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" Gary Barlow has spoken about the criticism Christopher Maloney has received on The X Factor, saying that it is as if his mentee has &amp;quot;killed somebody&amp;quot;. The 41-year-old judge made the comments on The Xtra Factor tonight (November 24) to presenters Caroline Flack and Olly Murs.  Asked by Flack and Murs how he felt about the negative attention Maloney has been receiving, Barlow said: &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s a guy from Liverpool who&amp;#039;s just singing on a talent competition, and it&amp;#039;s like he&amp;#039;s killed somebody. Give him a break.&amp;quot; Additionally, Barlow also said that he didn&amp;#039;t want to take &amp;quot;any credit at all&amp;quot; for Maloney&amp;#039;s performances, because the 34-year-old singer &amp;quot;works so hard&amp;quot;. Barlow also said that the last remaining act in his &amp;#039;Overs&amp;#039; category had &amp;quot;grown so much as a vocalist&amp;quot;, and that he was really proud of him.  Fellow judge Tulisa Contostavlos was asked by the Xtra Factor presenters if Maloney deserved more credit for his performances, and she replied: &amp;quot;If I thought that, I would say it.&amp;quot; Earlier this week, Barlow had said that Maloney was the &amp;quot;loveliest, sweetest man&amp;quot;.  Boyband and former X Factor contestants JLS have also slammed the &amp;quot;witch hunt&amp;quot; surrounding Maloney. Watch Christopher Maloney sing Lionel Richie&amp;#039;s &amp;#039;Dancing on the Ceiling&amp;#039; on The X Factor below:      Photo gallery - The X Factor ABBA and Motown week:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/the-x-factor/news/a440667/x-factor-gary-barlow-its-like-chris-maloney-has-killed-someone/>