Louis Walsh has responded to allegations that last weekend's X Factor elimination of Carolynne Poole was a fix.
Poole lost out to Rylan Clark after Walsh opted at the last minute to take the bottom two vote to deadlock.
Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger enjoy a night out at the Arts Club in Mayfair London, England
Fans complained about Walsh's actions and were annoyed that he was seen talking to exec-producer Richard Holloway during Poole's sing-off performance. Holloway and Walsh have insisted that they were talking about the running order for the judges' vote, but he only spoke with Walsh.
Writing a diary piece for the Daily Mail about the incident, Walsh said: "I feel totally torn after Carolynne and Rylan's performances. I like them both. With Rylan I thought the production was so amazing that this is something we'll want to see again.
"Carolynne is a great singer. My first instinct is to save her and that's what I say. I think she's good, but I don't think there's a market for her. I want to do the right thing. I feel like I am looking stupid, like a rabbit in the headlights, but that's the thing about The X Factor, it's live, it's real, anything can happen."
Walsh argued that Barlow had no right to criticise pantomime acts on the show after selecting Frankie Cocozza last year and rubbished suggestions that Holloway told him how to vote.
His second diary entry reads: "I wake up to find a huge fuss brewing. People are Tweeting that last night was a fix, and a picture is published showing Richard talking to me. The story is that he's telling me how to vote - but that's not true. Not only has no one ever told any of us what to do, but that picture was taken before the artists sang, so no one could have known how their performance was going to be judged."
Walsh's comments appear to suggest that the reason it couldn't have been a fix is because the producers hadn't heard the sing-off songs. His comments don't appear to take into consideration the possibility that the producers may have made a decision regardless of the sing-off.
He also claims that Holloway spoke to him "before" the sing-off, but video and picture evidence proves that it was during Poole's routine.
However, Walsh said that he wasn't concerned about the outcry from his actions, describing The X Factor as the Manchester United of TV.
"Other shows are just jealous. We are the biggest. We're the Manchester United of television. People are always trying to knock us," he adds.