Former US X Factor contestant Dexter Haygood has claimed he wasn't pushed off the contest, but decided to jump.
Dexter was among five contestants eliminated from the show last week. But the rock singer alleged that what viewers saw didn't reflect the whole story, including a behind-the-scenes agreement to ensure the swift exit he wanted.
According to Dexter, 49, who was part of mentor-judge Nicole Scherzinger's group of 30-plus contestants, he told the former Pussycat Doll two days before last Wednesday's live performance show that he was dissatisfied with X Factor.
"I wanted to leave the show because I was unhappy that I was unable to be a rock artist. I grew up on rock," he claimed.
"(Producers) seemed to have their way of doing things. I'm not sure why they wouldn't let me be me."
Nicole took his complaint to the show's producers and came back the same day with an offer, according to Dexter: He would be bounced on Thursday's results show if he agreed to return for the season finale.
Dexter said he was contractually bound to remain on the show and wouldn't have quit, but he appreciated the out he was given - despite the $5m record contract that goes to the winner.
"They (producers) took the opportunity to cut me, to let me just fly and do things the way I want to do them," said Dexter, who said he communicated only with Nicole and didn't talk directly to the producers, including series creator Simon Cowell.
But the former hopeful said the show's judges were "great", including Cowell, who he called "a very nice guy".
"They understood me even though they couldn't give me what I wanted," he said.
