Tony answers back!
19 Sep 08
Piano Tie Tony will play it again!
Millions of viewers saw Anthony Little's hopes of X Factor success dashed when Cheryl Cole refused to put him through to bootcamp.
And Anthony, who'd lost four stone and transformed himself with a fab new image since his 2005 try-out as Piano Tie Tony, left the auditions gutted by yet another refusal.
He told us, "After the audition was over, I felt terrible. I was devastated. It was hard to come so close and then be told no again".
His 2-1 rejection came when, with a three-strong judges' panel, a benevolent Louis agreed to put him through. Simon evened the vote telling him cuttingly, "My advice is, if you love music, buy a record player".
The casting vote then lay with Cheryl who told him, "I don't want to patronise you. It's gonna be even worse if I say yes now and it'll be even worse if you are told no later. It's wouldn't be fair on you.
There was a long pause before her definitive verdict; "It's a no".
He shrugged, "A lot of people have told me they wanted to punch the TV screen when Cheryl didn't put me through. Other people thought she would run out of the audition room after me and tell me she'd made a mistake".
And re-living the moment again, he admitted, "I can't understand it. She started off really positive and I thought she really liked me, but that all changed". And he certainly would have loved to have made it to bootcamp - even if at that stage he did receive the dreaded, "No".
He said simply, "It would have shown how far I've come".
Despite the disappointments of audition day, Anthony has recovered well and continues transforming both himself and his musical career.
Tony puts his weight loss down to "Practically living in the gym," he's now lost almost five stone. He's even put together a CD of him singing his favourite tunes.
And he told us, "There are no hard feelings toward the judges. Everything is fine".
The Darlington singer, who works in customer services for a large mobile operator, said, "In the end, I think I came across pretty well in the show and everyone I've met since has been very supportive".
"I really wanted people to see the real me this time around, and see how much I've changed and what my determination has done.
"It's been a positive experience. And people who watch the show seem to have been on my side, which is brilliant - I've signed quite a few autographs too!
"I want to thank everyone who has said nice things about me, and been so supportive".
And he vowed, "There is much more to come from me. And I will come back to The X Factor to audition again".