Mel B: I'm bad

Mel B believes she's a "bad-a*s" on The X Factor.

The former Spice Girls star is currently serving as a panellist on the UK version of the TV singing competition.

For the judges' houses portion of the show, Mel was sent with her team of male contestants to Cancun, Mexico.

And she says viewers see her whipping her team into shape for good reason.

"I can be a hard-a*s, a bad-a*s, and I can be very emotional and very connected," she told TV Biz. "I don't say, 'I'm going to put this out today.' It's just what is needed for that particular person.

"For example," she continued, "I was so angry with [contestant] Jack [Walton] that I stopped him and said, 'What are you doing? Just give me you, what you were giving me before — that's why you're here.'"

Mel sees a vast difference in working with men and women.

She believes the former sex can have a more difficult time showing emotion, but vows to treat each contestant as an individual.

"I'm not working with girls — I expect them to be emotional and open up, but boys are boys. You can't force a boy to tell you how he's feeling. If they want to tell me, they can tell me — or if I'm feeling like they are not connecting with me," she said. "All my contestants are completely different so there isn't really any advice you can give them apart from to do your best."

There is one piece of advice she lives by, however. The star wants to instill the belief that no performer needs to conform to an idea of what others' believe they should be.

"I was always told, 'Never be put in a box.' And I will never be put in a box," she said.