Olly Murs has revealed he turned down a job as a judge on this year’s X Factor because he did not want to leave The Voice UK.
The 34-year-old, who placed second in 2009’s X Factor, will return as a coach on The Voice UK next year after making his debut on the show earlier this year.
He told Fabulous magazine: “Yeah, I was asked to be a judge on the show. I have nothing but love for Simon Cowell and the guys, but I just didn’t want to leave The Voice.
“I felt I had loyalty to them and had such a great time on the show. Simon obviously went and got Robbie (Williams) and Louis Tomlinson and that’s amazing. It was never a ‘No, I won’t ever do this’, it just wasn’t the right time for me.”
Murs has previously also hosted The X Factor. In 2015 he made a blunder live on air when he told contestant Monica Michael she was going home before the result was officially announced.
The singer has referenced how the incident led to him suffering from anxiety in the song, Talking To Myself, on his upcoming album, You Know I Know.
He said: “I’d never struggled on live TV, I’d always been super-confident. But when I made that mistake on The X Factor, a horrid amount of abuse online came after it, and the papers really went for me.”
The Troublemaker singer said he felt like people were “waiting for me to make another mistake”.
He added: “I didn’t realise the effect it had on me mentally. With a lot of things, we suck it in. We place it somewhere in our brain, forget about it and try to move on, especially men.”