Amanda Holden's pregnancy blunder (From Malvern Gazette)

Amanda Holden's pregnancy blunder

3:48pm Wednesday 14th March 2012 in National Entertainment News © Press Association 2013

Amanda Holden was left embarrassed after congratulating a Britain's Got Talent contestant on being pregnant - only to learn she was not really expecting.

The talent show judge revealed the faux pas took place during an audition for the ITV1 show after she fell victim to a wind-up by prankster Simon Cowell.

She confessed that the panellists get up to further japes by attempting to slip phrases into their comments as they cast judgment on the acts.

Amanda - who returns to the show on March 24 - said: "Simon's always playing pranks on me but the most memorable one involved a contestant. Just before she came on stage, Simon whispered in my ear that she was pregnant.

"Naturally, I congratulated her and it turned out she wasn't and it was one of Simon's fibs. I was so embarrassed."

In an interview for the show's website, itv.com/talent, she said: "Simon also loves to play word games during the auditions.

"This usually involves us having to get random words like 'Moray eel' or 'banana flan' into a sentence when giving our opinion of an act. It provides some rather awkward moments."