She credited Patuwai's strong performances over the course of the show with keeping him safe even though he struggled with his rendition of I Believe I Can Fly last night.
"Whenua has done incredible for most of this competition. The first [elimination] song you have to do - it's really hard. You think, 'Okay I can do this' but you totally are really scared."
Henderson admitted her age may have been a factor in her elimination.
It meant she had to work harder to keep her performances on pitch - leading to a few shaky moments throughout the show's 24 episodes.
One of her lowest moments came during her performance of Taylor Swift's Love Story in episode 21.
"Something went wrong with one of the cameras or something and I became a bit of an emotionless robot," she says.
But she refused to believe those who said her age meant she wasn't tough enough to make it in music.
"I think a lot of my feedback was that I was too young and I can't handle it and I don't think that was really fair.
"That I'm too young was probably right and I do need to mature a bit. I've still got a couple of years to mature my voice. But that I can't handle it was just said because I'm at a young age, when really we all struggled with some of the criticism."
Henderson's mentor Daniel Bedingfield was often criticised by his fellow judges for how he staged her performances.
She was filmed saying she would stop listening to him after receiving some particularly stinging criticism.
Despite that, she never stopped taking her mentor's advice on board.
"When I talked off stage and said what I said I was really angry and frustrated because that week we had all worked really hard and it completely got torn down.
"We actually get along really well. I still took in what he said."
She's cheering for Greymouth singer Jackie Thomas or boy band Moorhouse to win the show.
"I can't believe how close I became to them. The Moorhouse guys became like my big brothers. It was really amazing. My life's going to be so different without them."
- nzherald.co.nz
