X Factor: Brutal clip of contestant being subjected to cruel comments shocks social media after resurfacing

‘Can’t believe how harsh they used to be,’ one person wrote

A resurfaced clip from The X Factor has gone viral on social media for its extremely mean content.

Footage from the first series of the show, which aired in 2004, was shared on TikTok.

It shows an aspiring singer being subjected to nasty comments by judges Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh following her audition.

After the hopeful, named Samantha, sings Mariah Carey’s song “Hero”, Cowell says: “You sound nice, but you look like a shop girl – that’s the problem.”

Cowell then says it would be “a lot of work” to change, to which Samantha replies: “I know what you’re saying.”

He then asks the hopeful what she thinks he’s saying. “That I’m overweight,” she says, and Cowell immediately responds: “You are. You really are.”

Walsh, who brands Samantha “mission impossible”, says he is not putting her through to the next round. However, Cowell decides to give the hopeful a chance, leaving Osbourne with the casting vote.

She puts Samantha through, but brutally says: “Mrs, go on a diet.”

Sharon Osbourne brutally tells ‘X Factor’ hopeful to ‘go on a diet’ (YouTube)

When Samantha returned later in the series, she told presenter Kate Thornton that she was seven months pregnant, stating: “At the end of the day, I’m pregnant. There’s nothing I can do about it. So I’m going to try and go as far as I can, the way I am.”

The clip has been met with outrage, with many praising the recent decision by ITV to axe the long-running talent contest after 17 years.