Last night The X Factor took a rather strange turn as we saw two friends ramp up the dramatics during their audition over undercooked chicken.
Hopefuls Ottavio Columbro and Bradley Hunt came dressed in their finest, which prompted judge Louis Walsh to describe Ottavio as a "birthday cake", and first planned to audition separately, telling the panel they had fallen out after Bradley previously gave Ottavio a plate of semi-raw, pink chicken to eat, which could have made him very ill.
The pair were given a lot of airtime as the tale unraveled on-screen before they were called upon to make up and audition as a duo, which led to them being put through to the Boot Camp stage of the ITV show.
READ MORE: The X Factor hopefuls accidently reveal their show fate before vital scenes air
And the scenes didn’t go down well with viewers who slammed them as fake, saying the pair were simply acting up for publicity.
Fans of the show have hit out in previous years after some auditions seemed staged but this year have welcomed a more natural, back to basics X Factor.
However, they turned this weekend after watching Ottavio and Bradley on their televisions.
One person tweeted: "Just when I forgot why I stopped watching #xfactor a long time ago - cheesy, fake and 10 mins devoted to a lovers tiff over chicken! #crap."
READ MORE: One Direction's Louis Tomlinson's 'twin' auditions for The X Factor
Another simply blasted: "This is so fake!"
Someone else wrote: "I’m sorry but X Factor is so fake. Them two lads arguing about chicken omds it’s so fake surely."
And another posted: "No way would X Factor potentially put money in a band that broke up over chicken, actually offended at how obviously fake this storyline is."
During The Xtra Factor on ITV2 after the main show had aired, the celebrity panel, which included Charlotte Crosby and Bobby Cole Norris, said they thought the pair were actually better when they auditioned as solo artists despite the judges putting them through to the next stage of the auditions as a duo.
During their audition as a pair, a seemingly unimpressed Simon Cowell told Ottavio and Bradley: "I think you’re both OK."
But they both went through to the next stage with four yes votes.
The X Factor continues tonight on ITV1 at 8pm.