Underage X Factor trio axed

Talent show stars Tru Colourz made a shock exit after lying...

12:09 28 September 2009

All-girl group Tru Colourz has been axed from The X Factor after lying about the age of one member.

Tru Colourz were excited to be informed that they'd made it through to the final 24 acts and would be mentored by judge Louis Walsh.

But then bosses at ITV discovered one of the London-based trio — Christina, Rachel and Ivette — was under the age limit of 16 and disqualified them immediately.

In scenes to be shown on this Saturday's show, the girls admitted to Walsh that they had lied.

Walsh asked them to leave and re-audition next year.

A show insider said: "One of Tru Colourz had claimed to be 16, but was actually still 15. It was just a little white lie because she was so desperate to get on the show, but it has cost them.

They were devastated when Louis asked them, but they took it on the chin and admitted straight away what they'd done. Louis told them to come back next year."

The identity of the underage girl has not been revealed.

Show producer and judge Simon Cowell is reported to have launched an investigation to find out how the girls managed to get through to the last 24.

After the last 24 acts were chosen, they were split into four groups and taken to their mentors' homes in Cannes, St Tropez, Ireland and Barbados.

The over-25s will be mentored by Cowell, the girls handled by Dannii Minogue, the boys will be under Cheryl Cole's wing and the groups by Walsh.

Meanwhile, The X Factor won the Saturday night ratings war with the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing for the second week that the talent shows have overlapped.

The X Factor attracted a peak of 10.1 m viewers, while 8.7m tuned in to Strictly.