The battle of the X-Factor contestants

Apparently, James Arthur has risked his life by slamming One Direction on Twitter.

The 2012 'X Factor' winner, who won a recording contract with Sony as a result, called the boyband a "marketing product".

He didn't act very pally with his his fellow Syco record label mates after a Twitter user hailed them as the most successful act to have come out of the show.

James couldn't resist retweeting the fan's message which read: "It's ironic that the lowest rating xfactor ever looks like to have produced its biggest star. (sic)"

This prompted another user, Tyler Lee who may not be a 1D fan but is definetely not a James Arthur fan, to respond: "Hate to be a buzz kill but one direction are the highest grossing artists around ATM - James is s**t x. (sic)"

James duly launched an abusive verbal attack, calling the 17-year-old a "loser" in a series of direct messages, later posted by the Lee in a screenshot uploaded from his mobile phone.

The spat prompted a bit of a reaction.

@TyylerLee 😂😂😂😂 this is cracking me up, get 1D involved ;)

— Kayleigh (@kayleighclarkee) September 17, 2013

James arthur - winner of cyber bullying 2k13 x

— Becca (@beccccax_) September 17, 2013