Simon Cowell lifts up his son Eric as he arrives at The X Factor auditions with Lauren Silverman
SIMON Cowell looked every inch the doting dad at The X Factor auditions in London today as lifted up his mini-me son Eric on the red carpet.
The music mogul was joined by his partner Lauren Silverman and their three-year-old son as they kicked off today's search for the next singing sensation.
The 57-year-old wore his usual audition attire of a round neck grey tshirt and boot-leg jeans while Lauren looked chic in dark jeans, red stilettos and a red and navy jumper.
Elsewhere, Nicole Scherzinger caught people's attention by showing up in the same red dress she wore the day before.
The judges were all a bit hyper after a hard day's judging and Nicole and Sharon Osbourne pulled some funny poses as they left the venue on Wednesday's night.
Nicole was also pictured giving Louis Walsh a giant hug as they made their way back to their hotels for the night.
It comes after The Sun exclusively revealed that Simon was forced to miss part of Tuesday's London auditions due to a sudden mystery illness.
The music mogul, 57, was left bed-bound after being struck down with the unknown condition — with his fellow judges having to carry on without him at Tobacco Dock in East London.
In his absence fellow judge Nicole Scherzinger, 39, stepped up with sources sayings she then became the stand out star of the show.
A source said: "Simon didn't feel well early in the day so had to have a bit of a slower start to the day than usual.
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"But he felt a bit better as Tuesday went on so decided he would attend after all.
"Nicole really stepped up to the plate without Simon there and everyone said she absolutely dominated — but in a good way."
The Sun also revealed how drastic changes were being made in a last ditch effort to rescue the struggling series.
The live weekend shows will be cut from ten to six with acts voted off on both Saturdays and Sundays meaning “tedious” performance-only Saturday episodes, which got low ratings, will be axed.
Star guest artists will perform on both days and auditions will be held at Thorpe Park in the hope that fun theme park footage will win viewers.
He will discourage novelty acts like Honey G, who came fifth last year as audience figures hit an all-time low and the show was trounced by rival Strictly Come Dancing.
Parts of Bootcamp will now be filmed in front of a studio audience.
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