'X Factor' 2015: Winner Sam Bailey Admits She Thinks This Year's 'Over 25s' 'Don't Stand A Chance', Thanks To Younger Judges

Sam Bailey Has A Word Of Warning For This Year's 'X Factor' Contestants

‘X Factor’ winner Sam Bailey has admitted she’s not holding her breath for another winner in the ‘Over 25s’ category of this year’s competition.

For the past two years, a singer from the ‘Overs’ category has been crowned ‘X Factor’ champion, with Ben Haenow being voted the public’s winner last December, the year after Sam.

However, the ‘Skyscraper’ singer has revealed she doesn’t think she’d have made it had she waited until this year to audition, claiming she thinks the upcoming series will be too youth-oriented to give older singers a chance.

Sam Bailey

“You have got someone from Radio 1 and I’m not really played on Radio 1. So I wouldn’t have much of a look-in there.”

Sam has previously been critical of this year’s newly-updated judging panel, which has seen Nick Grimshaw and Rita Ora taking over from Louis Walsh and Mel B - and it sounds as though she’s still not won over by their credtentials.

The 'X Factor' judges and hosts at recent auditions

“They’ve been in the business long enough to be respected in it. I couldn’t have been luckier with the line-up I had in 2013.”

After triumphing ‘The X Factor’, Sam has since parted ways with Simon Cowell’s Syco record label, months after topping the UK album charts with her debut release.

Following this, she’s made headlines for performing at bingo halls, though it sounds like people’s sneering comments aren’t exactly getting to her.

“If someone offers me a gig I think, ‘Right, I can use that money to do this’. It doesn’t matter where I work, my audiences are great. I’ve heard, ‘Oh, she’s past it, she’s doing Mecca Bingo’.

"Well, I performed at Mecca Bingo before I was in the public eye and I’m the same person I was then. I’ll go where the money is to provide for my family. As long as people don’t take the ****.”

The upcoming series of ‘The X Factor’ has undergone a total transformation, with Olly Murs and Caroline Flack taking over presenting duties from Dermot O’Leary, in addition to the new judging line-up.

Series One, 2004

X Factor winners

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