Judges' houses line-up revealed

Two groups who thought they had been dropped from The X Factor found themselves through to the judges' houses as the 25 acts who had made it to that stage of the contest were revealed.

Times Red and Union J - who had been known as Triple J earlier in the competition - were put through after Rough Copy were eliminated from the show.

Along with five other groups and six acts from each of the girls, boys and the older "overs" categories, they were put through to the next stage amid tears of joy and heartache.

It emerged last month that Rough Copy were withdrawn from the contest after getting through boot camp because group member Kazeem Ajobo had a visa application which was being considered by the UK Border Agency. There had been fears that if he travelled abroad during the judges' houses stage, the Nigerian-born 23-year-old from south London, may struggle to re-enter the UK.

He said: "We are gutted that we have had to leave the competition as we were having such a great time. Hopefully, if everything is ok with my visa, we can apply again next year."

The successful acts will be hoping to be among the three acts which each of the judges - Gary Barlow, Nicole Scherzinger, Tulisa Contostavlos and Louis Walsh - take through to the live finals.