The boy band Avenue has been ejected from Britain's popular "The X Factor" TV talent competition for concealing they had a management deal.

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"It was a hard decision," judge Louis Walsh was quoted as saying by The Mirror Tuesday. "The boys are talented but they broke the rules. They had to go."

British music mogul Ashley Tabor reportedly put the four singers together and told them not to tell "X Factor" officials about his involvement with the group, the newspaper said.

"They misled us," judge Simon Cowell said. It wouldn't have been fair to allow them to deprive another act of a slot in the finals."

Cowell has been splitting his time between judging the "X-Factor" finals and visiting his 80-year-old mother, who is hospitalized with a broken hip, the Mirror said.

"She's fine. She's strong as an ox," he said.