Olly Murs on his frosty relationship with Simon Cowell

OLLY MURS feels he no longer needs to seek the green light from Simon Cowell before embarking on a new showbiz project.

Olly, who made his name as an X Factor contestant in 2009, and co-hosted the show in 2015, decided against facing the music with his ex-boss before he signed up for the spinning chairs of rival contest The Voice UK.

‘You make your own decisions in life,’ the Troublemaker singer told Guilty Pleasures yesterday.

‘When The Voice came calling, it was just, “Yeah, I want to do this.”’

And he hinted that relations with the 58-year-old music mogul have been frosty ever since.

‘I haven’t heard from Simon,’ Olly admitted. ‘He knows where I am, he’s got my telephone number, he knows how to reach me. If he wants to call me, we can have a chat.’

But he added: ‘He probably won’t…’

So Simon didn’t send him a good-luck card and a bunch of flowers? ‘No and no,’ he chuckled.

That said, the pair did have a brief encounter last November, at the annual gala thrown by ITV for its stars.

‘I saw Simon at the gala,’ Olly recalled. “Good to see you, yes”, and that was it.’

Full of fighting talk, the 33-year-old reckons The Voice has the edge over the show in which he found fame.

‘We’re not judging, we’re coaching, that’s the difference,’ Olly argued. ‘We’re not going to turn around, “You’re rubbish, off you go.” We’re much more constructive because we’re singers ourselves.’

The Voice UK returns to ITV on Saturday at 8pm

Author: Andrei Harmsworth