"I am embarrassed to be sitting here in your presence," Natalia Kills told contestant Joe Irvine

X Factor New Zealand

‘s live shows kicked off with a bang on Sunday night when judge Natalia Kills … well, went in for the kill.

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Following his performance of “Cry Me a River,” contestant Joe Irvine received a critique more severe and more undeserving than anything Simon Cowell has ever dished out.

“Ladies and gentleman, I’m just going to state the obvious: We have a doppelgänger in our midst,” began Kills, 28, whose real name is Natalia Noemi Cappuccini-Sinclair.

“As an artist who respects creative integrity and intellectual property, I am disgusted at how much you have copied my husband,” she said. “From the hair to the suit, do you not have any value or respect for originality?”

For the uninitiated, Kills’s husband is the man sitting to her right. A singer himself, his name is Willy Moon, and he is a tall, thin man wearing a slim-fitted suit, as is Irvine. As far as we can tell, it’s not an especially unique look nor one that Irvine truly appears to have “copied.”

Not yet finished, a chorus of boos filled the studio audience as Kills went on to tell Irvine that he is a “laughingstock” and that his look is “cheesy” and “disgusting.”

“I personally found it absolutely artistically atrocious,” she said. “I am embarrassed to be sitting here in your presence having to even dignify you with an answer of my opinion.”

As proof that she and husband Moon, 25, are meant for each other, Kills’s husband jumped in to add: “It just feels a bit cheap and absurd. I mean, it’s like Norman Bates dressing up in his mother’s clothing. It’s just a little bit creepy and I feel like you’re going to stitch someone’s skin to your face and then kill everyone in the audience.”

At this point, you might think that Kills would be finished with her tirade. You would be wrong. “It’s disgusting,” she continued. “You make me sick. It’s absolutely disgusting. You have no identity. I can’t stand it. I’m ashamed to be here.”

“I think I look good,” Irvine piped in, a braver man than any of us. “I think you look good ’cause you’re dressed as my husband,” Kills snapped back.

Luckily for Irvine, former All Saints singer Melanie Blatt jumped to his defense. “I don’t think many people have believed in you in your life,” she told the X Factor hopeful who, at this point, looked close to tears. “I’l tell you right now – I believe in you. You have got what it takes. You have got a beautiful tone. Please don’t listen [to Kills].”

For inquiring minds, Irvine survived the experience. Physically, anyway. In a photo he Tweeted of himself post-show, he’s seen wearing the white button-down he wore on stage paired with baggy pyjama bottoms. With a grin and a thumbs-up, he confirmed that he had “survived the Killz!”