Simon admits THAT emotional audition almost never aired

After competition hopeful Josh Daniel’s performance on the X Factor moved judges to tears, Simon Cowell has admitted that he found the show particularly difficult to watch.

Simon revealed that after the death of his mother, Julie, who had passed away only days before the audition took place, the performance Josh gave was a painful reminder of the famous judge’s mom.

He was left in tears after Josh took to the stage to perform the song Jealous.

The 55-year old music mogul explained that he found it extremely difficult to watch himself become so emotional on screen when the episode aired.

'When I watched it on the show, it was very difficult to watch back, but that's just what happens when you make one of these shows. Of course, it brought it all back,” he said.

According to The Sun, Simon has insisted he didn’t want to audition to be cut from the show and felt that ultimately it was the producers’ decision whether or not to leave it in the episode.

'They were very cautious about showing the footage to me in the first place for obvious reasons.

 But then you've got to take your personal hat off and put on your producer's hat, because what happened and it's not fair on the contestant not to show it.”

He explained that the moment was very “raw” and it did take him back to a painful moment in his life. Ultimately though he said:

“You can’t censor stuff like that… It’s not fair on the contestant not to show it.”

Josh, 21, chose to sing the Labrinth song in memory of his friend from school Thomas who passed away in 2013.