Fans will go to any lengths to catch a glimpse of their X Factor heroes JLS, even tampering with hotel fire alarms. We're told that the army of supporters permanently following the boyband around are employing ever-more inventive ways of drawing them out of their hotel rooms.

Swamped: JLS — safely upstairs — watch the crowd outside Croydon's HMV store

Aston Merrygold revealed: “They set off fire alarms in hotels and cut off the electricity to get us out of our rooms. We'll be up there chilling out after a show and suddenly an alarm will go, or the power will go. It's clever.”

X Factor runners-up JLS, which stands for Jack The Lad Swing, even find it hard to watch other bands' gigs without being mobbed.

Earlier this month the boys were forced to flee Take That's final gig at the Wembley Arena after hundreds of fans almost flattened them.

Yesterday, during an autograph-signing session at Croydon HMV, the guys were swamped by predominantly female teenage fans — all desperate for a signed copy of their new single Beat Again.

But it's not just teenagers wanting a piece of the quartet. Jonathan “JB” Gill said: “We spent an hour signing [autographs] for mums the other week, and some of them were trying to give us their daughters.”

The boyband, which also includes Marvin Humes and Oritse Williams, were rumoured to support Michael Jackson during his comeback tour.

In an interview for Star magazine, Aston said: “That really would have been a dream come true — even to watch the concert, but to support him… Wow. He was such a huge influence on us musically.”

* While JLS fans are getting a little overzealous, it seems someone in the Alexandra Burke camp can't contain their excitement either.

Leaked: reports say early demos of Alexandra Burke's new album have made it onto the internet

Reports today say that early demos of songs for Alex's “top secret” album have been leaked onto the internet.

But forums on the net show that most people like it, so it shouldn't do album sales any harm. Hmm, we wonder who leaked it?