X Factor favourite Marcus Canty suffers a wardrobe malfunction in front of judges

On ‘movie night’ the star of the show fumbled with his outfit in front of his mentor L.A. Reid and rivals Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Nicole Scherzinger.

Simon Cowell – who is coaching the girls and has no love lost with boys mentor L.A. Reid - said Canty was in danger of looking like 'a cabaret singer.'

The acid-tongued judge picked up on the 20-year-old singer’s struggle with his wardrobe as he weighed in following the performance of I'm Going Down, a Rose Royce written tune from the soundtrack to the movie Car Wash.

'That was a thousand per cent better than last week,' Cowell said.

'My only issue was, thank god you threw that jacket off half-way through.

'All I’m thinking is, 'You look like a cabaret singer.' And it was like stuck to you.

'A bit of advice from me to you - dress yourself.'

L.A. Reid countered the criticism with words of support.

'You look great, ok, you sound great, you have better taste than some people that sit at the end of this desk.

'I have a crystal ball with an artist's picture in it and it is a picture of you.

'You are a rising star.'