Jessie J - Dermot Oleary Blasts The Voice: 'Judges Are Too Harsh'

The battle of the UK talent shows has been raging, recently, with ITV accusing The Voice of "dirty tricks," Tom Jones making a sly dig at Britain's Got Talent and now the X Factor host DERMOT OLEARY has waded into the mix, by saying that The Voice is 'harsher' on its contestants than X Factor.

Dermot said that the fact the judges on The Voice (Jessie J, DANNY ODONOGHUE, Tom Jones and Will.i.am) can choose whether or not to turn their chairs around is harder for the contestants to deal with than the approach they take on X Factor. "Everyone who goes on those shows does so to be judged and maybe an even harsher critique is someone not turning around. It is what it is. You can't complain if you don't like what you hear," he told the Daily Mail. He also reckons that as well as the 'X' Factor, the ITV show also brings the 'fun factor' and said "The most important thing is to have fun on the shows. And just because auditionees are a bit strange, it doesn't mean they are not good. I like the fact we are about the package. I like that we get acts like Johnny Robinson who look ridiculous, but it doesn't mean they can't sing."

The line-up for this year's UK version of X Factor is still uncertain. Dermot confirmed that Louis Walsh, Tulisa Contostavlos and Gary Barlow were all likely to return, though Dermot said that it looks increasingly unlikely that Kelly Rowland would confirm.