HE’S been a coach on The Voice for four years but now Olly Murs is getting ready to launch his solo TV presenting career.
I can exclusively reveal the pop star, who has had four UK No1 singles and albums, is hosting ITV’s new talent show Starstruck — the revamp of Eighties hit Stars In Their Eyes.
It will be the first time he has presented a prime-time flagship show on his own and insiders tell me he is raring to go.
One said: “Olly is absolutely thrilled about joining the Starstruck team. As well as being a hugely successful musician he’s more than proved his merit on the telly. After watching him do his stuff on the last series of The Voice, ITV bosses knew that he was the right choice to present Starstruck.
“Olly has great stage presence and is full of fun. Not only that, he knows exactly what it’s like to be on a TV show where you’re being judged. He has been on The Voice for four years and he made a name for himself on The X Factor as runner-up on the 2009 series.
“Olly can’t wait to get started on the show and thinks this is going to be a great launchpad for him doing more solo presenting work in the future.”
He is in good company on Starstruck — with Sheridan Smith, Beverley Knight and Adam Lambert making up the judging panel so far.
The contest starts filming this summer and sees four groups of three contestants transform into their idols to peform. Whichever group wins the most judges’ votes will then go up against one another in a bid to win a place in the final later in the series and walk away with £50,000.
Olly is no stranger to prime-time telly, and in 2015 hosted a series of The X Factor with the late Caroline Flack. The pair had also fronted the show’s ITV2 spin-off The Xtra Factor for two series between 2011 and 2012, captivating millions of viewers with their fizzing chemistry.
Olly has for several years been plotting a return to TV work, although he admitted having had difficulty juggling it with music commitments.
He said in 2016: “I’ll definitely do TV again. I think doing two jobs at once was a bit difficult for me to figure out.”
I’m one of Olly’s biggest fans so cannot wait to have even more of him to enjoy on TV.
Good luck, Ol. You’ll smash it.
