Saturday, 18 October 2008

X Factor: It's all kicking off

Behind the glamour of the televised show, there's bitching galore!

Laura White is desperately homesick

The remaining acts on The X Factor might look like they’re all getting on famously – but there are tears, bitching and pranks behind the scenes.

Eoghan, 16, and Austin, 21, have made themselves unpopular with the rest of the house – putting Vaseline on door-knobs and barricading the doors with mattresses.

‘People pretend to find it funny, but really everyone wants to kill them,’ says our spy in the X Factor mansion.

Bookies’ fave Laura White, 21, was desperately homesick in the run-up to the first show. But her mentor Cheryl was on hand to offer comfort.

‘She’s never lived away from home before and with the pressure of performing live on TV as well, it got to be too much,’ says an insider.

At least the bitching - which has reached fever pitch – between Girlband and Bad Lashes has stopped now the girls from Durham have gone home.

Now there’s an Xtra-hot romance brewing. The JLS boys made a pact that none of them would get involved with anyone during the show in case it affected their focus, but rumours are rife that one of them is getting close to a female finalist. Rival contestant Austin let slip:

‘I’ve seen a couple getting together. I won’t say who, but the clue is a certain boy band member and a certain girl.’ Watch this space…

The one contestant who’s escaping the frayed tempers in the house is reformed drug addict and mum of five Rachel Hylton, 26.

‘She’s been allowed to stay at home so that she can be with her children, as she lives close to the studios,’ says a spokeswoman. The decision is causing ill-feeling among the rest of the contestants who think she’s being shown favouritism. ‘None of us likes it, but because she’s got children no one wants to say anything,’ one contestant told Now.

See all the photos in Now magazine dated 20 October 2008 - out now!