Yahoo News The X Factor's Dermot O'Leary reveals "terrible moment" on-air
Dermot O'Leary may always come across as smooth and professional while presenting but he's revealed that he has had some close calls in the past.
The long-time X Factor presenter, who is set to host the National Television Awards for the tenth year running on January 22, told OK! magazine that he has had some "terrible" moments on live TV in the past.
"I haven’t dropped the F bomb yet," he said. "There was a terrible moment when Katie Waissel was on the show.
"She was in the sing-off and I said: 'Good luck hun,' but when it was replayed on YouTube it sounded like I said: 'Good luck…' and then the worst swear word you can think of, to the point where she came in and asked for an apology.
"My producer said: 'He can’t apologise for something he didn’t say!'"
Dermot also defended the show's viewing figures, which have fallen since its debut in 2004, saying that it is "frustrating" having to contend with stories about ratings.
"If I’m honest with you, we don’t worry too much about ratings, we’re just trying to make a good show," he said.
An old clip from The X Factor - from way back in the day before Dermot hosted the show - was recently unearthed on Twitter, which saw judges Simon Cowell, Sharon Osborne and Louis Walsh being VERY harsh to auditionee Samantha, who had cancelled her honeymoon to attend the audition and was also pregnant at the time.
The clip saw Simon tell her: "You sound nice, but you look like a shop girl", before telling her changing her appearance would be "a lot of work".
He then agreed that she was overweight, before Sharon advised her to go on a diet.
Read the full story in this week's OK! magazine - out today.
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