X Factor’s Stephanie Nala: ‘The death threats have made it hard for me to go home’

She found herself in the bottom two for the second week running but last night Stephanie Nala was automatically booted off the X Factor after she was bottom in the public votes.

She’s had a tough time on the show, not only has she had to take the judges’ comments on the chin but she’s also had a nasty backlash from social media trolls – many of whom have sent her death threats after reports from her former classmates claimed she was a bully who hurled insults and threw stones at them.

So with her time on the show having come to an end, you’d think Stephanie would be able to put the experience behind her and move on.

But, in reality, Steph says the death threats have made it even harder for her to go home.

Speaking to heat, she says: “The worst was the death threats and the false allegations. I feel uncomfortable to go home – because I live in quite a small town. What people don’t understand is you put yourself out there to judge you but they don’t understand that you have a family and there is a life after X Factor and when people try to bring you down on the show they don’t realise they’re bringing you down personally as well. They [trolls] should think about treating someone they love the way they have treated us.”

She said she was never prepared for the backlash, adding: “You never prepare yourself for things that aren’t true. I rose above it, I’ve never been nasty to any of these people, I would never send death threats to anyone because I don’t hate them, they hate me.”

Steph says that people didn’t get time to relate to her. She said: “Being on a show like X Factor, it’s hard to be so different and have such a distinctive thing about you. Blonde Electra were very different and then you’ve got Chloe-Jasmine [Whichello]who is very jazzy and bluesy and then you’ve got me who’s got this reggae thing going on taking classic songs and some people might not have approved – they may not have connected, people need time to relate to you. We stayed true to ourselves although song choice has a massive part to play. But it’s the way it went, that’s the song you chose. I just feel so lucky to get there.”

Stephanie was joined by Chloe-Jasmine Whichello, who was also voted off the show last night after Simon used his casting vote to send her home.