X Factor contestant Tom Richards has slammed guest judge Pixie Lott. On Saturday, viewers saw Lott say “No” to Richards’s performance of The Script’s ‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’, before changing her mind when Louis Walsh begged her to reconsider and the audience began chanting for her to put the 16-year-old through.

Richards questioned whether Lott, 19, was too young to be on the judging panel, and admitted that he was shocked by the ‘Turn It Up’ singer’s reaction.

He told The Sun: “Pixie was only a few years older than me. Having a guest judge on the show practically the same age as me was difficult to handle.

“During my performance, the judges were smiling – especially Pixie – so I thought I’d done really well. Pixie’s comments at the end didn’t match the way she reacted to my singing.”

Richards, from Pontypridd, South Wales, added that he would have preferred a male solo artist judging alongside Walsh, Cheryl Cole and Simon Cowell.

He said: “They should have had another man on the panel – someone successful like Robbie Williams or Gary Barlow. Even blooming Tom Jones would have been better than Pixie!”