Simon Cowell furious with Mel B for branding X Factor contestant Fleur East ‘a cheat’

Those cheeky X Factor judges definitely weren’t at their best on Saturday night and while they may not have relished in their infighting, we devoured it from the comfort of our living rooms whilst chomping on our salty snacks and liquid refreshments.

But it seems one argument has turned nasty – Simon Cowell and Mel B are at war after the former Spice Girl accused his contestant Fleur East of cheating.

Mel claimed Fleur turned up the backing vocals during the chorus of her performance of Monie Love’s It’s A Shame so that her voice blended with the other singers on the track and could not be as easily heard in a bid to cover up any blemishes.

And Mr Nasty is apparently livid as he believes it could ruin Fleur’s chances of winning the show.

A source told The Sun: “Simon was absolutely furious with Mel over what she said. He has really moulded Fleur and he thinks she’s got a real chance of winning the competition, going on to have a great career and ultimately making him a lot of money.

“There’s nothing worse than being branded a cheater and even at this stage of the show, it could be a difficult tag to shake off. Usually after Xtra Factor the judges will have a bit of a debrief and a chat, but Simon was so angry he stormed off to his dressing room.

“Mel didn’t want to see him either, so she stayed holed up until 1am and didn’t come out until after pretty much everyone had gone home.”

The artist formerly known as Scary Spice attempted to laugh things off on the results show on Sunday, insisting things on the panel were fine.

But, even if Mel and Simon are now back in each other’s good books, we all saw how horrified Cheryl Fernandez-Versini looked for Si branding her Kermit for her choice of green dress so it seems the battle is still on between the judges.

Come on, guys! Let’s all kiss and make up! We’re sure Simon would love that...

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