Bad Lashes - X Factor 2008

X Factor rejects, Bad Lashes, have hit out at their mentor, Louis Walsh saying that he focused more on boyband JLS for the first live show.

The girls have revealed that they sought advice from Cheryl Cole on a few occasions and would have preferred the Girls Aloud singer as their mentor.

Bad Lashes member, Emily, told The Sun: “Louis said, ‘I know how boybands work. I’ve done it with Westlife, blah blah blah’. He said he managed Girls Aloud for a bit but wasn’t very good.”

When asked if Walsh had focused more on boyband JLS, Sam replied: “A little bit. He loves boy groups, that’s his thing.”

Sophie added: “He just chatted to them a little bit more. Louis generally is better with boybands.”

Stacey said: “He told us to listen to Cheryl, so she was kind of helping us and being a mentor a little bit.

“Maybe if we’d had Cheryl it could have been different.”

Emily added: “When we found out we’d got Louis I was a bit gutted. We all wanted Cheryl because obviously, being in Girls Aloud, she knows what she’s talking about. She’s done it all.

“She’s been in the same position as us with Popstars: The Rivals. She’s a woman, she’s close to our age, she knows our style.

“She said she knew what songs she’d have chosen for us. She got us straight away. I think Louis found us a bit harder to get.”

But Louis told The Sun last night: “Honestly, I love Bad Lashes.

“I tried to do something different with them, but even if I’d got them doing Riverdance backwards it wouldn’t have helped. I don’t know why, but girlbands don’t do well on the show — look at Hope and The Conway Sisters.

“I really want to help Bad Lashes. Let’s see what happens.”