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Openly-gay X Factor contestant Marcus Collins was the victim of a vicious homophobic hate call, it has been revealed.

The singer was targeted at 2.30am on Tuesday by an abusive caller who allegedly rang his to hurl a torrent of racist and abusive comments at him.

The 23-year-old, from Liverpool, answered the call believing it was a friend.

But, instead, Collins suffered a string of hateful insults.

A source tells The Sun: "The voice on the other end of the line was just full of hate and spewed all sorts of racist and anti-gay abuse.

"He was saying, 'You don’t deserve to be on the show. Who do you think you are?' and calling him every name under the sun.

"Marcus couldn’t believe his ears and he couldn’t understand how anyone got hold of his number in the first place."

It is not known how the caller got the contestant's number.

Collins reportedly told production chiefs at the ITV1 show, but he refused to formally report it to the police.

Marcus remains one of the favourites of the competition as he battles it out for the winner’s prize alongside Misha B, Janet Devlin, Amelia Lily and Little Mix.