Gary Barlow 'almost quit X Factor' after vote row

Gary Barlow 'almost quit X Factor' after vote row
Gary Barlow 'almost quit X Factor' after vote row

Gary Barlow reportedly came close to quitting The X Factor after last week's controversial result, which led to him storming off set live on air. According to the Mirror the Take That singer was so furious with the outcome of the show, which saw Rylan Clark saved over his act Carolynne Poole after Louis forced the vote to deadlock - that he planned to resign from the panel. In the end, he decided to stay in order to give support to his remaining acts - but said that the show's reputation had been "damaged" by the result. He also blasted executive producer Richard Holloway for talking to Louis during the sing-off, which sparked speculation that the mogul had been ordered to send the vote to deadlock. Louis was seen last Sunday agonising over his decision before saying he wanted the result decided by public vote. "There should be no-one up on that stage with us, it shouldn't happen," Gary fumed. "I've told them that I do not want it to happen again and it won't on my watch." It gets to me because it follows me around all week. After what happened, I thought, 'I don’t want to do this any more, this isn't the way I imagined it to be'... the singer who did the worst stayed. "The only reason I’m here is because my remaining acts thought about quitting... I couldn’t leave those contestants," he added. Gary also fired off a stark warning to Simon Cowell, saying, "No-one tells me what to do...not even Simon. If he tried to tell me who to vote for I would say no. But once US X Factor goes live you don't hear from Simon." Meanwhile it has emerged that Gary received a ticking off over his behaviour towards Louis on last Sunday's show - from his mum Marge. "My mum always be respectful to your elders and I got a bit of a telling off," the singer admitted. "She told me, 'You shouldn't do that. He's older than you and you should pay him some respect. But I thought 'what about my acts?'I was even more upset than I appeared on the show and I was trying to hide it because I knew the cameras were on me. "I couldn't stand the thought of them taking shots of my face while Carolynne was going through that. I couldn't bear it. So I walked off."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.