Simon Cowell played a hilarious prank on Ant and Dec during the final round of auditions on Sunday night's episode.
The head judge of the ITV talent show, 64, fell victim to a prank by the Geordie duo during the final series of Saturday Night Takeaway earlier this year and decided to get his own back.
The music mogul had enlisted the help of actor Dave Bibby, 38, who had pretended he was a baker and that it was his 'life-long' dream to break the world record for being pelted with custard pies.
Dave told Ant and Dec that his dad had previously held the record but it was beaten by someone else and he wanted to take it back and asked the presenters to do the honours.
The boys did in fact manage to beat the record of most pies thrown at the face in one minute having hurled 44, but it then became clear that it was all a ruse.
Simon Cowell played a hilarious prank on Ant and Dec during the final round of auditions on Sunday night's episode
The head judge of the ITV talent show, 64, fell victim to a prank by the Geordie duo during the final series of Saturday Night Takeaway earlier this year and decided to get his own back
Simon leapt to his feet with his fellow judges Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon, and Bruno Tonioli but the 'official adjudicator' noted that the attempt was null and void because Ant had stepped over the throw line.
It was at that moment that the word 'GOTCHA!' was projected onto the screen above them and the penny dropped.
Amanda looked shocked as she realised what had happened and soon leant over to former MisTeeq singer Alesha to react to what had happened.
The former Wild At Heart actress declared: 'It was a prank!' and Simon walked up to the stage to pie the boys, who promptly returned the favour when he confirmed that the record was never real to begin with.
As the auditions drew to a close, Simon noted that the audience had been the 'best' they had ever had and a Bugsy Malone-style pie fight ensued.
Dec yelled: 'There, you got us!'
Ant said: 'What a way to end the auditions for 2024!'
Amanda looked shocked as she realised what had happened and soon leant over to former MisTeeq singer Alesha to react to what had happened
The word 'GOTCHA!' was projected onto the screen above them and the penny dropped, where the boys realised they had been pranked by Simon
Simon and Ant were quick to hug it out when it turned out that the whole thing had been a massive joke
The former X Factor judge was in hysterics as the Bugsy Malone-style fight scene during the final around of auditions
The semi-finals will be broadcast live over the coming days, with the grand final of the show set to take place on Sunday June 2.
According to ITV, it is the biggest entertainment series of the year so far across any channel.
But the talent contest has still seen a marked drop in its popularity over the years, with the current ratings a long way away from its peak 13 million in 2009.
The current series got off to a promising start last month, with overnight figures showing the launch episode saw an average of 5 million viewers tuning in, with a peak of 5.8 million.
