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The Voice coach Olly Murs breaks ranks with Simon Cowell and reveals why he’s fallen out of love with The X Factor
I’M a huge X Factor fan and love the fact it can survive alongside The Voice on ITV.
But in a bombshell Bizarre guest edit, Olly Murs has finally broken ranks with Simon Cowell — the man who discovered him.
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On the eve of his first final as a coach on The Voice, Olly boasted his new show is far superior to the X Factor, which he claims has lost its way.
Olly said: “Last year’s show for me wasn’t the show I fell in love with years ago when I was on it.
“It was very different, they changed it completely, loads of artists singing their own songs.
“For me, Saturday night TV is about entertainment and people want to tune in and be entertained — that’s one thing that I love with working on The Voice.”
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Olly finished second on the 2009 series of The X Factor behind Joe McElderry, but went on to become one of the show’s biggest success stories alongside One Direction, Leona Lewis and Little Mix.
Simon was such a fan of Olly, he brought him in to present the spin-off show Xtra Factor with Caroline Flack for two years.
Olly Murs shamelessly flirts with burlesque singer Ivy Paige on The Voice
The pair went on to front the main show for one series in 2015.
But Olly clearly considers that to be the golden era of The X Factor and, despite admitting being a fan of last year’s winners RAK-SU, he believes Simon’s decision to tweak the format gives artists less chance of becoming a chart success.
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He said: “When you’ve already sung your own songs on the show, where do you go afterwards?
“You already know what they’re going to do.”
Olly’s comments are bound to irk his former mentor. When put to his record label Syco, who own the format of The X Factor, last night, a spokesman said: “The X Factor is very proud of its continuing and unparalleled success all over the world in discovering so many talented artists who go on to become global superstars.”
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Olly is so tight with his “Voice family” he told me it is incredibly unlikely he would switch allegiances again should Simon approach him to be a judge as part of his X Factor shake-up, which I revealed on Monday.
But he did have this to say on Simon: “He can ring me any time for any advice, any time he wants advice on, you know, what song choice to give people, ya know.”
I look forward to Simon’s response.
READ ON FOR MORE OF DAN WOOTTON'S BIZARRE COLUMN
Olly's up for Fifty Shades
OLLY has revealed the secret behind his lothario ways – Fifty Shades Of Grey. The singer even went on a date to see one of the filthy film franchise.
He said: “I went on a mad date with this girl – I’d never seen Fifty Shades but you obviously hear about it. So I’m going to watch Fifty Shades with this lovely girl but I’ve got a hen party behind me and hundreds of women.
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“I watched it and took some tips down. I mean, there are a few things I wouldn’t do but I took a few notes.”
And Olly quipped that it could inspire his own erotic novel. He said: “Who knows, one day there could be a Fifty Shades Of Murs book.”
Olly has been linked to his fair share of women, including Love Island’s Amber Davies. And while he claimed the pair have been “just friends”, he backed her five sex rules, including no action on the first date and banning the term “no strings attached”.
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He said: “Everyone has their own rules. I saw Amber’s rules and I think that’s what most people would pretty much go through. When I’m dating, it’s quite hard to figure it out yourself. Dating isn’t easy . . .”
I’m sure he doesn’t have too much trouble.
Murzbit
OLLY insists there was no romance between him and Caroline Flack when they hosted The Xtra Factor in 2011. He said: “We were very professional and it’s work.” However, he gave Caroline and new boyfriend Andrew Brady his blessing, adding: “He seems a nice lad.”
Rihann-a got away
OLLY is still gutted at missing his chance to bag a date with Rihanna.
And he reckons he could have won over the superstar – seen right, in a ball pit at her Sephora Loves Fenty beauty launch in Milan – during his trip to the Caribbean.
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He said: “I remember I was in Barbados once and I’d just missed her by a couple of days. I was like ‘damn it’.
I’d have loved to have met Rihanna.” And Olly thinks the pair could have been a match made in heaven, given their partying ways. He added: “She’s a bit of a party animal, I like that she likes to go out and have fun.”
Impressions? Try this one for Si's
OLLY couldn’t resist mocking his old mentor Simon Cowell as I challenged him to answer a load of cheeky questions in the style of other celebs.
I asked him how Simon would answer the question: “Has Olly betrayed his X Factor roots by going on The Voice?”
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Busting out a spot-on impression of the Syco boss, Olly joked: “He deserved to go on and do bigger and better things . . . on a better show.”
You can watch Olly’s fantastic impersonations of Gary Barlow, his Voice co-stars and more in my hilarious Celebri-Me Challenge at .
Murzbit
OLLY offered to help out with The Sun’s Bust In Britain competition. He said: “Do you need a judge or a coach? Some guys like a curvy woman and some like a skinny woman. For me, you can’t beat a great pair of boobs – but you can’t beat a great personality too.”
Murzbit
OLLY has revealed Ed Sheeran gave him the nod that he hadn’t won the Best Male Solo gong at the 2013 Brits. He recalled: “Ed said, ‘I’m really sorry, Olly mate, but I think Ben Howard is going to win it – that’s what I’ve been told.’ We’ve always been good mates.”
Team add Voices to new album
THE Voice coaches would be the first to admit previous show winners have struggled to make an impact on the charts.
But at least this year the show is guaranteed some success after Olly revealed he is teaming up with fellow coaches Will.i.am, Tom Jones and Jennifer Hudson to make a Voice album.
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He said: “We’ve been talking about it for ages – me, Jennifer and Tom. This season every time we see each other we’ve been talking about working together.
“We’ve been saying it would be really cool to put an album together of some songs that we’ve done and also contestants that have maybe won the show or done well.
“It’s getting the schedules to meet but hopefully it will be something we’ll be able to do in the future.”
Will.I.Am hits back at The Voice viewers who tell him to get off his phone while live on TV and reveals to Lorraine it's feedback for contestants
And Olly has a big idea for debuting songs from the album. He said: “I think it would be great at the Brits next year – me, Jennifer, Tom and Will doing a performance.
“To get three amazing artists up there to do a performance would be amazing.
“The weirdest thing is, it really works with us. I think all our personalities work together so well and the banter and the styles work.”
Brits bosses won’t have to look far to fill their programme.
Bizmeter: The other Voice stars
J-Hud
JENNIFER clearly isn’t keeping up to speed on current affairs. She said:“WHO? Wait a minute, who’s American? Meghan Markle? She’s American? Are you serious? I didn’t know that.”
Will.i.am
BLACK Eyed Peas star Will is partial to a humble-brag. He said: “I’ve met a lot of kings, queens and princes but there’s something about the royals of this country that’s more royal.”
Tom
CROONER Tom has no plans to hang up the mic. He said:“I will tour every day for the rest of my life. I’ll drop dead performing, I’ll drop dead on stage, hopefully that will happen but not for a while.”
Emma
Emma reckons Olly is a cheeky chappy. She said: “It’s always Olly who’s the naughtiest. None of them are really naughty but when you think naughty, you think cheeky and Olly just fits that perfectly.”
Kard not to like Kim
OLLY was lost for words when he met Kim Kardadshian in her house with pal Mark Wright who was interviewing the star for US telly.
He said: “100 per cent I was nervous talking to her, I didn’t know what to say.
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“Oh my God, she is gorgeous. She is really tiny. I had a proper fan-girl moment. She didn’t just walk in the room and do the interview, she was really warming, that was nice to see.”
He added: “Wrighty was like before, ‘Imagine Mursy, she might know your music’.
“I was like, ‘I’ll be amazed’.”
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