Byrne: Public vote could have seen me make 'X Factor' final
Irish singer Mary Byrne said she could have made it to the 'X Factor' final if the public rather than judges had been given the final say.
The 50-year-old supermarket checkout worker from Dublin left the show on Sunday night after facing a sing-off with Cher Lloyd.
She and the other contestants had thought the public would choose the act to leave at the semi-final stage, as in previous years - and only learned that judges would make the final choice on Saturday night.
Byrne suggested she may have beaten Lloyd had it been purely down to the public vote.
She said: "I hope I would have. I know the public has supported me right the way through. And if there had been a chance that they could have done it that way, it would have been great."
Judge Simon Cowell denied doing anything wrong, telling The Sun: "All the artists knew there was going to be a sing-off.
"Mary and Cher were told last Monday to prepare a song for a sing-off if necessary."
But Byrne said she sympathised with fans who had backed her to get as far as the semi-final, only to have the final say taken from their hands.
She said: "I do feel sorry for them because I know they voted in their thousands, God bless them.
"But they understand it's a young person's programme: they understand.
"I have this opportunity now and hope they stay with me, the fans, and buy my record and really just enjoy me and I'll enjoy them."
Byrne said she thought the public should have chosen the acts who made it through to the final. Next week's finale to the series - which will finally crown this year's 'X Factor' winner - will be fought between Lloyd, Rebecca Ferguson, One Direction and Matt Cardle.
Byrne added: "It's not my decision and I can't talk for the way they (the programme makers) make their decision.
As soon as she learned there would be a sing-off she felt she would be out of the competition.
"I knew then. I kind of had the hunch that that was the way it was going to go."
She now plans to return to Ireland to thank her fans for their support.
She said: "I'll probably be welcomed back like the football team because they kept telling me it was like a mini World Cup over there.
"So I'm looking forward to going back to Ireland, seeing the crowd and the people who have loved me all the way through."
Byrne revealed she will be leaving her job at Tesco, and hopes the next time she visits, her album will be on the shelf.
She said: "This week is me last pay I think.
"I'll go back in to Tesco (to say goodbye) and then after that I hope to go and buy me album off the shelf - woohoo!"
