The British public have believed for years that Simon Cowell, self-styled “Mr Nasty” is the worst of the TV judges but New Zealand have proved that they can go one better.

The country’s version of the X Factor has caused huge controversy in its first week of live shows and this has resulted in two of the judges being branded “bullies” and both have since been fired from the show.

It all started to go pear shaped when Natalia Kills, one of the judges on the show took a dislike to the performance of Joe Irvine; one of the show’s contestants. She declared Irvine’s performance as “disgusting” and went on to say: "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm just going to state the obvious - we have a doppelgänger in our mist.

"As an artist who respects creative integrity and intellectual property, I am disgusted with how much you have copied my husband. From the hair, to the suit, do you not have any value or respect for originality? You're a laughing stock, it's cheesy, it's disgusting, I personally found it absolutely artistically atrocious."
Husband Willy Moon, who is also a judge on the show agreed with Kills and said that he found Irvine creepy, dramatically likening him to Norman Bates.
The display has racked up a huge number of views on YouTube and makes the British version of the show look tame by comparison. It almost makes you appreciate Simon Cowell.

The pair were fired from the show almost immediately as a result of their attitude towards contestants and it was revealed that Kills was previously reprimanded for shouting and swearing at the audience during auditions.

It’s commendable that the show’s producers made the drastic decision. Admittedly, they did receive huge amounts of pressure from members of the public who felt that the pair had gone too far but it could have been quite easy for producers to hold on to them for the sake of entertainment. It can’t be denied that the comments have led to a huge amount of publicity for the show, and ratings will probably increase as a result but if Kills and Moon has been kept on, it would have sent completely the wrong message.

They may have bowed to extreme pressure from the public but in the end, the result is the same and the message has been sent that bullying, even if it is by someone famous and powerful, will not be tolerated.