Louis Walsh makes sly dig at Girls Aloud as he says he ‘didn’t want’ to manage them

The music mogul, who managed the band during their time in the competition said that he “didn’t want them.”

As part of the competition, two rival groups, Girls Aloud and boy band One True Voice, went head to head in a bid to land the Christmas number one spot on the UK Singles Chart.

“I thought I was going to get a boy band, I was convinced. And they gave me the girls. I didn't want them,” he said.

“Girls don't like each other in bands, it's very simple. They all want to be the lead girl. They all want to go out with the footballer. They all want to be the skinniest.”

Girls Aloud went on to win the show, and Walsh managed the band until 2005.

At the time, Walsh was managing Irish boy bands Boyzone and Westlife.

“I didn't want to be on TV, I was happy managing bands. I was making good money as a ­manager,” he claimed.

“Then he offered me a load of money and I said yes. It was to do something that I liked doing anyway.”

Walsh believes that music competition TV peaked in the early 2000s and other shows were “never going to be as good” because of “everyone being afraid to have an opinion.”

“It was real, it was funny, it was everything,” he explained.

“Everything is too woke and too perfect now. Everyone is afraid to have an opinion. I couldn't do it because I don't have a great filter, I like to say it as I see it.”

“You know the people at home are thinking the very same thing as you. It's boring now, everyone is ­wonderful and you're going to be a star and all that. I mean, they're not going to be a star, you know?”

“I think people have to be honest. I like to say it like it is. People either have it or they haven't got it,” he added.

Walsh went on to appear as a judge on ITV’s X Factor in 2004 and from 2008 to 2019.

He has also managed acts such as Jedward, Ronan Keating, Union J, Shayne Ward and Samantha Mumba.