Howard Donald throws serious shade at former Take That bandmate Robbie Williams

Ooft, handbags at dawn.

We honestly never expected the biggest drama to come from last night’s X Factor to be courtesy of Howard Donald of all people, yet here we are.

The Take That star sparked a Twitter frenzy when he took to his social media account to seemingly throw shade at his former bandmate, Robbie Williams.

Writing to his 167k followers just after 8pm, Howard wrote: “Try learning something and watch #planetearth2 instead of the sh**e on itv.

“Record and play to your kids,they will be transfixed! #awesome [SIC]”.

And what happened to be airing on ITV at that precise moment? Why, the X Factor result show, of course – which Robbie was performing on.

Ouch.

Although a subtle dig, it wasn’t wasted on Howard’s followers as they responded to the tweet in shock.

One wrote: “Oi, don’t call Robbie Williams sh**e!”

Others added: “Excuse you, Rob’s on it tonight.

“Robbie Williams isn’t sh**e.

“Awkward, your mate Rob’s on ITV…

“Rob’s on ITV, cheeky t***.”

If Robbie noticed Howard’s tweet, he didn’t show it as he gave a showstopping performance on ITV before Four Of Diamonds lost their place in the X Factor competition.