Simon Cowell kicking the judges out for laughing, Rylan Clark-Neal sobbing into a cushion… and 7 other memorable X Factor moments that had nothing to do with singing
Remember when Robbie Williams stripped down to his boxers, and one singer got PUNCHED on stage?
X FACTOR auditions tend to come in three varieties – the breathtakingly good, the horrendously bad and the downright hilarious.
We can all remember the awful acts, but what about the memorable moments that have NOTHING to do with singing?
From Rylan Neal-Clark’s dramatic reaction as Nicole Scherzinger put him through, to all those times Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh just couldn’t stop laughing – these are nine of the funniest clips.
A jockey good laugh
When Dawn, who wanted to be the next Madonna, revealed she worked as an apprentice jockey – the judges just couldn’t contain themselves.
Poor Dawn was so thrown by Sharon and Louis’ hysterical reaction that she had to check the lyrics to her song.
And the whole thing got a lot funnier as Dawn began to sing.
Sharon was so amused that she resorted to snorting and banging on the table – as Dannii Minogue pursed her lips in an attempt to hold it in.
Simon Cowell ended up chucking the troublesome pair out, and Sharon even walked into the door.
Dead awkward
It was no surprise when Simon asked Dermot O’Leary to return to X Factor, after a whole host of awkward moments when Olly Murs and Caroline Flack were in charge.
None worse than this one, where the Dear Darlin’ singer accidentally told Monica Michael she was going home – when actually it was going to deadlock. Whoops!
Don't quit your day job
Back in 2008, holiday camp singer Holly said she wanted to ‘surprise’ the judges – and she certainly did that.
Simon told her: “Your mouth is far, far too big when you sing. It was like looking into a cave. I’ve never seen anything so big.”
Things got even funnier when Cheryl began to give her a pep talk and career advice.
She told Holly: “Maybe you should take up preaching or speeching, because that part of it was great. You sold yourself.”
Louis agreed, adding: “You’re a very good sales woman. You should do sales. Tele sales, something like that.”
“Motivational speaking”, Simon suggested.
Monster-in-law
When nervous Lorraine took to the stage, she bought her 86-year-old Mancunian mother-in-law with her – leading a confused Louis to ask: “Are you a duo?”
The pair certainly made an impression – as an unamused Edna stormed back into the audition room and gave Simon, who had been laughing at Lorraine’s appalling voice, a piece of her mind.
Introducing the confrontation, the narrator said: “He’d shattered dreams across the globe but this time Mr Nasty had gone too far.
“One of the most powerful men in music was about to meet his match – Edna.”
Edna chastised Simon, saying: “You laughed! You ought to alter your ways. Listen, Simon.
“You think you’re better than anybody. I think you was very ignorant. Yes, you was ignorant Simon.”
Amazingly, Edna managed to break the normally steely Simon down – and get him to apologise.
Naked ambition
When Gary Barlow asked former Take That band mate to join him at the Judges’ Houses, he told the lads in his category, the boys, that he needed no introduction.
Robbie Williams certainly made an entrance, and took outfit inspiration from Sinitta by arriving in just a set of plant leaves.
Marcus Collins joked: “For a minute, I genuinely thought it was Sinitta”, as Robbie strutted his stuff in the Adam and Eve inspired palm leave outfit – which left very little to the imagination.
But he could have been wearing absolutely anything, as the lads were blown away by his very presence.
Punching above her weight
When best friends Abby and Lisa took to the stage and for their act, creatively called Ablisa, they were expecting a good reception.
But after one of the duo insulted guest judge Natalie Imbruglia, asking who she was, an almighty bust up happened.
It’s worth watching just to hear Cheryl exclaim: “She punched ‘er in the face!”
Big sobber
Everyone knows the show means a lot to the contestants, but no one had a better reaction than when Rylan got through.
His dramatic sobs will live in the nation’s memories for years to come – and it’s his amateur dramatics, not his singing voice, that got him his future jobs in Big Brother.
Yeah but... no but...
Sometimes it’s a compliment to be compared to a celeb, and sometimes it’s the complete opposite. In this case, it was very definitely the latter.
Simon told one act: "Fiona, why I’ve found this difficult is you look like the girl on – what’s that programme with Matt Lucas?"
Sharon: "Vicky Pollard!"
Fiona: "Oh thanks! So I look like a man?"
Simon: "No, no, you don’t look like a man. You look like a man dressed as a woman."
Fiona: "So I look like a drag?"
Simon: "You do a bit. The image is horrendous."
He continued to tell the other half of the duo: "You look like a stretched version of her, it just doesn’t look good together."
Apparently, people DO pay to see the semi-professional singers perform – entry prices to working men’s clubs and Bingo nights. Sounds like a profitable business.
