Britain's Got Talent: Simon Cowell dishes out dreaded X moments before group professes love for him

ITV's Britain's Got Talent (BGT) semi-final got off to a cheeky start when Dame Nation, a group of performing pantomime dames flashed their panties at the BGT panel. The cheeky move was made all the hilarious when the audience realised there was a hidden message embroidered on the panties.

Each dame's panties was embroidered with a letter. So when they stood in line, the sentence read 'We Love Simon.'

To add extra drama to an already super-tense moment, judge Simon Cowell, 62, dished out a dreaded X seconds before the panties flashing moment. When asked by presenter Declan Donnelly, 46, how he felt, Cowell, sheepishly replied: "I feel really, really, really bad."

Read more: ITV Britain's Got Talent fans make same complaint about judges before backing David after he's booed

Fending off boos from the audience, Cowell stood his ground and tried to justify the reason for his X. He said: "Look, at that point, it wasn't going great. But everything changed at the mid-way point.

"And also the second half had a lot more energy. It was more fun.

"So I'm kinda half-taking my X away. You were really, really funny."

Fellow judge David Walliams, 50, had the opposite reaction to Dame Nation's performance. He shouted: "You'll be surprised to know I loved it!

"It was a riot of colour and jokes. And just wonderful, wonderful personalities shining through."

Judge Aleesha Dixon, 43, said: "You're definitely more David's cup of tea than mine. Having said that, I still think it was a really colourful opener full of energy and lots of fun.

"You made the audience happy. And that's what it's all about."

Judge, Amanda Holden, 51, said: "You were very funny, very colourful. My kind of act, just ignore him [Cowell] on the end."

Dame Nation's