Harry Styles stayed in Los Angeles to party after the American Music Awards instead of flying to Australia with his One Direction bandmates.

Harry and Zayn touched down just in time to join their bandmates on the red carpet but Niall has now revealed the reason behind their late arrival.

He said: "What happened there was, we'd just won three American Music Awards, and some people wanted to get straight to Australia and Harry here wanted to have a little party in Los Angeles."

And while Harry agreed with his pal he also claimed he'd been suffering with earache and didn't want to risk making it worse by getting an earlier flight.

He explained to Australia's Kiis FM: "I also didn't feel very well so I didn't want to fly. I wanted to wait out the storm to fly. My ear hurts."

The 'Steal My Girl' hitmakers also opened up about having their underwear stolen during their last visit to Australia, when a superfan pinched a pair of Liam's boxer shorts from his hotel balcony.

Harry joked: "Now we leave them out as bait, we just leave pants around everywhere and set traps."

The ladies' man added that they'd all been sent a pair of personalised Speedo swimming trunks with their names emblazoned on them.

He added: "I actually got a Speedo with my name on it. I've got mine on right now."