Former Westlife star Shane Filan has told how he was slapped in the face by a seething Louis Walsh after ruining an audition by being hungover.
The Sligo singer left the X Factor judge seething after he “f**ked” up the band’s first chance to be signed by Simon Cowell.
He said: “The night before the audition, I was out with my girlfriend Gillian – drinking Sex on the Beach cocktails. I knew I should get an early night but I fell into bed at 2am.
“On the train to Dublin with the band I felt like s**t. Simon Cowell wasn’t famous then but Louis said he was a big deal.
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“We sang a Backstreet Boys number – but the cocktails and lack of sleep caught up with me and I struggled. We left, and Louis stayed talking to Simon.
“He reappeared with a face like thunder, stormed up and slapped me in the face. ‘What the f**k was that, Shane?’ he yelled. ‘It was s**t! He didn’t like you!’
“Simon only liked Kian and Mark. He didn’t think I was a star. ‘You f**ked it up!’ Louis yelled.
“In three minutes, with one hangover, I’d messed up the band; my career; my whole life. I burst into tears.”
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Eventually Shane did get into the band after dying his hair so they could reaudition for Cowell.
But the 35-year-old reveals in his autobiography that booze kept bringing up issues with the band, especially when on tour in 2001.
He said: “We were never a drug band but we drank. Kian and I once got bananas 24 nights in a row.
“After a Sheffield Arena show we stayed up all night necking vodka. The next afternoon I was still p**sed.
Love: Shane and his wife Gillian | VIPIRELAND.COM
“We were supposed to be doing TV interviews but I was running along corridors in my boxer shorts, giggling, before falling asleep in the dressing room.
“Then the hangover hit… crippling, evil, worst ever. I was virtually carried to the stage.
“I thought: ‘If I can get through this I’ll never drink again.’ I got through it but, of course, I was back on the sauce the next night.”
