Hope voted off 'The X Factor'

Girl group Hope were voted off The X Factor last night after the final five acts competed for a place in the semi-final.

With the result now decided solely by the public for the rest of the competition, the act with the fewest votes would be leaving the show, which meant that the girls' luck finally ran out.

Hope had been formed at the boot camp stage of the competition, after judge Louis Walsh decided to give a lifeline to rejected solo singers. However, the girl group struggled to win support from the public, finding themselves in the bottom two three times prior to last night's show.

"We are the only five-piece who has ever made it to the final five so we are so happy," band member Raquelle Gracie told Dermot O'Leary after the result was announced. "And there's a future for us. We're Hope now, and we're not splitting up, we're going to stay that way."

Leon Jackson, Niki Evans, Rhydian Roberts and Same Difference will battle against each other in next week's semi-final.