Louis Walsh felt "smug" watching last year’s ‘The X Factor’ flop.
The 64-year-old ‘The X Factor’ judge – who has returned for the twelfth series of the popular show after being replaced in 2015 by Rita Ora and Nick Grimshaw – has admitted he enjoyed watching the programme crumble without him and have Simon begging him "every week" to come back.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph newspaper about his reaction to the previous season , the Irish talent manager – who joined the programme when it made its debut in 2004 – said: "I was smug the first night I sat down to watch the show last year.
"It didn’t work. I had a talk with Simon every week and he said: ‘I want you back.’ He’d have had me back in the middle of the series, if he’d had his way."
Louis has revealed he knew the show wouldn’t be successful without him and he felt the show was trying too hard to be "younger", which he believes made it more like a "Channel 4 show".
He explained: "They were trying to make it younger.
"It was almost like a Channel 4 show. It was not the show I was on, not family entertainment. Simon tried a few things and it didn’t really work and he knew that, he has a gut feeling."
And Louis believed newcomers Nick and Olly Murs would never work on the show because the BBC Radio One DJ isn’t "mainstream" and wouldn’t suit ‘The X Factor’ audience, whilst the ‘Troublemaker’ singer – who was the runner-up on the show in 2009 – was best suited to singing instead of presenting.
He said: "Grimshaw was thrown in the deep end. He isn’t mainstream, he’s always hanging out with the fashion pack and it’s not that type of show.
"Caroline’s a really good girl, I don’t know why people didn’t like her.
"But Olly’s a pop singer and pop singing and TV are different things – he was never going to be as good as Dermot. It’s been a learning curve – you don’t just stand there and read the autocue, as people think."
Louis Walsh felt ‘smug’ watching The X Factor flop last year
