X Factor hopeful Caitlyn Vanbeck accidentally PUNCHED by Simon Cowell
She joked that she may 'press charges' against the scowling judge
SIMON Cowell certainly thought Caitlyn Vanbeck gave a knock-out performance – but almost literally knocked her out.
The 50-year-old judge accidentally punched the hopeful in the face as he gave his final six a group hug.
But the 18-year-old student from Edinburgh didn’t seem too fussed about it, joking that she might “press charges”.
When asked the question by a viewer, she responded: “Yeah, maybe. He’s got a lot of money.”
The clip was only revealed on ITV2’s The Xtra Factor and showed the media mogul knock the singer in the face with his fist as he hugged Emily Middlemas, 17, Olivia Garcia, 16, Soheila Clifford, 18, Kayleigh Marie Morgan, 19 and Gifty Louise, 20.
And some fans also weren’t too happy with Simon Cowell earlier on in the night after they mistook a comment he made about Caitlyn for calling her FAT.
This had followed her moving rendition of Rise Up by Andra Day, which left Nicole Scherzinger in tears.
After the performance, the Don’t Hold Your Breath singer told her that she’d “better take one of those seats home” with her.
She added: “You moved me, I just want to thank you for that performance. Thank you.”
Simon also heaped on the praise: “I don’t think you’re aware of how good you are. I don’t want to give you a chair… I want to give you a sofa.”
Of course, the judge had meant that her talent was so big that she needed a sofa. But some took it slightly more literally.
One tweeted: “You calling her fat, Cowell?!”
While another simply questioned: “Did Simon just call her fat?”
A viewer joked: “‘I don’t want to give you a chair. I want to give you a sofa’. Come on, Simon, she wasn’t that fat!”
But other viewers were slightly more switched on to what the judge meant.
A fan commented: “Simon was obvs referring to Caitlyn’s talent, not calling her fat because he said he wanted to give her a sofa not a chair. #XFactor #idiots”.
Another tweeted: “@SimonCowell was not saying @caitlynvanbackx was fat, he was saying she was outstanding! People making issues over nothing! #xfactor”.
One remarked on Simon using an alternate catchphrase… but wasn’t convinced it would stick: “Not sure that ‘I don’t want to give you a chair, I want to give you a sofa’ will catch on like ‘I didn’t like it, I loved it!”.
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