Tears 'still rolling' for X Factor rejects Belle Amie

X Factor rejects Belle Amie said that the tears "are still rolling" after they were booted off the ITV1 hit reality show.

The girl band ended up in the bottom two with Katie Waissel after failing to impress viewers with their rendition of Venus by Bananarama.

They were sent home last night with the fewest viewer votes after judges Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole, Louis Walsh and Dannii Minogue failed to choose a loser.

The four girls - Esther Campbell, Geneva Lane, Rebecca Creighton and Sophia Wardman - entered X Factor as solo artists but were given a second chance in the final stages of boot camp when they were put together as a group.

They are the sixth act to leave the contest.

Wardman said the group could not understand why they were voted out after their performance, adding: "The tears are still rolling from these girls aren't they?"

But she said they suffered because no one expected a girl band to do well on the show.

She said: "We've always had that bad curse girl band thing hanging over our heads, so anytime we even did well it was like 'they did really well, great performance, they looked great but girl bands never do well'.

"You just wanted people to give us a chance."

The foursome, who are moving in together and plan to continue their career, laughed off reports that they had not got on.

Campbell said: "We are all like sisters, we have grown so close within the few weeks, the few months, that we have been together.

"So we do disagree at times and everyone gets stressed but it is literally like two-second arguments, then we get over it."

All 11 hopefuls opened the show with US rock band Bon Jovi by singing hit Livin' On A Prayer.

British jazz funk act Jamiroquai also took to the stage to perform comeback single White Knuckle Ride.

Rihanna sang her new single Only Girl (In The World) - which became the second highest first week sales of 2010 for a non-charity single in the charts yesterday.

She entered into the singles chart at number two coming second to judge Cole whose single Promise This is in pole position.