X Factor axe
- 00:02:09
- ITN
X Factor axe
The X Factor's latest reject has revealed he never thought he could win the ITV1 show. Daniel Evans, a 38-year-old father-of-three, who was booted off on Saturday, has confessed his goal was to get into the final, but he never imagined winning. Evans said: "I couldn't honestly picture myself winning the show, and obviously now it's the case. "Winning was never in my mind. I just dreamt of getting to the final. I was upsetting the odds every week by staying in. The public kept me there. "I'm upset to be out. I was hoping to push on a little bit longer for us older people." The pool cleaner managed to stay in the show for six weeks despite constant heavy criticism from judges Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh. Walsh at one point likened his performance to "Ricky Gervais singing karaoke". Evans said: "It's no secret the judges are not my biggest fans. I've been through worse than that, I can take a few words from those two. It's no problem." He hit back at criticism in the tabloid press that X Factor producers had played on his 'sob story' of the recent death of his wife, leaving him to bring up his one-year-old daughter alone. He said: "Of all things I heard that was the one that hurt me the most when someone said I was only progressing because of the death of my wife and I would never ever play on that story. "But the reason I came into this competition is my wife had passed away and it was her wish. I only mentioned it because I was asked."
ITN | November 17, 2008
