"F*** Simon Cowell." Shannon Noll unleashes on music industry bigwig on I'm A Celeb.

In 2003, the Aussie public was introduced to Shannon Noll. A born and bred country boy – he was born in Orange and raised in Condobolin in central western New South Wales – he was an instant favourite amongst the hundreds of thousands who watched him perform on Australian Idol.

But then, Noll was ‘robbed’. Robbed of the victory (some believe) he so rightfully deserved. Robbed of the chance to become Australia’s first ever Idol winner when the public voted Guy Sebastian as their favourite performer instead.

More stories:
The tragic cancer deaths which prompted singer Tiffany to join the cast of I’m A Celeb.
Anthony Mundine’s complicated and curious family situation.
I’m A Celeb producer says Tomic was ready to leave the jungle before filming even began.

But despite releasing five studio albums since his time on the show – the latest of which was released just last week – and scoring himself chart-topping ARIA hits and awards, the 42-year-old believes he was never given a real chance.

Speaking to his fellow camp mates on last night’s episode of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here, Noll said he blamed Simon Cowell – the music industry bigwig responsible for the Idol franchise, as well as The X Factor, and Britain’s Got Talent – for his lack of success overseas.

"F*** Simon Cowell," the singer began while getting ready for bed alongside his fellow jungle-bound celebs.

"Tell him I said get f***ed if he can hear."

When pressed as to why he had such ill-feelings towards the music exec, Noll revealed the dodgy tactics Cowell supposedly used to block his songs out of the British charts after a radio station employee in Ireland began playing his chart-topping cover What About Me.

Despite the fact the song debuted at number two on the Irish sales charts, Cowell refused to release it in the UK, saying that "just because [the song] works in Ireland, doesn't mean it's going to work in England".

"Then he signed the runner up out of X Factor and cut What About Me on his own... Sold a million albums."

The problem lies in the fact that Noll is not the original writer, or owner, of the track - the song was first recorded by Aussie rock band Moving Pictures in 1982 - so Cowell was able to get his own rights to record and release the song with another artist.

"X Factor's his baby, see, so he signed the runner up to his own record label, he knew it was going to be a hit... so he cut me out of it and put [his own artist] on it."

LISTEN: Is Bernard Tomic depressed or just a quitter? Listen to the Mamamia Out Loud team discuss Tomic's decision to quit I'm A Celebrity...

When asked by fellow camp mate Jackie Gillies if he'd ever confronted Cowell about the drama, Noll responded that he's never even met him.

"I've never seen him... I've never met the f***ing idiot," he said.

"That's horrible, that's bad karma," Gillies assured the singer.

"Listen to me, karma comes back to those."

But Noll - still angry about the ordeal, which he feels put a dampener on what could have been an international career - said "it doesn't seem to".

"All I see is the rich... getting fatter and richer," he replied.

But it's not just Nollsy who's upset by Cowell's move: the Aussie public declared their support for the singer.

Ok @channelten I think after what Shannon just said, it's time Simon Cowell went into the #ImACelebrityAU Jungle.

— Dan Hendry (@DanHenz38) February 4, 2018

I knew that ‘What About Me’ was a hit in Ireland, but that Simon Cowell story was new to me. #ImACelebrityAU

— Anouska (@AnouskaHaaket) February 4, 2018

Others are hoping that he'll finally get the justice (and win) he deserves by being crowned the King of the I'm A Celeb jungle.... but only if Guy Sebastian doesn't make a surprise appearance.

Imagine if Guy Sebastian is an intruder into the jungle and he wins it and nollsy gets robbed again #ImACelebrityAU

— Jake (@Jakeus92) January 28, 2018

If Nollsy doesn’t win #ImACelebrityAU this year I’ll be pissed

— Cecilia (Cornchip) ❤️???????????? (@GeekyHollander) January 28, 2018

LISTEN to the latest episode of Mamamia's pop culture and TV podcast, The Binge: