One Direction star Niall Horan was left red-faced when a cheeky prank went too far and he was left with a semi-permanent tattoo of James Corden's face on his backside.

The Irish singer is the only member of the boyband without any body art, and British comic Corden highlighted this fact on his U.K. comedy panel game show A League Of Their Own when Horan was a guest.

Corden decided to ink his friend with a temporary transfer and Horan readily agreed, even suggesting his butt as the perfect place for the picture.

However, Horan was unable to wash off the transfer and was stuck with it for three weeks.

Corden tells Britain's The Sun, "We made a thing on the show that he's the only member of the band without a tattoo. I said to him, 'We've got this idea of putting a tattoo of my face on your body'. Niall went, 'You should put it on my a**e'.

"We tattooed it on his left buttock - it took him three weeks to get rid of it. He sent me an update every week, with a photo of my fading face on his a**e saying, 'It's still not gone yet'."