Irish talent manager Louis Walsh, 69, made a surprising jibe at former girl band Girls Aloud.
The X Factor panellist let slip that he “never wanted them” during the 2002 stint of Popstars: The Rivals.
Despite Girls Aloud ultimately winning the show and securing the top spot in the charts, Louis has since opened up two decades later that he wanted a boy band instead.
Louis had major success with Boyzone and Westlife, both of whom have collaborated earlier this year.
He told of how female groups don’t work well together because every girl wants to be the “lead girl” or become a footballer’s wife.
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It seems this sly dig was aimed at his fellow X Factor panellist, Cheryl, saying that “they all want to go out with the footballer”, as Cheryl was famously married to Ashley Cole.
He even admitted he didn’t actually want to be on television, as at the time he was making “good money” as a producer and band manager.
But he was offered “a load of money” to go on the show and couldn’t refuse the offer that launched his two-decade long television career.
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Speaking to The Sun, Louis said: “Girls don’t like each other in bands – its very simple. They all want to be the lead girl.
“They all want to go out with the footballer, they all want to be the skinniest.
“Just look at Sugababes, any line-up they had, and they were brilliant. So I had these five girls in Girls Aloud and thankfully found this great song, Sound Of The Underground.”
Louis went on to admit that when Girls Aloud took the top spot against boyband One True Voice, fellow band manager Pete Waterman stopped talking to him.
He said: “Pete thought he was gonna win with his band… he hasn’t really talked to me since.”
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Girls Aloud went on to have hit after hit. Cheryl, 38, Nadine Coyle, 37, Kimberly Walsh, 40, Nicola Roberts, 36 and Sarah Harding who passed away last year aged 39 had a successful music career.
The band lasted seven years and in that time they had 20 consecutive Top Ten hits, with four number one songs.
They sold more than 4.3 million singles, and an impressive four million albums in the UK.
Cheryl ditched the band life and launched a solo career, and in 2008 she joined Louis on the panel for X Factor.
Speaking on the future of talent shows, Louis said they will “never be as good as that again” because they are too “boring” now.
(Image: Getty Images)
Chatting on the White Wine Question Time podcast, Louis said: “Everything is too woke and too perfect now. Everyone is afraid to have an opinion.
“I couldn’t do it because I don’t have a great filter, I like to say it as I see it.
“You know the people at home are thinking the very same thing as you.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
