Louis Walsh has accused Simon Cowell of keeping him and Sharon Osbourne in the dark when it came to The X Factor’s production after revealing they are no longer speaking.
The music manager, who worked with Boyzone and Westlife, was a judge on the ITV talent show from its inception in 2004 alongside Simon and Sharon.
Despite working together on and off for around 20 years, Simon and Louis have a relationship that has swung between friendship and feuds.
And last month, the Irish manager said that he and Simon are no longer in contact.
Now, Louis, 73, has claimed that while he and Sharon were in the dark about The X Factor’s frontrunners – Simon, 66, had more insight as to which way the voting would go.
Appearing on Irish radio this week, Louis claimed that Simon knew which acts would make it through and who was getting the most votes each week.
Louis Walsh has said he and fellow X Factor judge Simon Cowell are still not speaking as he accused the music mogul of keeping him and Sharon Osbourne in the dark when it came to the show’s production
Appearing on Irish radio this week, Louis claimed that Simon knew which acts would make it through and who was getting the most votes each week (Pictured together in 2007)
‘People don’t believe about the show, that it was real,’ he told Irish radio show Today FM this week as he discussed preparing to film an X Factor documentary.
‘We didn’t know the votes, we didn’t know the acts, we didn’t know anything, Sharon Osbourne and I, we didn’t know.’
Radio host Ray Foley asked: ‘What? So, people are saying there was conspiracy theories and things like that behind the scenes, it was all produced?’
Louis replied: ‘Yeah, all of the things, we didn’t know. We didn’t know who we were gonna get, what we were gonna do, we didn’t know the votes, Cowell knew it all.’
‘He knew? Even as a judge he knew exactly what’s going on, the way the votes were going and all?’ Ray asked, to which Louis said: ‘Of course he knew!’
The Daily Mail has contacted Louis and Simon’s representatives for comment.
Simon has previously dismissed the claims.
He resolved a complaint with Heat magazine in 2010 when the publication claimed he knew which contestants got the most votes each week. Heat later published an apology saying this was untrue.
The duo were recently embroiled in yet another row – with Irish judge Louis branding Simon a ‘has-been’ in a withering putdown.
In the latest development, it has been claimed that the reason behind their latest fallout stems from Simon’s hit documentary Simon Cowell: The Next Act, which was released at the end of last year.
It follows Simon in the making of new boy band, December 10, which hopes will be the next One Direction.
Sources close to the pair have told the publication that Louis was reportedly ‘left furious’ after being snubbed from the Netflix show in favour of old Pop Idol co-judge Pete Waterman.
A source claimed last month: ‘In his mind, he has the most experience and expertise out of everyone Simon was working for.’
The Irish music manager, who worked with Boyzone and Westlife, was a judge on the ITV talent show alongside Sharon Osbourne and Simon Cowell (Pictured together in 2004)
They added to The Sun: ‘He knows slagging off BGT will annoy Simon because he’s already worried about the fall in ratings. His criticism will have been a kick in the teeth.’
Simon and Louis first crossed paths long before primetime TV, before becoming household names as feuding judges on The X Factor.
Yet when they started bickering over song choices and making blunt digs about contestants, their clashes quickly became must-watch moments.
At times, they seemed inseparable, with Louis once saying Simon had ‘changed my life,’ even as the tension simmered beneath the surface.
Now, that friendship appears to be well and truly over, with Louis admitting they haven’t spoken in years.
In a scathing rant this week, Louis claimed that Simon’s show Britain’s Got Talent is finished and that the star is no longer in his ‘prime’.
Louis, who appeared as a guest panellist on Simon’s other show Britain’s Got Talent in 2010, told The Sun of the new series: ‘BGT, who cares?! It’s not what it was.
‘Back in the old days, it was pulling in 12 million, and the whole country cared who won.’ He added: ‘Now it doesn’t feel like that, who even won last year?’
Elsewhere in the interview, Louis claimed that Simon’s fiancée, Lauren Silverman, 48, controls his phone and diary, adding that he hasn’t heard from him in years.
He also described Simon as ‘incredible in his prime’ but suggested he no longer has the same instinct and is ‘surrounded by people who won’t tell him the truth’.
According to The Sun, Louis allegedly went even further in text messages, reportedly saying Simon is ‘done now’ and ‘surrounded by fakes’.
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