X Factor’s Brian Friedman knows EXACTLY why the show is ‘shedding ratings’

The X Factor hasn’t quite been the same this year for some people – not everyone’s a fan of Olly Murs and Caroline Flack as hosts, there was the crazy live judges’ houses shows when contestants were made to beg to go through to the next round, and Simon Cowell was accused to trying to sabotage favourite Anton Stephens by making him sit in a throne and sing All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor last week.

And former creative director Brian Friedman, who worked on the show for almost a decade, thinks they need him back on the programme to give it a boost.

He told the Daily Mirror: “Are they missing what I brought to the show? I would be lying if I said they weren’t. They’re definitely missing it.

“I’ve done the show for what would have been nine year now. After doing it for so many years in the UK and doing it for a couple of years in The States.

“I know how to create performances that are memorable and that the public are going to love. For someone else stepping into that job it’s a huge undertaking coming up with original concepts week after week so it’s a learning curve.

“I with the best to anyone doing that position in any country – it’s a really tough job. They are missing me. I am the best at what I do.”

Brian, who is due to step into the I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! jungle when the show starts on Sunday, also misses Dermot O’Leary as host of The X Factor.

The television presenter was replaced by Caroline Flack and former show winner Olly Murs this year and Brian felt Dermot “was guiding you through the whole event” when he fronted it but added Caroline and Olly would win over the public after a while.

Brian was given a judging spot on X Factor as a brief replacement for Louis Walsh in 2007 but days later was removed.

He later comforted current panellist Cheryl Fernandez-Versini who went through the same thing when she was given a job as a judge on the American version of the show just to be replaced in 2011.

He said: “Of course I talked to Cheryl, I knew exactly what it was like when it happened to Cheryl on the US version, I reached out to her and I was there for her.

“I knew exactly what she was going through and nothing hurts more than being flapped in the public’s eye and she came out on top too.

“She ended up stepping back into her position and now she’s an executive producer on the show too so things always turn around.”

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