Funeral singers 'depress' X Factor judges

A pair of funeral singers and a single mother who escaped a violent relationship are among the contestants facing The X Factor judges this weekend.

Tomorrow, viewers will see Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh and Dannii Minogue travel to Belfast, Manchester and Birmingham for the fourth show in the new series.

In Belfast, they meet 44-year-old twins Michelle and Julie Croghan.

Hoping to become the first twins to make the final, the funeral singers tell the judges: “The undertakers have been pushing us to come and audition.”

But they begin badly when Australian judge Minogue mistakes the women for men.

After their performance, Cowell tells them: “I’ve got to be honest girls, I’d want to throw myself in the coffin after that... you are like a couple of corpses.”

Osbourne adds: “When you sing, you have that mortuary look on your face, you sing nicely together but it’s so depressing.”

When Osbourne, who was reported to want to leave the ITV1 show, says she would like to book the pair for her own funeral, Cowell offers to pay for it.

In Manchester, the judges meet 70-year-old Maria Iaconiello, who has been writing songs for the last seven years.

She performs one of her own numbers, Wild and Sexy, leaving the judges in stitches.

In Birmingham, they see IT worker Alison Clowes, 45, who has paid for singing lessons and been preparing for The X Factor for the last three years.

After her rendition of James Blunt’s You’re Beautiful, the judges say she should get a refund from her singing teacher, who is also in the audition room.

Later, the father of contestant Kelly Northall, from Walsall, gets a dressing down after Cowell says his daughter sounded like “a dog barking”.

Northall shouts w****** at the judges and flees the room.

Her father begs the judges to give her another go.

But Cowell tells him: “She is absolutely terrible and you are partly to blame for your daughter’s disillusionment, you’ve obviously been encouraging her and that’s just crazy.”

A security guard is called in to escort the family out of the room.

Single mother Natasha Benjamin brings her seven-year-old daughter Jasmine to the Birmingham auditions.

She says she has escaped a violent relationship and wants to give her daughter a better life.

Jasmine sits with the judges as she performs Toni Braxton’s Unbreak My Heart.

Other contestants on Saturday’s show include Sam Donaghey, from Newcastle, who impresses Minogue; a topless dancer, who Cowell says has a great body; and 15-year-old Dominic, who is a big hit.

“For someone like you to come in, you look so hip, you’ve got great taste in music and you are your own person, it really, really refreshing,” says Osbourne.

:: Simon Cowell wanted to be a racing driver.

TV’s Mr Nasty said it had been his ambition.

He says on The Xtra Factor: “You know, I wanted to be a racing driver. I couldn’t. Because I wasn’t any good.”

The X Factor is on at 7.25pm tomorrow night.