X Factor reject, Rikki Loney, has blamed Cheryl Cole’s mentoring skills for his exit last Sunday night.

In an interview with The Sun, Rikki admitted that Whitney Houston advised him to change his song from ‘Respect’ to her own hit, ‘My Love Is Your Love.’ He said that he didn’t, because of the lack of time, but thinks that the big Aretha number was his undoing.

He said: “I should have listened to Whitney. They advised me to change.

“I’d have liked to, but there just wasn’t any time. It was literally 24 hours before the performance.

“I couldn’t do it. Too much work had gone on – days had been spent working out the routine.”

Rikki added: “I knew Respect was a massive risk. It didn’t pay off.”

Rikki also admitted that in the lead up to Sunday’s show, Cheryl was so nervous that the contestants were comforting her and not he other way around.

Rikki added:

“She was really, really nervous. She kept saying, ‘I can’t believe how nervous I am’ and we kept reassuring her.

“She said she couldn’t believe that we were telling her it would be OK – like we were being her mentor.”