Simon Cowell was slapped by an ‘X Factor’ contestant after he pushed her to reveal her age.
At the Manchester try-outs, one of the hopefuls took to the stage in front of the 57-year-old music mogul, Louis Walsh, 64, Sharon Osbourne, 64 and 38-year-old Alesha Dixon – who was standing in for Nicole Scherzinger – but when Simon kept asking for her age, the contestant had enough.
A source told the Daily Mirror: "The woman looked like she was in her 60s but wasn’t willing to share her age with the judges.
"Simon kept pushing her for a number and so she ran up to him on the panel and slammed her hands down on his arms, giving him a bit of a slap.
"She told him he should never ask a lady her age, but the other judges were pretty shocked at her slapping Simon."
Despite being slapped, the rest of the auditions are reported to have gone pretty well with bosses believing they may have found the new Harry Styles in a hopeful Harrison Styles.
The source said: "He was telling the judges he wanted to prove he was a star like his namesake.
"There was a lot of amusement about his name but Harrison was very serious about his singing."
The new series of the show will be returning at the end of August, with the four judges and Dermot O’Leary hosting.
But it is rumoured Simon will be changing some elements of the show in a bid to make ‘The X Factor’ the best talent contest on ITV after the channel bought the rights of ‘The Voice’ and starting screening it this year.
Rylan Clark-Neal – who presented the spin-off show ‘The Xtra Factor’ last year – said: "I have actually heard there will be some changes this year. The length of the series, the way the live shows play out will be slightly different and there won’t be the ‘The Xtra Factor’ anymore."
Simon Cowell slapped during X Factor auditions
