Olly Murs has made a subtle dig at his old stomping ground at ‘The X Factor’ by declaring ‘The Voice’ “the best show I’ve worked on”.
After finishing in second place in the 2009 ‘X Factor’ final, Olly went on to host spin-off show ‘Xtra Factor’ for two years, later presenting the main show alongside Caroline Flack in 2015, before they were dropped after one series.
He has now joined the new series of rival talent show ‘The Voice’ as a coach, and it sounds like it’s an experience he’s enjoying far more.
Speaking at The Voice’s press launch, Olly said: “I’m loving it. I really am enjoying every moment and I want to sit here and say thank you to all the editing team and producers because it’s so much fun.
“It is the best show I’ve worked on for a fact, so I’m loving that.”
Asked what ‘The Voice’ had over ‘The X Factor’, he cheekily responded: “We can’t compare. I will only say this - let’s compare when we’ve finished the season and let’s see how good our winner is.”
Following reports Simon Cowell had failed to make contact with him after he jumped ship, Olly believes the music mogul will not be happy when he sees how good the show is.
Asked if he contacted Simon before taking the job or whether his old boss had reached out to him, Olly said: “I’m just going to say no and no. None of that happened.
“Listen, I’m just going to say, you make your own decisions in life and ever since I left ‘The X Factor’, I’ve always made my own.
“When ‘The Voice’ came calling, [I thought] ‘yeah, I want to do this’, because it is an incredible show. Being among these amazing coaches, I’m going to learn loads and grow as a character, and I want to help people.
“I haven’t heard from Simon. I only read what [journalists] like to write. Simon knows where I am and he’s got my telephone number, so he knows how to reach me.
“If he wants to call me, we can have a chat but he probably won’t.”
He added: “I saw him at the ITV Gala recently and he said it was good to see me and that was it. I was like, ‘OK, cool’. But he’s going to watch the show and he ain’t going to be happy.”
‘The Voice UK’ launches on Saturday (6 January) at 8pm on ITV.
