Louis Walsh teases X Factor return: Simon Cowell has something planned for me

The former X Factor judge said he turned down I'm A Celebrity because of an offer from Simon Cowell
Making a return?: Louis Walsh hints at X Factor comeback
Tim P. Whitby/Getty
Emma Powell21 December 2015
The Weekender

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Louis Walsh has teased his X Factor return.

Walsh, 63, left the show after 11 years and was replaced by Nick Grimshaw. He was considering a place on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here, but said Simon Cowell offered him a better opportunity.

Speaking to the Daily Star he said: "I met them and I nearly was going to do it. But Simon said he might have something else coming up for me.

"If it's not X Factor I'll do the Jungle, so either way I'm happy. But Simon saying that is a good sign - that is a good carrot."

X Factor Judges 2015

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But the music manager said he was not looking forward to potentially working alongside Cheryl Fernandez-Versini.

Recalling his previous colleagues, Walsh said: "I had great fun with Sharon Osbourne, great fun with Mel B, great fun with Nicole Scherzinger - they were great fun.

“With Cheryl, I wouldn't be her biggest fan."

The final of this year’s X Factor drew in 8.4 million viewers, which was down on last year, and failed to surpass Strictly Come Dancing’s 11 million.

Louisa Johnson beat Reggie and Bollie to be crowned the 2015 champion, but her single - a cover of Bob Dylan's Forever Young - recorded the lowest chart entry for a winner.

Only Steve Brookstein and Joe McElderry previously failed to claim the top spot in their first week.

Johnson faces tough competition from Justin Bieber's Sorry, Stormzy's Shut Up and the NHS Choirs' Coldplay and Simon and Garfunkel mash up - A Bridge Over You.

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