X Factor UK’s newbie judge Nicole Scherzinger was reportedly “furious” this weekend when it transpired that the show’s production staff had booked her an economy seat on a flight back to her native America.

Nicole, who – gasp – had to queue with the great unwashed, decided she wasn’t having it, and having stormed over to British Airways’ sales desk, she paid £3,500 for an upgrade to business class, but she was far from happy about it.

An onlooker said, “Nicole was fuming. She always flies first-class but she was amazed to find that she had been booked into economy.

“The X Factor books all of her flights — but she hadn’t expected this.

“Nicole spent 20 minutes trying to get BA to upgrade her but in the end she had to put her hand in her pocket…

“There were a few mutterings about Simon Cowell being a tightwad.”

So of course, it wasn’t a great end to the week for Nicole, especially given it hadn’t been a happy few days, what with rumours about her boyfriend Lewis Hamilton having partied the night away with random women, and a report that Nicole and Tulisa don’t get on having made headlines.

O dear.