X Factor 2011: Sarah Watson replaces axed Sian Phillips at judges’ houses

16-year-old Sarah Watson was given a second chance on The X Factor 2011 today after she was taken through as the ninth girl to judges’ houses. The blonde beauty replaced Sian Phillips in the final eight girls, after the 20-year-old failed to get a visa to travel to the US.

We saw tonight as Kelly Rowland discovered she’d be mentoring the girls, taking them out to Miami next week to pick her finalists. However, with a conviction for affray back in 2009, Sian was left unable to continue in the competition.

A spokesperson for the show confirmed on Saturday that Sian had left the show: “Unfortunately the visa could not be obtained in sufficient time for Sian to join the other contestants in the USA.

“We have a system to complete criminal and welfare checks for every contestant from the Boot Camp stage onwards.

“At the discretion of the producers, certain convictions or pending criminal proceedings may result in someone being axed from the series. Each contestant is looked at on a case by case basis.”

As a result, Sarah will now join the fellow girls – Janet Devlin, Melanie McCabe, Amelia Lily, Misha Bryan, Jade Richards, Holly Repton and Sophie Habibis – in Miami with Kelly Rowland next week.

She originally auditioned by performing’Love Song’, with Gary Barlow raving: “Sarah that was such a professional audition, it was magnificent, really good.”

Check out a snap of the girls together in the states below…