Simon Cowell called out Nicole Scherzinger for fake crying on The X Factor – and viewers loved it.
Former Pussycat Doll Scherzinger appeared to be in tears as her Overs act Kevin Davy White delivered his rendition of Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You during Sunday night’s show.
She said White’s performance was “a masterpiece”, but the rest of the judges were less impressed.
As Cowell gave his verdict, he sniped: “Nicole did pretend to cry and she has done well to be fair.”
Many viewers saw the funny side, posting crying with laughter emojis on Twitter.
One person posted: “Did Simon just say “Nicole did pretend to cry and she did a good job” LMAO.”
Others joked that Cowell’s put-down was “savage”.
Meanwhile, Sharon Osbourne managed to land herself in hot water by dropping the F-bomb.
X Factor judge, Sharon Osbourne, accidentally dropped the F-Bomb LIVE ON AIR as she saw two of her three girls sent home in the weekend’s quarter finals.
Holly Tandy and Rai-Elle Williams were both eliminated, meaning Sharon heads to this week’s semi-finals with just one contestant – Grace Davies.
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Grace, who performed an original song called Hesitate went straight through to the semis, followed by group, Rak-Su.
Sharon was left stunned when host, Dermot O’Leary, announced that Overs Matt Linnen and Kevin Davy White – both mentored by Nicole Scherzinger – would get the final spots.
Shocked Sharon obviously forgot herself for a moment as she blurted out: “Oh [expletive].” before slamming her hand over her mouth as she stood with Holly and Rai-Elle.
She managed to regain her composure when Dermot headed over for a chat. She said: “They have both done so great.
“It has only been six weeks, not 10 like usual, so they are already ahead of the game.
“They are not going away.”
Fans were quick to point out Sharon’s x-rated slip up as they chatted about the show on Twitter.
One viewer posted a screen-grab of the moment Shazza noticed her slip-up. They captioned it: “Sharon Osbourne when she realised her live F-WORD slip had been heard loud and clear on live TV.”
Another added: “Sharon swearing at the end was probably best part of #XFactor tonight.”
A third said: “Sharon Osbourne just F-worded on live tv! Cowell looked sick!”
And a fourth tweeted: “Sharon just said the F-word very loudly and clearly on the #xfactor. Oh dear…”
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Grace, Kevin and Matt will join Rak-Su, Lloyd Macey and Scottish group The Cutkelvins in next week’s semi finals.