The chairman of the Zionist Federation has said the organisation does not know why X Factor winner Alexandra Burke pulled out of tonight's Israel’s 65 concert.

The singer, who performed at Jewish weddings with the Gilev Showband before her rise to fame in 2008, was due to perform at the Yom Ha’atzmaut event at Wembley Arena.

Former X Factor hopeful Dan Lipman of The Keys has said there is no bitterness after the judges decided to send singer Charlie Healy through to the live shows but axe the rest of the band.

The Jewish musician, 24 and from Hadley Wood, said he was "massively supportive" despite the collapse of the popular band.

A rapper from Hadley Wood is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Stacey Solomon and Katie Waissel after his band made it through to the next round of X Factor.

Dan Lipman, 24, is one-fifth of The Keys, a band dubbed "magnificent" by judge Gary Barlow during the auditions.

Following in the footsteps of Stacey Solomon and Katie Waissel on the X Factor were married couple Brian and Annette Altman, who performed as The Gingertops on this season's show.

If there is anyone who understands the agony of being berated by the X Factor judges, it is Brian Friedman.

As creative director of the show that has unified the nation in a TV ritual which ends this weekend with its grand final, Friedman knows what it's like to be panned as well as any of the contestants - only in his case, it is his staging and choreography that is the target. For that reason he felt enormous empathy with Katie Waissel, who was voted off the show two weeks ago, and puts a lot of his concern for her down to that "Jewish thing".

After spending four weeks in the bottom two of X Factor, Katie Waissel was sent home this week, receiving the least number of public votes.

Ms Waissel, from Pinner, sang the Kings of Leon song ‘Sex on Fire’ and REM’s ‘Everybody Hurts’ for the ‘Rock Week’ theme on Saturday night.

But it wasn’t enough to save her from the double eviction which also saw Brazilian singer Wagner sent home by the judges over Mary Byrne.

Ms Waissel told host Dermot O’Leary: “I am just grateful to have gotten this far.

Katie Waissel’s fortunes looked much brighter this week as she sailed through to the next round of the X Factor.

The 24-year-old looked shocked as her name was the first to be called to go through to next week’s show, hugging her fellow contestants and mentor Cheryl Cole.

On Saturday’s Beatles themed show, Katie sported a new 1960s haircut and sang the hit Help.

She received a mixed reaction from the judges. Dannii Minogue said: “Every week you say this is the real me, this is the real me and every week it’s something completely different.