James Arthur turned down £250,000 to appear on Celebrity Big Brother despite needing the money.
The former X Factor winner was offered a number of reality show appearances after he was dropped from Simon Cowell’s record label Syco in 2014.
Despite not knowing if he had a future career, James is pleased he didn’t sign any television contracts.
He told the Daily Star Sunday: "I got offered loads of reality shows including I’m A Celebrity and Celebrity Big Brother.
"They were life-changing amounts of money. The most I got offered was £250,000 for CBB, which I really needed at the time, not knowing if I had a career.
"I’m a huge fan of those shows but I don’t think there’s any chance I would be back at No. 1 now if I’d gone down that route."
James admits he struggled when he lost his record contract after winning The X Factor.
But he credits a counsellor for helping him through his difficult times.
He said: "I spoke to a therapist a little bit too. I still have issues with trust. I don’t know if speaking to a therapist is right for everyone.
"For me, it was doing little things like mindfulness. I listen to Eckhart Tolle, a philosopher, and his book – The Power of Now – explains the power of your conscious mind.
"It’s really helped me. I still suffer with anxiety. When it used to affect my life, as you saw, I lashed out. I lost myself.
"Now I’m in control of my life. I don’t take any medication which I was taking a lot of at that time. I don’t smoke any weed. I don’t rely on any crutches. My approach is to be open and honest."
James has now been re-signed to Syco and has released new album Back From The Edge.
And he admits he’ll be doing things differently this time around.
He explained: "All I need to do this time is not go crazy again and get myself lost.
"It’s everything in moderation – I was just doing everything to the extreme before.
"I will never profess to be perfect, I never will be, I do fk up and I probably will fk up again.”