Ten year old Hollie Steel took a stand against Simon Cowell last night, when she branded him a bully in an interview with The Mirror.

Hollie was upset by Cowell’s comments about her pink tutu and song choice and said: “Simon is a bully. He was very mean to me. He might have thought it was funny but it’s lonely up there on that stage on your own. I’m only 10 and when he said those things about my tutu I felt like I wanted to cry.

“I had tears in my eyes but I didn’t want to him to see me cry like the bullies at school so I thought of things that made me happy. I thought of being in the final of Britain’s Got Talent and winning it.”

Kelly Brook called Hollie “inspirational and beautiful”.

And Piers Morgan told her: “We’ve seen lots of children on this show but I have never heard anyone sing as good as you.”

But Simon was as caustic as ever when he said: “Hollie, Hollie, Hollie… let me tell you what I think. I didn’t like what you were wearing. You came across as a typical little girl who wants to be a ballerina, and I wasn’t crazy about the song.”

Simon’s comments were made worse by the fact that Hollie has suffered at the hands of bullies before. She said: “Simon’s comments really hurt because I have been bullied for a long time. I get picked on for my singing and because I’m small. One boy said I sounded like a cat being killed and girls tell me I’m no good and that I’m out of tune.

“They have pushed and shoved me in the past but it’s the words that hurt most. My eyes water but I don’t want to cry so I go to the toilets where no one can see me.

“But the bullies just make me more determined to do well.”