THE Voice star Kylie Minogue has revealed that she snubbed Simon Cowell’s offer of a chance to appear on his rival talent show The X Factor.
Kylie, 45, appeared on the BBC1 singing competition for the first time on Saturday night after a major overhaul of judges, following the exit of Jessie J and Danny O’Donoghue.
The Australian pop superstar said last week that she had previously been approached by The X Factor. Her sister Dannii had appeared on the ITV show before a bitter public feud with TV mogul Cowell.
But sources connected to Cowell’s show insisted to the UK’s Mail on Sunday that the singer had “never been in serious consideration” for a judging role on The X Factor.
Her younger sister Dannii, 42, appeared alongside Cowell on The X Factor between 2007 and 2010 but fell out with her co-star when he allowed details of their romantic fling to be revealed in an “unauthorised” biography. Cowell, 54, later admitted that Dannii has refused to speak to him ever since.
Despite her sister’s experience on The X Factor, Kylie said that Dannii had been very encouraging when she asked if she should sign up for the BBC1 talent show.
She said: “She hasn’t experienced The Voice but I did speak to her before I pressed the go button on this.
“I said, ‘I’m quite close to doing this, what do you think?’ and she was just so supportive, and basically thought I’d love the experience and really enjoy what it is to become a mentor.”
But she added that The Voice had been more physically and emotionally demanding than she had expected, explaining: “You really become invested. Your sleep is interrupted because you think, ‘I’ve got to make this decision tomorrow’, and you don’t want to do it.
“The great parts are really great, and the sticky moments that matter which decision you make are no fun.
“When you have 30 cameras around, you literally cannot hide, there is no point running because you can’t. You’re out there and you’re completely exposed.
“It’s daunting at first, but then I forgot all the stuff that I was consciously worrying about beforehand like ‘How will I react?’, ‘How will I be?’, ‘What will I say?’, ‘Am I going to have something funny, wise, illuminating, touching?’
“You literally just don’t know. No one can prepare you, I don’t think.”
Kylie added: “Overall, the best thing anyone said was just be yourself. The more you are yourself the better it is, and actually you don’t have any choice.”
She also revealed that she hopes to perform on the show herself during the series, but admitted she might be more nervous than usual after dishing out advice to hopeful contestants. – Daily Mail