Liam Payne whipped One Direction fans into a frenzy when he posted a supposedly nude snap online.

The What Makes You Beautiful hitmaker revealed an image on Instagram.com on Sunday (27Jul14) featuring himself on the back of a yacht seemingly naked, with his private parts censored.

In the caption, he pretended he had lost his underwear by writing, "Damn that was my last pair!"

The picture caused a storm with fans but they were left disappointed hours later when Payne posted the image again without any pixellation - revealing he was wearing underwear all along.

He wrote, "Oh I found them never mind aha (sic)."