'X Factor' Wildcard Revealed As Monica Michael, With Singer Returning For Live Shows Just Days After Being Dumped From Rita Ora's Girls Category

Monica Michael has been unveiled as this year's wildcard on ‘The X Factor’.

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The singer will return to the ITV talent show as a bona fide contestant when the live shows begin on Saturday (31 October).

Monica Michael is returning to 'The X Factor'

News of her return comes just days after Rita Ora dumped her from her category, following Judges Houses.

It was announced by Simon Cowell on Thursday’s edition of ‘The Xtra Factor’ that Monica had been given another another life line.

"I walked away from that show and I thought, we have to bring that girl back," he said of Sunday's Judges' Houses episode. "I thought she was going to get a chair.

"The competition wouldn’t have been the same without her," he added.

An update on the show’s official Twitter page also spread the news:

After the announcement, Monica also posted: "Hi guys! I know Halloween is upon us but this is not a trick... I AM BACK!!!! #XtraFactor #WildCard."

Monica originally lost out on a place in the live shows to Kiera Weathers, Louisa Johnson and Lauren Murray.

After failing to chose her for the Girls category, mentor Rita said that “it wasn’t the right competition for her”.

"It was hard to say goodbye to that amazing and original moment. But you have to bear in mind that going forward this is a competition, and maybe for Monica she should be singing her own material and it may not have been the right route for her,” she told Digital Spy.

"Her songwriting is so powerful that now she can go away and make her own record in her own time and present it it in her own light.

“You know, that was a really tough decision, but I knew I had to make it," she added.

Monica first auditioned for the show in 2014, but was controversially axed during the Six Chair Challenge by then-mentor Cheryl Fernandez-Versini.

‘The X Factor’ continues on Saturday at 8pm on ITV.

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