X Factor’s Simon Cowell slates colleagues as “dummies”

X Factor honcho Simon Cowell has slated the people he works with as “dummies” during the fourth live show on Saturday night.

Cowell was quick to defuse a potential war of words with Louis Walsh and his fellow judges after the remark.

The comment came during Cowell’s feedback on Aiden Grimshaw’s performance of Michael Jackson’s classic Thriller.

The 18-year-old's spooky Halloween rendition of the famed song, aided by a group of dancers who acted as dummies, left Cowell unimpressed.

“I know what it’s like to work with dummies,” Cowell said.

The comment drew gasps from the audience and daggers from Cheryl Cole and company.

Cowell instantly backtracked “not you” to Cheryl and moments later gave a feeble “not you” to both Dannii and Louis.