The lads of One Direction returned to the X Factor studios this evening.

Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik started their career at Fountain Studios in Wembley, London just two years ago, when they competed on the ITV show.

They went on to finish in third place, behind Matt Cardle and Rebecca Ferguson but have since achieved world domination with the release of their best selling album and singles.

The lads were on the promo trail again this weekend, as they are desperate to maximise sales of their newest single ‘Live While We’re Young’ which was released last Sunday.

They are in the middle of a chart battle with Rihanna, and are desperate to claim the UK number one spot tomorrow night, so where best to promote the tune than on the most popular TV show in the country.

Tonight, the fab five didn’t do very much on stage, they just explained what it was like to stand backstage and wait in the wings and advised the contestants to make the most of the experience, and to be themselves on stage.

It was all a bit underwhelming for us and we’d been hoping they would have a more major role on the episode tonight. We hardly got to see them at all.

What did you think of One Direction on tonight’s show? Leave your comments below.