Caustic tongued X factor judge Simon Cowell wishes he had dished out some of his brutally honest comments to Eddie Murphy and crushed his dreams of a musical career before it had begun.

Simon was hired in the 1980s to help Eddie make a record and instead of telling him that the music was terrible, Simon just nodded along with everyone else!

Simon says: “He was interested in making a record, so I flew to the east coast (of America), to his huge house, and I was very intimidated.

“I thought it would be just the two of us and a hi-fi. But I ended up in a recording studio with about 20 nodders – a nodder is someone who gets paid to agree with the person paying him.

“Eddie started to play some songs, which I hated, and I just didn’t know what to say.

“Now I’d find it a lot easier. I would just say ‘I hate it’.”