Caroline Flack: 'The X Factor showed me how tough the industry can be'

Caroline Flack gets the fittest singletons on TV back together to find out how they’ve been faring since they stopped being on camera 24/7.
(Image credit: ITV)

Caroline Flack has opened up about her time on the X Factor, revealing it showed her “tough the industry can be”.

Caroline Flack has said her exit from The X Factor showed her how “tough the industry can be”.

Flack, 37, and Olly Murs replaced the ITV show’s long-time host Dermot O’Leary in 2015, but both she and Murs announced they would not return after just one series.

She told The Sun’s Fabulous magazine: “It taught me that the industry is tough. It’s tough!

“It doesn’t matter who you are, it’s never just a walk in the park. You win some, you lose some.

“It’s probably gonna happen to me again somewhere down the line with another job. But I can’t walk away. I’m not a quitter.”

The television presenter said she had no regrets about her time spent on the main show or when hosting the spin-off series The Xtra Factor for three years prior to that.

She said: “Honestly, I’m so grateful to all of the production team and to Simon (Cowell) for the opportunities that changed my life. I can’t go back and moan about The X Factor because Xtra Factor was so brilliant.

“Some shows are perfect for you, some aren’t, and if you look back and be angry and bitter, you’re not going to enjoy the rest of your time.”

Flack was recently seen on screen fronting ITV2’s reality dating series Love Island.

She dismissed rumours linking her to one of the show’s contestants, Mike Thalassitis, who was nicknamed Muggy Mike.

Following an Instagram picture she posted of them hugging with the caption: ‘Muggy but Huggy’, there was speculation she was romantically linked to him.

“I’m not talking about bloody Muggy Mike! Do you honestly think if I was having an affair with Mike I would put it on Instagram?”, she told Fabulous.

Flack added that she is friends with all of the contestants from the series.

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