Simon Cowell slams Britain's Got Talent act which references his baby boy Eric

Simon Cowell suffered an embarrassing gaffe when he buzzed an act which referenced his own son, Eric, on Tuesday.

The pop music svengali showed his dislike for Ricky K's audition, saying that the script wasn't as funny enough for the semi-finals - but did so before the punchline, which featured a nod to his child.

As soon as Simon realised his error he apologised, before banging his head on the desk and admitting he felt 'guilty'.

Oops! Simon was embarrassed to have - inadvertently - dissed the act in the first few seconds

Innocent mistake: David Walliams took the opportunity to embarrass Simon for the gaffe

Naturally, David Walliams took the opportunity to mock the talent boss, but Simon happily admitted his inadvertent error on live TV.

Fortunately, there were eight other acts to divert attention.

Mini Moves opened the show with an energetic routine to a a Rihanna track, which was praised as 'age-appropriate' by the judges.

Baby love: Ricky K tried his best on Britain's Got Talent for a place in the live final

Big hair! The girls did Scotland proud, according to Simon Cowell

Curl power: The dancers enjoyed an energetic performance which opened the show on Tuesday

Ed Drewett was next on the stage and had women in the audience screaming, but delivered a hit-and-miss performance.

Singing a track he wrote himself, the London-born musician  received lukewarm praise from Simon. he said: 'I think you should've done a second track. Your vocal range suffers when you go up a notch and I wasn't blown away by the performance.'

As usual, David jumped to his defense saying: 'Well, I was blown away! And I think he broke a few hearts too.'

Underwhelming? Ed Drewett was a welcome edition, but bored fans with the same song

Hopeful: Ed wants to be a frontline singer - as opposed to writing for the likes of One Direction

Next up were extreme sports masters BMX, whose segment was pre-recorded due to studio restrictions.

Seemingly fearless, the men risked life and limb to perform their act, which saw them ride off bike ramps while performing acrobatics mid-air.

When Jodi Bird took to the stage to perform Let It Go from Disney film Frozen, she dazzled audience members and caused a standing ovation from Amanda Holden and David Walliams.

Cowell was contrite in his praise, which saw him admit that the singer was likely to get 'a tonne of votes after that performance'.