Simon Cowell blooded murder

EXCLUSIVE: Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the audition room, he's back and it's...

 

By Gemma Calvert

TELLY hatchet man Simon Cowell showed no mercy last night as he laid into petrified pop wannabes with a string of pitiless putdowns.
"We've had the musical version of Valium" and "You are not Manchester United, you are Dagenham" were jibes greeting a fresh batch of hopefuls in the new series of Pop Idol.
And his acid-tongued rants had a devastating effect.
The very first contestant on the ITV show was so upset she blubbed backstage for a full hour—possibly making her the show's biggest bawler. And after a verbal battering from Cowell, one lad was so furious he threatened to deck pop's Mr Nasty.

Lashing

He was seen on the ITV2 version of the show storming: "Simon, I think you're a complete tw*t and if I saw you on the street I'd quite willingly knock you out."
Following the huge success of the first Pop Idol contest, more than 20,000 wannabes applied for the second series, double the number last year.
But judges—Cowell, producer Pete Waterman, former Hear'Say manager Nicki Chapman and Capital FM DJ Neil Fox—have their work cut out finding a star to follow Gareth Gates and Will Young.
Viewers will see the field whittled down to 100, who will audition a second time for the No1 prize—a multi-million pound recording contract with Cowell's label BMG Records and the chance to be managed by pop guru Simon Fuller.

But to win, contestants must face their worst nightmare—a tongue-lashing from Cowell.
First on last night was Natalie Abban, 19, from Middlesex.
Cowell, who never once looked at the 19-year-old during her seductive recital of All That Jazz, told her: "Your problem, Natalie, was you chose a stage song and you're not good enough to be on stage, let alone a Pop Idol."
After spending an hour in tears, Natalie said: "I got upset because Simon wasn't even looking at me and I found that so disrespectful." Nerves got the better of Warren Wald, 22, from Mill Hill, north London, who sang a ‘unique' version of Survivor's Eye Of The Tiger.
His performance left Cowell and Pete Waterman in despair, and Neil Fox and Nicki Chapman in hysterics.
Cowell, 42, informed the maths graduate he was out of the equation with: "I don't think anyone in London is as bad as you, and London is a big city. Off you go. Goodbye."
On the ITV2 version of the show, he was seen challenging the chubby reject: "You find me someone in the next five hours who sings as bad as you and I'll send you to the next round."

Refusing the challenge, shocked Warren said: "I've sung in public before and had a positive reaction. I felt a bit more nervous than I normally do."
Even busty Morwenna Marshall, 22, from Highgate, north London, failed to win over ladies' man Cowell.
It took four attempts for the cake decoration student to even get the words out as she tried Beverly Craven's Promise Me.
Cowell told her: "I'm just speechless, Morwenna. I don't know what to say because it was horrendous." Morwenna later hit back: "I know Simon Cowell can't sing and isn't talented so he should just calm down and stop judging other people."
ITV2 viewers saw brunette Lisa hit the top notes of Jennifer Rush's Power Of Love, but it failed to thrill 
Cowell.

Terrible

"That song does one of two things. It either transfixes you because it is a beautiful song or it sends you to sleep. And you fell into the latter. We've had the musical version of Valium."
Lisa said later: "Apparently I don't have that little spark that they're looking for."
Carla Winters, 24, from Kent, was a contestant last year and is now a Page Three girl. She bombed with her rendition of Al Green's Let's Stay Together.

Cowell told her: "It was a terrible audition. Carla, you are not Manchester United, you are Dagenham."
Carla couldn't handle the rejection and later told ITV2: "I'm going to keep on trying. They haven't seen the last of me."