Man mountain Tony Adkins spent eight years protecting Simon Cowell from irate talent-show rejects – so he knows what makes Xfactor Mr Nasty tick.

The hulking 21-stone minder, known as Big Tony, looked after Simon round the clock and got to know the man behind the legendary put-downs.

He reveals Simon is a wind-up merchant and so vain he can’t walk past a mirror without checking his hair.

But he is also “the best boss in the world” and always sticks his hand in his pocket for those in need.

Big Tony was dropped from the latest X Factor – axed in favour of a three-man security team as part of the show’s revamp. Now instead of safeguarding Simon, Cheryl Cole, Louis Walsh and Dannii Minogue when things threaten to turn nasty, he’s watching it all from the comfort of his living room sofa.

He insists he’s not bitter about being dumped, although he is missing working for his famous boss.

“Simon was so laid-back and a very nice guy,” says Tony, 47. “He was generous, too. Whenever the show finished – and at Christmas – you’d get an envelope as a thank you. The last one I got had £700 stuffed in it.

“One year we were in Belfast for the auditions and Simon saw a homeless man with a dog sitting in the street, so he went up to him and gave him £50.

“Simon attracts a ridiculous amount of attention wherever he goes. You can be in an auditorium with 4,000 people and as soon as he walks in they all start screaming. They’ll push everyone out of the way just to get closer to him.

VAIN

“I’ve had 18-year-old girls telling me they want to have Simon’s babies or marry him. But Simon just takes it all in his stride and laughs about it.

“He’s a very private person. He doesn’t give much away. You never see him drunk or out of control.”

Tony then confides: “Simon is vain – he does his hair all the time.

“If there are five breaks in filming then Simon will do his hair five times.

“And I think he has about 20 identical T-shirts. I remember once he had a hole in one, so he just reached into a bag and pulled out another from a big pile.

“Louis goes around saying, ‘Hello, hello hello,’ all the time, always up for a laugh. Cheryl’s pleasant, and Dannii’s really laid-back and will talk to anyone.

“All the judges used to get on but they’d wind each other up, too. If Simon thought Louis was being mean about an auditionee he’d say, ‘Louis, go and apologise,’ but Louis would refuse.

“So Simon would ask him again to say sorry but Louis would just say no.

“And they’d just carry on like that, winding each other up. But they were really good friends.”

Tony, who lives in Enfield, North London, had worked for Simon since the first series of Pop Idol in 2001.

>>D Mirror