Pals of outgoing X Factor singer Jamie Archer have claimed that Simon Cowell purposely sacrificed him on last week’s show.

In an interview with The Mirror a close friend of the singer said: “The whole show is being made a mockery of. Simon was the only judge with all three acts left – he knew he had to lose someone this week and so he offered up Jamie.

“It doesn’t take a genius to see how he did it. He stuck him first on the bill which is the worst place to be. He made sure he dressed him in dark clothing so it all looked very drab with no colour.

“And he gave him a very average Queen song in Radio Ga Ga and left him there on the stage on his own.

“There was no production, no backing singers, no choirs, no pyrotechnics like the other contestants had.”

Last night we were watching Jamie’s best bits as shown on ITV2′s Xtra Factor and the difference between his singing then and on the Queen inspired show last week was astounding. Jamie was capable of so much more than Simon ever gave him and other than when he sang Christina Aguilera’s ‘Hurt’ he was never properly challenged. I think that Jamie’s friends may have a point with the sacrifice argument. Either Simon offered him up on a platter as a way to safeguard Danyl and Olly or he really is that out of touch that he can’t pick current songs for a current singer.