Dannii Minogue has revealed the cheeky way she got revenge on Simon Cowell, after he publicly embarrassed her when they were judges on The X Factor UK in 2010.
The Australian singer, 54, who appeared as a judge on the British reality TV series from 2007-2010, admitted she cheekily embarrassed Simon, 66, as he was speaking to One Direction on the show.
‘Simon would often tease me so much because I would say something, and genuinely be into it, and he would just say “that’s rubbish” and turn everyone against me just for fun,’ she told The Joel Creasey Show.
She added that it became a fun game between them to try to humiliate the other, and that she won after she embarrassed him in front of auditioning boyband One Direction – by stealing his notes on them.
‘Simon couldn’t remember One Direction’s names without having a bit of paper under the desk. I knew no one else would call him out on it,’ Dannii said.
The Melbourne-born singer revealed that Simon became red-faced on the show after she put him on the spot with a question about the band – knowing full well he wouldn’t be able to answer it.
Dannii Minogue, 54, has revealed the cheeky way she got revenge on Simon Cowell, 66, after he publicly embarrassed her when they were judges on The X Factor UK in 2010
‘What are the names of One Direction? That’s our next question,’ Dannii pointedly asked him on TV.
In the excruciating reality TV moment, Simon was only able to name four of the five singers, and incorrectly named Zayne Malik as Ollie.
‘It was my winning moment, serving it back to him!’ Dannii quipped.
It comes after Dannii was reported to have ‘quit the UK’ following a fling with music mogul Simon which she says left her ‘broken’.
Dannii claimed that she suffered ‘anxiety, depression, and stress’ on the ITV programme which became so bad that she quit in May 2011 to return to her native homeland of Australia.
Part of her upset was prompted by rumours of a romance with Simon, 66, which were confirmed in an interview for the unauthorised biography, Sweet Revenge: The Intimate Life of Simon Cowell.
He said of Dannii: ‘I had a crush on her. It was genuine love. I was like a schoolboy. She was foxy, a real man’s girl. Very feminine.’
And it wasn’t just Simon who upset Dannii but also fellow judge Sharon Osbourne, who was said to be cross at her relationship with Simon.
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The Australian singer who appeared as a judge on the British reality TV series from 2007-2010, admitted she cheekily embarrassed Simon as he was speaking to One Direction on the show
She added that it became a fun game between them to try to humiliate the other, and that she won after she embarrassed him in front of auditioning boyband One Direction – by stealing his notes on them
She lashed out at Dannii in her autobiography, claiming: ‘She had an uppity attitude as she was f***ing the boss.’
And during an interview with her friend Piers Morgan on his Life Stories show, Sharon, whose husband Ozzy died in August, also hit out at the star.
Sharon, 73, said: ‘I didn’t hate her because hatred is very close to love and takes a lot of emotion and I don’t have that time for her. She was like an insect, a mosquito that wouldn’t go away.’
Responding in her own book, Dannii wrote: ‘I had to put up with insults flying at me both on and off screen.
‘Over the course of the next year, Sharon announced to anyone who would listen that I was impossible to work with (but never explained why), that I was only on The X Factor because of my looks, not any visible talent or contribution to the entertainment industry.’
