The real reason Simon Cowell was absent from X Factor this weekend

The judge was notably absent from this weekend’s live shows.

Simon Cowell missed the first weekend of live shows on this year’s X Factorfollowing an incident at his London home. The 58-year-old was rushed to hospital on Friday after he was found unconscious at the bottom of his stairs in the early hours of the morning. However, the reason why has now been revealed by the music mogul who says it has been a major wake-up call. Cowell was subjected to a brain scan in the hospital to check for blood clots, tumours, internal injuries or signs of an aneurysm, however, the reason for his fall was later deemed to be low blood pressure. The father-of-one said of his condition:

“Sometimes we get a reminder that we’re not invincible and this was certainly mine. "It was a huge shock," he told The Sun. “They think I fainted because I had low blood pressure and so I have got to really take good care of myself to sort that out. “After all, I’m a dad and have more responsibility than ever.”

There had been hopes that he would be able to return for Sunday night's show, but due to his condition, he was forced to sit out. However, Britain’s Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon was on hand to step in last night.