Louis Walsh 'Delays The X Factor Filming'

Louis Walsh is reported to have kept the cast and crew of The X Factor waiting at the arena auditions on Wednesday.

The Sun claims that the show's producers waited for 30 minutes for the veteran judge to show up, before deciding to go ahead without him.

And pop manager Louis, 60, is then claimed to have taken another half an hour to turn up anyway.

A source told the paper: "Louis always used to be the first to arrive for the show but recently he has been later and later.

"Now he tends to be the last judge to arrive and, on Wednesday we had to start filming without him because he was running so late.

"He was still in his hotel when the other judges were at the studio, so producers pushed back the schedule by half an hour. But he still wasn't there."

And it has been suggested that Louis is getting more relaxed about his timekeeping because he has previously hinted this could be his last year on the show.

The source continued: "The whole team were tearing their hair out but there were 40 hopefuls due to audition that day, so they had no choice but to start with an empty seat.

"Luckily the other three judges saw the funny side. But people have remarked that it does seem that the show has now slipped down Louis' list of priorities."

Louis last week hit out at rival show The Voice.

SEE PICS FROM THE X FACTOR 2013