Controversial rapper Honey G said she hopes to make it all the way to the X Factor final after she performed a dance break during her rendition of Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby.

The novelty act donned a white tracksuit and baseball cap with dark sunglasses to gyrate with a troupe of dancers for the song, which is based on the bassline of Queen and David Bowie’s Under Pressure.

Undated handout photo issued by ITV of Honey G who is through to the final 12 of of the ITV1 programme The X Factor.
(Syco/Thames/Burmiston)

When the judges gave their comments, Nicole Scherzinger told her: “I loved the honey drizzle dance break. You stepped it up this week and shut it down.”

Simon Cowell added: “A lot of people are calling me asking me about you. When people talk about you, you win, and a lot of people are talking about you.”

Afterwards, Honey told host Dermot O’Leary she hopes to be among the last acts standing.

Ryan Lawrie was the first hopeful to sing during diva week, delivering a rendition of Rolling In The Deep by Adele, but judge Louis Walsh said the 20-year-old hopeful was “like a busker singing on the street” while Simon said it was “like a pancake”.

Group 5 After Midnight also faced criticism from Simon for their “cheesy” performance of Amy Winehouse’s Valerie and girlband Four Of Diamonds were told by Sharon Osbourne their mash-up of Lady Marmalade and Bang Bang “needed more welly”.

However, Matt Terry, who sang Mariah Carey’s I’ll Be There, won praise for his impressive falsetto, with Nicole telling him: “If this was the vocal Olympics, you’d get not a gold medal, but a platinum medal” and Gifty Louise was hailed for her emotional performance of Lay Me Down by Sam Smith, which she dedicated to her late mother.

Relley C battled flu for a rousing performance of Natural Woman by Aretha Franklin after being put on vocal rest earlier in the week and struggling to sing for singer John Legend, who offered masterclasses to all the contestants ahead of his performance on the live show on Sunday.

Emily Middlemas sang Whitney Houston’s How Will I Know while Sam Lavery attempted Michael Jackson’s Earth Song before Finnish hopeful Saara Aalto closed the show with Bjork’s Oh So Quiet.

Saara, who has triumphed in the sing-off two weeks in a row, was praised by Nicole for a “bonkers, bizarre and bananas” performance, adding: “You served it up your own way.”

Simon added: “It was incredible, this is what we have been waiting for because you are a bit bonkers.”

Nicole surprised the audience by opening the show with a performance of Chaka Khan’s I’m Every Woman and Aretha Franklin’s Respect.

The X Factor continues with live results of the public vote on ITV1 at 8pm on Sunday.