Sharon told Ben Mills to quit 'X Factor'?

Sharon Osbourne advised one of her own X Factor contestants to quit the show last year.

According to Sharon's brother David Arden, the 54-year-old TV personality was desperate to win the talent show's third series, as she was the only judge who had not yet guided a contestant to victory.

However, David has claimed that, half-way through the series, Sharon realised Simon Cowell's contestant Leona Lewis was the most likely winner. At that point, Osbourne allegedly looked for an opportunity to convince rocker Ben Mills, who was in her '25 and overs' category, to pull out of the contest.

"Things had all come to a head a few weeks before the final when all the acts were asked to record the winner's song," David told the News of the World. "They wanted to be in a position to get the single out quickly, whoever scooped the vote. When Ben came to record his version he complained to Sharon that the song wasn't right for his voice.

"But, rather than speak to Simon, she told Ben, 'It's all a set-up.' Which, of course, it isn't. Sharon then went on a mission, seeing it as her chance to save face rather than lose a third time. Ben insists she expressly talked to him about quitting the show.

"That way she could claim Ben had walked off because of the row over the song - and that under other circumstances she would have won. She could have declared, 'My artist was the best but was robbed.'"

David has also claimed that Sharon was a "vicious bitch" to Ben off-screen, and told friends that he had "the personality of a blackboard".