It’s no secret that X Factor Celebrity hasn’t exactly been setting the ratings alight, but those who’ve given the series a wide berth missed a real treat during the most recent episode.
Contestant Thom Evans made an absolutely savage dig at Louis Walsh after his performance in boyband Try Star was criticised on Saturday night.
The former rugby player and his bandmates Ben Foden and Levi Davis had sung a version of Blackstreet’s No Diggity, which they originally performed during the audition round at Simon Cowell’s house.
Giving his comments, Louis threw shade at Thom and Ben, saying: “They’ve done this song before… Levi you are an amazing, amazing soul singer and your two backing singers are OK.”
However, Thom was having none of Louis cattiness and called him out it with a real zinger.
As host Dermot O’Leary handed him the mic, Thom said: “Louis, I just want to say, with all due respect, you’ve been a backing singer to Simon for most your life, so...”
The comment was met with a standing ovation from Simon Cowell, while Nicole Scherzinger was left open-mouthed and a floundering Louis had little in the way of a comeback.
Thom later went on to say: “To be serious though Louis is right, Levi has got an amazing voice. It’s a pleasure to perform on the stage with him. But we are rugby players and we all hustle together.”
Levi added: “And we all have a place in the band. Thom is the looks, Ben’s the logistics. In all fairness we have so much fun up here, that’s all we can ask for.”
The current series of X Factor Celebrity has seen ratings fall to record lows with less than four million tuning in each week.
It was supposed to be followed by an All Stars version featuring former contestants including Alexandra Burke, Fleur East and Ray Quinn next month.
However, Simon announced last week he had shelved plans for the series, instead deciding to launch X Factor: The Band - a hunt for a new boyband or girl group.
The move was in response to Simon’s former charges Little Mix launching their own similar show on the BBC next year, claiming he’d had the idea first.
He said he’d originally been approached to produce Little Mix The Search, telling The Sun: “I told them the problem was we have a conflict of interest because we are launching X Factor The Band in 2020. We were told their show was going to launch in 2021.
“Then we had the fallout and find out Little Mix were bringing their show forward. Was that intentional because we are doing our show? I have no idea.
“But regardless, it was too much fun not to do this year. I would rather it was us doing it first.”
X Factor Celebrity continues on Saturday at 8.20pm on ITV.
