Stereo Kicks, the eight-piece X Factor boyband containing Welling’s Charlie Jones, have vowed to work extra hard over the next week in order to avoid landing in the bottom two again.

The band narrowly escaped elimination from the ITV talent show yesterday after winning a sing-off with Chloe Jasmine Whichello.

They performed The Pretenders’ I’ll Stand By You.

After being dramatically saved, the Stereo Kicks tweeted: “Working extra hard this week to gain your votes for the weekend. We don't want to be in the bottom again. We love all the support thanks!”

On the X Factor’s spin-off The Xtra Factor, the band’s mentor Louis Walsh hit back at Simon Cowell’s suggestion he had not ‘connected’ with the band and questioned whether eight was too many for a band.

The Irish judge said the TV mogul was "absolutely out of order" for claiming he was out of his depth with the eight-piece.

"I've had a bad night... You know what, Simon said to me I didn't connect with the band," Louis said on The Xtra Factor.

"Simon Cowell is the person that made this band an eight-piece. He is the person. Eight never worked in a boyband, but he put eight people together. Then he starts blaming me on live TV.

"I wouldn't have eight people - I never wanted eight people in the band," he added.

The 62-year-old judge continued: "So I'll have to talk to the boys. I wouldn't change anybody but I'll talk to the boys and see if they want to do anything. The way he said I didn't connect with them, I really work with them, they're always in my dressing room."

In response to a viewer who suggested that eight was too many people for a boyband, Simon said: "In life, you have to try different things.

"I have to put part of the blame with the band with Louis. You haven't connected with them yet... You haven't, because they're in the bottom three," he added.