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.”