A real life soap opera! X Factor is in crisis as Kelly Rowland abandons her acts to fly to LA - and Misha B texts Tulisa's man
By Nadia Mendoza
Last updated at 1:01 PM on 25th October 2011
It's meant to be about the birth of a star, but the judge's egos always interfere on reality show The X Factor.
Instead of preparing her trio of girls for the next live show, Kelly Rowland has fled the country after a spectacular fall out with Tulisa Contostavlos.
The Destiny's Child star is believed to have jetted back to her native USA, leaving Misha B, Janet Devlin and Sophie Habibis to fend for themselves.
Going AWOL: Kelly Rowland seemed happy to land at LAX as she nattered on the phone, despite Misha B, Janet Devlin and Sophie Habibis needing her in the UK
A worried ITV1 source told The Sun yesterday they 'don't know where she is', as pictures of her landing in Los Angeles surfaced today.
Her flight home came hours after Sunday's tense show, in which she refused to speak to fellow judge Tulisa or even look at the N-Dubz star, 23.
Sparks started flying on Saturday night after Tulisa accused Kelly's 19-year-old protégé of stirring trouble backstage, provoking Louis Walsh to call Misha a bully on live television in front of 10 million viewers.
Yet Walsh apologised on air 24 hours later on Sunday's show, while Tulisa also seemed to backtrack saying Misha was the performance of the night.
It's war: Kelly and Tulisa Contostavlos used to just compete over fashion and their singing contestants, but now things have turned nasty with backstage dramas
Controversial: Misha B caused a rift on the panel after reports she was 'bullying' people backstage
A show insider said: 'If I was one of them (from the girls category) I'd be thinking, "Great, thanks".
'As the contest heats up, she's left them in the lurch all week. It's very arrogant.'
But Rowland's representatives played down claims that the 30-year-old singer has fled after clashes with her show colleagues.
Her spokeswoman said the 'business trip' had been planned for a long time and her client will return on Thursday.
Heated: The atmosphere was tense as Tulisa and Kelly came to blows on camera
She added: 'Kelly is not missing anything and will be in constant contact with the contestants by Skype and talking to them every day, and she is being sent MP3s of the songs.
'This has been in her diary for a long time.'
But it seems the reasons behind Tulisa's allegations may have been caused by Misha flirting with her boyfriend and bandmate Fazer.
Abandoned: Sophie Habibis, 19, and Janet Devlin, 16, have been left without a mentor this week during rehearsals after Kelly jetted of to America
According to The Mirror, Misha and Fazer swamped number after meeting backstage, causing the singing hopeful to brag about it.
A source said: 'Fazer was impressed with a couple of the contestants and said he’d be happy to produce with them once the show is over.
'He thinks Misha has incredible raw talent - and if his girlfriend wasn’t mentoring the groups, he would definitely be backing her to win the series.'
The insider revealed 'the pair swapped numbers' and 'have been texting a bit', adding: 'She was boasting about it backstage, in a not very nice way.
'Word quickly got back to Tuilsa who was not amused. In fact she was livid.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2053184/X-Factor-2011-Kelly-Rowland-abandons-Misha-B-Janet-Devlin-Sophie-Habibis.html#ixzz1bpCsrw8Z
