X Factor hopefuls have defended their mentor Louis Walsh, saying that he doesn’t think they are destined to lose.

Newspaper reports stated that Walsh claimed to have the ‘hardest group’ and no way of winning this year’s show.

However Miss Frank’s Shar Alexandra told the Press Association: “Maybe he’s saying that to surprise the public so everyone thinks he’s not going to win and then there’ll be a dramatic climax and one of us will.”

Edward Grimes said: “You can’t just say ‘I’m going to win the show’ because it puts a lot of pressure on you. You set your expectations so high that your expectations are higher than the actual act.”

Shar added: “Look at JLS and what he did with them and they’ve got so big now. Rather than focus on the negative that people love to do, look at JLS.”

Azi Jegbefume of Kandy Rain said: “We read it but we don’t actually believe that Louis would say that. All of us have a really good relationship with him, he’s been talking to us and stuff like that, and he does believe in us.”

Shaniece Davis of Miss Frank, concluded: “Even if he did say something like that, that would fuel the fire to make us want to come out on top”.