Oxfordshire's hope in the X Factor TV talent show did not last long, being the first act to be eliminated from the live heats.

Drew Jaymson and other members of the six-piece group The Unconventionals were booted out on Saturday night.

And in the audience watching the group go for a nosedive were Audrey and Jim Smart, parents of Andrew, whose stage name is Drew Jaymson. He told the Oxford Mail that all six were good singers in their own right, but they got the formula wrong on the night.

The mixed six-piece departed from their usual format for their Motown act, singing Dancing In The Streets.

Throughout the series, Drew Jaymson has tended to take the lead, but on Saturday the vocals were split.

After the show Drew said: "We just thought: 'The live show is our chance to establish each one of us, as a band'. It turned out it was the wrong thing. I just wish somebody had told us."

Outspoken show judge Simon Cowell described the band's performance of the Motown hit as "a complete and utter mess".

But Mr and Mrs Smart, of Hawthorn Close, Wallingford, were more generous about the group's talents as they watched and listened to the show at the Fountain Studios in Wembley.

"I talked to them afterwards and they were obviously really disappointed, but not flattened," said Mr Smart.

"The main problem was that the backing for them was too heavy, you couldn't hear their harmony - they are an a-cappela group.

"They were doing individual solos, taking individual leads to give each other a chance to be heard as soloists, but the backing sound was so bad."

Their son lives in London and is an usher at the London Palladium.

He grew up in Grove, attending Millbrook Primary School, before moving to Icknield School in Wantage. He then completed a two-year drama course at Oxford College of Further Education.

He is now 41 but had his first taste of showbiz at 17, taking part in Search for a Star at the Oxford Apollo and went on to perform in West End shows, including Grease.