Who is Gifty Louise? Meet the X Factor 2016 finalist whose shock exit left fans crying ‘fix’
The singer conquered her fears after forgetting her words last year, but was controversially booted off during the live finals
GIFTY Louise did what she promised when she entered the audition room at this year’s X Factor — storming her way into the live finals after failing bootcamp last year.
The singer wowed audiences with her powerful voice, but she was controversially eliminated from the show amid “fix” claims.
Here’s everything you need to know about Gifty.
Who is Gifty Louise?
Gifty Louise Agyeman is an events manager from London, who moved to the UK from Ghana at age 10 and started singing at church.
She originally appeared in X Factor 2015 but was kicked out during the bootcamp phase after losing her voice and failing to complete her audition.
Returning in 2016, Gifty told the judges she would prove them wrong this time, and put her money where her mouth is with a performance of No More Drama by Mary J Blige.
When and why was she voted off X Factor?
Gifty was the fourth contestant to be booted out of the finals, after landing in the bottom three with Ryan Lawrie and girl group Four of Diamonds following Halloween week’s Fright Night performances.
Ryan Lawrie was saved by the lifeline vote, and Gifty found herself in a sing-off with 4OD.
Her mentor, Simon Cowell, was the only judge who voted to keep her — despite accidentally voting to eliminate her, then taking it back.
When host Dermot O’Leary asked her what happened, a dejected contestant responded simply: “I don’t know.”
But Simon piped up to take the blame for the singer’s exit, saying he’d given her the wrong song, Fifth Harmony’s In Love With a Monster.
He said: “I’ll tell you what happened, it was my mistake Gifty, I should never have given you this song, and you shouldn’t be out of this competition at this point. It was not you, it was me.”
How did Gifty react to being voted off?
The singer has said she was “gutted” to be eliminated, and agreed with Simon that In Love With a Monster wasn’t the right choice for her.
She told The Sun Online: “I was not comfortable with that song, I didn’t wanna sing that song.”
It was the second time in four weeks she’d been given a song by Fifth Harmony, a group from X Factor 2012 who are signed to Simon’s label.
Gifty said: “I literally feel like I came across as such a Fifth Harmony tribute act. [It added] insult to injury.”
She also said she believed judges Sharon Osbourne and Nicole Sherzinger had voted “strategically” to “get rid of the competition” for their own acts.
Asked what she thinks about controversial finalist Honey G, who remains in the running, she said: “She’s entertainment to an extent, but she’s a rapper, I’m a singer, so I wouldn’t know anything about entertaining people with rap.”
What have the judges said about her?
Judges have praised Gifty’s ability to pull of risky song choices.
Following her performance of Crazy by Gnarls Barkley, Louis Walsh declared: “That was incredible. You have got this thing called star quality.”
Sharon Osbourne agreed, saying: “You are a gift. You’re a very special gift and we love you.”
Nicole Scherzinger praised Gifty’s “beautiful and moving” performance in the sing-off, though she ultimately voted to keep 4OD.
Tune in to the X Factor live shows, this Saturday on ITV1.
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