X Factor legend, Rachel Lester, has been pictured for the first time in years following her jaw-dropping audition on the show.

Rachel became a fan favourite in 2007 after she proudly boasted she “did nothing for a living” because she was “lazy” before Simon Cowell branded her “vile” after her hair-raising rendition of Sugar Walls by Sheena Easton. After Rachel accused the judges, which included Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh and Dannii Minogue of “licking each other’s a***s”, she was asked escorted out of the studio, never to be seen again.

However, she has recently been spotted smiling for a photo, which has popped up on an Instagram update by account The Archbishop of Banterbury. Still sporting her iconic dark eye shadow, Rachel grins in the snap, wrapped up against the cold in a silver coat with a huge fur hood.

The photo is captioned: “Rachel Lester from X Factor circa 2007 spotted in 2025.” Referencing the singer’s sassy statement when she was asked by Sharon if she had an singing experience, it continued: “She’s been singing all her life, all around the towns and everything.”

Some 18 years after her audition, Rachel doesn’t seem to have let Simon’s comments bother her after the media mogul accused the plucky punter of being “everything I wouldn’t want” when she chanced her arm on the show. When Sharon asked her she had any singing experience, Rachel quipped she’d been ‘singing all her life’. However, after performing her song and stating it was was 10 out of 10 – and that she could sing better than Madonna – Simon blasted the rendition.

He hailed her “vile” and her performance “the worst”, adding: “Everything I wouldn’t want, lazy, deluded, very little talent.” Rachel hit back and said that the judges “lick each other’s f*****g arses, all to get where you want to f*****g be.”

Her audition still circulates on social media, which tickles fans who love the star’s distinctive facial expressions. And in August, Sharon Osbourne recreated the iconic X Factor moment when she rocked up at Taylor Swift’s show in London.

While at the gig, one excited fan asked The Osbournes star to recreate the iconic audition. In a clip shared on X, Sharon obliges by asking: “Okay what’s your name?” “Rachel” the fan replies, to which Sharon asks: “What do you do for a living?”

“Nothing, I’m lazy at the moment,” the fan said. “Do you ever sing professionally? Come on, tell us,” Sharon said. The fan then delivered the iconic line: “Yeah of course I’ve been singing all my life, all round the towns and everything.”

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