Kimberley Southwick voted off 'X Factor'

Kimberley Southwick became the first contestant to be voted off The X Factor last night.

The 19-year-old barmaid, who opened the live show by performing 'It's Raining Men', found herself in the bottom two alongside fellow contestant Alisha Bennett.

Sharon Osbourne, who is mentoring the girls this year, was outraged by the voting result and refused to take part in the judges' vote. She claimed to host Dermot O'Leary that she was now planning to quit the show.

After both acts had performed again, it was left to Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue and Louis Walsh to make the final decision. Alisha was saved by both Cowell and Walsh, with only Dannii favouring Kimberley.

"We know it would be us in the bottom two and Sharon knew it too," Kimberley admitted.

She also suggested that Sharon's song choice could have been responsible for the result: "Well the song was a show opener, but it didn't show my voice."

The X Factor continues next Saturday at 5.45pm on ITV1.