X Factor hopeful Sam Callahan has made it safely through to the next round of the show.

Despite failing to wow the judges with his rendition of U2’s All I Want Is You, taken from 90s rom com drama Reality Bites, the 19-year-old, of Great Totham, was voted through to next week by the public.

After Sam's ‘movie night’ performance on Saturday, Gary Barlow said: “This is why I think song choice is so crucial, because that song really exposed you voice tonight.

“I thought it was a weak vocal performance from you. There were lots of pitching issues and your technique really wasn’t there at all.

“You’ve got to be so careful with song choice, you will live and die by it.”

Nicole Scherzinger agreed.

She said: “Song choice is everything and I do not want to hear you sing U2.

“I could tell vocally you are getting stronger every week, your range is growing, however, with a song like that you can’t do a watered down, generic version because people are going to see through that.

“Sing something to your girls, sing something else, cater to your audience.”

But mentor Louis Walsh defended his act.

He said: “Hey Sam, I’m happy with the song, I know you’re happy with it, the audience loved it.”

He added: “I’ve never had a harder working contestant than Sam. I’m sure you can do better and, if we’re here next week Sam, we’ll do better and we’ll work hard."