X Factor bosses consider showing axed contestant's footage

TV bosses will decide today whether to show axed X factor contestant Shirlena's last performance after she was dropped because of concerns over her mental health.

It was confirmed yesterday the single mother from east London would not continue on the hit ITV1 talent show but she has already recorded a performance at the show's Boot Camp stage.

Dressed in a leopard-print bra and hot pants, she sang an eccentric version of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance in front of judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger.

Concerns about the singer's health were raised after her first appearance on Saturday when she shrieked and wailed her way through a version of Duffy's Mercy that Cowell likened to a "musical exorcism".

A spokesman for The X Factor said: "The welfare of contestants is of paramount importance, and for this reason, it has been agreed that Shirlena Johnson should not continue in the competition."

It has been reported that TV executives were accompanied by a psychologist when they broke the news to Johnson.

TV bosses will have been keen to avoid a repeat of the Susan Boyle saga which saw the singer admitted to the Priory clinic after she was left exhausted by her sudden rise to international fame and unexpected defeat in Britain's Got Talent.

Johnson herself is said to be far from happy at the decision and has insisted she is "not mentally ill" and that being kicked off the X Factor was "a complete catastrophe".

She told the Daily Star: "This is the worst thing that's ever happened to me."

In addition to being axed from The X Factor, Johnson was also given the chop from this year's Miss Great Britain contest - which she also entered.

She allegedly told organisers that she was 28 years old, below the cut off point of 29.

But on The X Factor she said she was 30.