Legendary X Factor contestant Ariel Burdett is reported to have died aged 38.
While she didn't get any further than the first round on the ITV show in in 2008, Ariel's audition will go down in X Factor history as one of the most memorable thanks to the unique original song she performed in a bid to impress the judges and her clash with Cheryl.
A friend says the singer, who will also be remembered for her dreadlocked hair and dramatic eye make-up during her brief appearance on the show, died earlier this month but a cause of death is yet to be revealed, according to the Daily Star Online
As soon as she arrived in the audition room 11 years ago, Ariel, real name Amy, caused a stir by ripping up her numbered sticker and declaring "she was a "human being, not a number," as Cheryl, Simon Cowell, Danni Minogue and Louis Walsh looked on stunned.
After not receiving the best feedback from the panel, Ariel told them her self-penned track was "an academic construction," and she was a "generalist not a specialist."
She wasn't the biggest fan of Cheryl and the Geordie star, in her debut year as an X Factor judge, told then 26 year old Ariel "If I came to you for holistic vocal [training] I would be scared of you. You're actually really quite scary.
"By the way you walked over to me I thought we were going to have a scrap."
Having none of it, Ariel retorted: "You've obviously never been a rock singer, love," before telling all the judges to "shove a bit of metal right up their a***" before she was escorted out of the studio by security.
Announcing Ariel's death on Facebook, a friend posted: "It is with great sadness that I post this, as I have only just found out myself. A sometime member of the moot, Amy Burdett aka Arabella Starchild passed to the Summerlands earlier this month."
Another post about her passing instructed friends to get in touch with Ariel's brother Giles for details of her funeral.
