Girlband parents' pride as Bristol group survive to sing again
John Billitteri, 49, from Kingswood, was in the audience to see daughter Marisa, 20, and bandmates Tita and Phoebe Lau and Layla Manoochehri open the show with Bananarama's Venus.
"I thought their performance was awesome and I'm not just saying that because I'm Marisa's dad," he said.
"I didn't think they deserved to be in the bottom two acts.
"I stood up and clapped every act on Saturday – all the families did the same. I still have mixed emotions. It's a weird feeling.
"I'm overjoyed, obviously, that they got through to the next round and I want to thank all the people of Bristol who voted for them, but I'm not happy at the same time because they were in the bottom two."
The girls had to go head to head against fellow girl group Bad Lashes to stay in the competition.
Girlband chose Dionne Warwick's That's What Friends Are For while Bad Lashes, from the North East, sang Wonderwall, by Oasis, which got them through to the live stages.
The judges' vote was split and the outcome was decided by the public vote, which Girlband won.
John said the girls will be stronger in next weekend's Michael Jackson-themed show.
"On Saturday you will see a different performance – they will definitely not be in the bottom two," he said.
"I want the people of Bristol who didn't vote to get behind Girlband and vote this Saturday. They are a Bristol band."
Tita, 20, from Whitehall, founded Girlband with Layla.
They had met at competitions and auditions and thought they would stand a better chance as a girl group, so recruited Tita's younger sister Phoebe and Marisa, whom the sisters had known since childhood.
Tita's mum, Karen, was in the audience on Saturday.
"My voice is absolutely hoarse from where I was screaming and cheering so much," she said.
"I couldn't believe it. They didn't deserve to be in the bottom two.
"They performed really well and they looked fantastic. I was so proud.
"When they sang their survival song it was beautiful.
"Hopefully now that Bristol and the rest of the country have seen that they are really good they won't end up in that position again."
The X Factor continues next Saturday at 7.25pm on ITV1.
Comment on this story