Latest X Factor crisis: Kelly leaves acts for LA trip

X Factor is in crisis as Kelly Rowland abandons her acts to fly to LA

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.

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.

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.

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.’