on the show, it wouldn’t be fair to let her to return.

Minogue wrote in her Closer column: "I don’t think it’d be fair on the other contestants and it just highlights the point that you need to vote for who you like. If people had voted for Laura, and not assumed she was safe, she wouldn’t have been in that position.”

"On the plus side, there are people in competitions like this who stand out and do amazingly afterwards, like Lemar, and I think Laura will have a long career."