Simon Cowell was the subject of ‘brutal heckles’ at recent Britain’s Got Talent auditions, forcing them to be paused, Amanda Holden has now revealed.

It had previously been claimed that the judge, 65, was on the receiving end of humorous jabs while filming at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

But Amanda, 54, has revealed the true extent of the verbal abuse he received, saying the production team had to stop filming at one point.

She told The Sun: ‘Because Simon’s in charge they took it all out on him — they called him an old fart, they flicked the Vs at him, and then all the way through two or three acts there are these women in the ­camera shot giving him the finger.

‘Then, at the end of the session, they’re like, “Simon, can we have a selfie?” and he’s like, “You’re joking, aren’t you?”‘

It had previously been said that boos and repeated insults were aimed at Simon, which included ‘You old fart’ when he criticised hopefuls.

Thankfully though, Simon saw the funny side of it all.

‘Simon isn’t vain in that way and found the heckling absolutely hilarious — even when they were calling him an old fart,’ a source earlier told The Sun.

‘He loves having BGT in Blackpool precisely because the crowds are so raucous and enthusiastic.’

The crew working on the ITV production also took it for light-hearted fun, but were a little less amused by their task of editing the recording, which is filled with the insulting comments.

It has been described as an ‘editing nightmare’ by Daily Mail.

‘Simon even encourages them to mis­behave, even if sometimes the ­misbehaviour can cause a headache for the production team,’ the source continued.

‘Thankfully they were compensated for any hassle by a rare chance to have a good laugh at the boss’s expense.’

Simon faced another incident during the auditions stage when he was part of a ‘dangerous’ stunt.

The media mogul later admitted he feared ‘actually’ dying when a blindfolded man smashed watermelons around him with a mallet.

‘You know the feeling when you kind of think, somebody doesn’t want you on the show anymore? It was that,’ he said during a press launch for the show.

‘It was the closest genuinely where I’m thinking they actually want to kill me.

‘And I swear to God that’s how I felt. Because this guy got really nervous and he’d slipped and he was smashing these watermelons.’

Speaking to The Sun about that audition, Amanda admitted she was ‘genuinely worried’.

She said: ‘This guy was obviously practised and knew what he was doing. But there was no leeway for mistakes.

‘Simon was told to keep still, and wasn’t keeping still, and then there’s these melons being crushed all over the stage with this lump hammer.

‘And I’m thinking, “There’s no safeguard against this guy slipping on a bit of melon juice that you don’t expect to be there, because you don’t know which of the melons he was going to split.”‘

Britain’s Got Talent returned to screens on February 22, instead of the usual April slot and fans will be treated to an extra-long series.

The series already had the most disgusting act to date, as viewers were left convulsing by the antics of Auzzy Blood, plus an emotional golden buzzer moment courtesy of Vinnie Mckee.

The series is set to last for around four months as opposed to the usual two, it has been reported. The live semi-finals will air on Saturday nights, rather than all spread across one week which will lengthen the proceedings.

As well as Simon, Amanda, Bruno Tonioli, 69, and Alesha Dixon, 46, they will also be joined by guest judge, YouTuber KSI, 31, who has teased being a ‘villain’.

Of course, Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly will also be returning to present the series.