Simon Cowell has admitted some ‘X Factor’ contestants have "blown their chances" on the show after a welcome party got out of hand.
Hopefuls who had made it to the Boot Camp stage of the competition were shown on screen at the weekend enjoying drinks to "get to know" one another, but after the cameras stopped rolling, the contestants kept drinking until 6am.
After being provided with unlimited free alcohol by topless butlers, a number of the auditionees jumped into the hot tub – with or without clothes – and rumours later swept the group that a number of contestants had slept together.
Aspiring singer Soheila Clifford, 18, said: "There were a couple of people who did get carried away on the first night. People were just getting thrown in with their clothes on.
"Truth be told though I don’t actually know who was having sex. There were rumours all over the week. People were saying about this person, that person, X person – them and them."
And show chief Simon admitted the wild antics of the drunken hopefuls had affected their progress in the competition.
He told The Sun newspaper: "I did say to them, ‘There is a party to get to know each other. Don’t take it too far. And remember tomorrow you are going to be singing’.
"I was there for half an hour. I don’t know who kept it out of their pants. Certain people probably blew their chances."
Simon and his fellow judges, Nicole Scherzinger, 38, Sharon Osbourne, 63, and Louis Walsh, 64, had interrupted the shenanigans to warn the contestants not to go overboard with their partying, but the 56-year-old music mogul was unsurprised that some of them didn’t heed their warning.
He said: "We got there quite early at the beginning of the party and there is always that feeling when you get 150 people together.
"I’m not surprised. I wouldn’t encourage it. But at the same time it is what it is…
"There were people who did party a little bit too much. Some people took me literally.
"I didn’t mean it that way. I meant shake hands and say hello."
X Factor contestants ‘blow chances’ with wild party
