The Sun is running with a story today, which claims Matt Cardle had a very, very quick romp with a make-up artist minutes before he went on stage last week. I know, I find this very hard to believe as well. He had man flu for God's sake, how would he muster up the energy to get jiggy on a couch? I suppose, when you think about it, though, it would explain the sweats he was having on stage. Nah, I'm not falling for this one, but it's a juicy read so I'll fill you in.

According to Lauren Clements, a 23-year-old model/make up artist, she was applying some touch ups (of the make up kind) to a choir backstage when Matt happened to walk past. He took an instant shine to her, held a door open for her and then managed to get her up to his pokey dressing room where they proceeded to get to know one another's anatomy a little better. The following comes from Ms Clement who claimed this was not something she would usually do; "He had suggested we check out his new dressing room and I went along with it. He's a real charmer and I was just swept along. His dressing room was upstairs. It's like a little box. It's got a little sofa and a sink. Nothing too fancy, just everything you need for privacy (and a bonk obviously). The contestants get all their fancy stuff done in the dressing room downstairs - this was just a place to hang out for Matt. We used the sofa and it was very nice. Matt certainly knows what he is doing. We were all over each other on his couch for about 20 minutes and made it back down just in time for the show to start."

Don't worry ladies, there doesn't seem to be a future here, as Lauren continued to say that they have kept in touch but that's about it. It was just about two adults having fun, so that means there's still hope for us yet.

In other X Factor news, Cheryl has told Simon, and the world, that the gloves are off. Apparently Simon claimed yesterday at a press conference Cheryl couldn't cope with having two acts in the final: "I think it is double pressure on Cheryl this year. The pressure of wrecking it for two people is too much to take into the finals. I am happy taking one act into the final. I would put my money on One Direction." In response, the Geordie said: "The gloves are 100% off. Simon would love to have two acts in the final. I have two very special girls in there and it is not about me winning, it is about one of these two winning. I am very confident about these girls."

But more importantly, the issue of the salute was raised at the conference. Who came up with it and why the f**k do they do it? Cheryl says she owns the salute as she does it for the 'soldiers' and her fans while Simon claims the salute came from him, when he started it on American Idol. Well, come Saturday, we'll find out if Cheryl is a salute robber as her boss plans to play a clip on Saturday's show proving he is right. Of course he is.

Finally, there were rumours that Mary was to appear on The Late Late Show this evening, but due to X Factor commitments and rehearsals for the final, she had to pull out. Louis has said that he hopes she'll be on next week *woops*

-Alicia Coyle.

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