X Factor hopefuls 'at it like rabbits'

Simon Cowell has reportedly ordered the remaining X Factor finalists to refrain from embarking on passionate flings during the competition.

The 51-year-old is believed to have warned contestants against romancing each other, adoring fans or workers on the show, after fellow judge Louis Walsh commented to The Mirror that "they are at it like rabbits".

The paper claims that Cowell met with the surviving acts on Friday following the revelation of Matt Cardle's relationship with a stylist, when he declared: "This is the X Factor not the 'Sex Factor'."

"It's like one big love-in," a show insider stated. "In the entire seven-year history of the show we've never had a situation like this."

It has been alleged that Cowell was pressured into the talk after the parents of teen group One Direction ordered show bosses to monitor the boys' love lives.

Family members are said to be specifically concerned by rumours of Harry Styles's secret affair with a 19-year-old backing dancer, Louis Tomlinson's increasingly close relationship with former X Factor finalist Lucie Jones and Zain Malik's supposed trysts with show rivals Cher Lloyd, Katie Waissel and Geneva Lane of Belle Amie.

Cardle, Grimshaw warned against 'pulling'