‘X-Factor Australia’ Season 7 heats up: Judges Chris Isaak and James Blunt argue over Cyrus Villanueva's performance

Things are heating up on season 7 of “X-Factor Australia”, with judges Chris Isaak and James Blunt engaging in a heated argument during Monday night’s live show.

This week’s “X-Factor Australia” had the remaining eight contenders singing covers of rock songs chosen by mentors and judges Guy Sebastian, Dannii Minogue, James Blunt and Chris Isaak. The finalists’ live performances garnered mixed reactions from judges, but none were as heated as Blunt and Isaak’s argument over Cyrus Villanueva’s rendition of Lenny Kravitz’s “It Aint Over ‘Til It’s Over.”

Villanueva’s rock performance was highly criticised by Blunt, who accused Isaak of “cheating” with his song choice and likened it to “ordering a hamburger in a restaurant but getting pudding instead”. He also described the song as more of a “funk song” rather than a rock song.

Isaak fired back at Blunt and said, “I don’t know what passes as rock n roll in the discos at Ibiza, but that was rock n roll.” This elicited a series of responses from both judges, with Isaak telling Blunt to “shut up” several times. The argument only ended when host Luke Jacobz stepped in and told the two gentlemen to finish their argument during the break.

However, even judges Minogue and Sebastian agreed that it wasn’t Villanueva’s best week. Sebastian also commented on the bad song choice and called Villanueva’s performance his “worst” so far in the competition.

“There’s never ever going to be a moment for Cyrus to shine in that song,” he told Villanueva’s mentor Isaak. “That was a really bad cover version.”

Meanwhile, fans also had mixed reactions over Isaak’s song choice for Villanueva’s rock performance in this week’s “X-Factor Australia” live show. On the show’s official Twitter account, Twitter fan Allison Everson wrote, “iLOVE you Chris but that was cheesy not rock n roll.” Meanwhile, Twitter fan Dianne Bennett commented, “Can't believe any one thinks they know rock more than @ChrisIsaak who has been rocking for decades!”

Loyal viewers of the show will now have to wait and see whether Isaak’s song choice for Villanueva will land the aspiring singer at the bottom two of this week’s votes.

The live decider show of “X-Factor Australia” season 7 airs on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

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