The Voice’s Danny O’Donoghue launches blast at The X Factor

The Voice’s Danny O’Donoghue launches blast at The X Factor

And the Irishman slammed Simon Cowell’s flagship show for “ruining lives” by slating youngsters just to make great telly.

The Script frontman reacted after critics of The Voice claimed he and fellow coaches Jessie J, Will.i.am and Tom Jones had dragged ratings down with constant upbeat comments about contestants.

Ratings for the BBC1 show have dived from a high of 12million to just over six million since the live shows began.

But last night Danny said he would not change, saying: “The stance we’ve taken is that you can deliver bad news in a good way. Maybe it’s not great for ratings but we had a 17-year-old on our show and she wasn’t great. Are we going to destroy her so she couldn’t walk down the street? Absolutely not.”

Taking a swipe at the notoriously bitchy X Factor panel, he added: “You could have ruined her life if you did to her what other reality shows have done to people.

“If you take this to the schoolyard, what would you say to your kids if they were like ‘Off, off, off’ to a five-year-old?

“I’m not there to say ‘You’re s***, get off. I give them constructive criticism. I know it doesn’t make for good TV.

“I don’t want to bring people to tears. Who wants to see a kid cry?”

He suggested he and his fellow judges were less cruel because they had had to make it as performers in the music business themselves â€" unlike X Factor judges Simon and Louis Walsh.

He said: “We’ve been there, been told we were crap or whatever. Other talent show judges that haven’t can be more catty.”

He even branded The X Factor “immoral” and blasted its use of script-writers to give the judges put-downs.

Gary Barlow used a scriptwriter on last year’s show, leading to claims his remarks were too staged.

Danny said: “I could only be on The X Factor if I could be me and not have to stick to a particular script.”

Bitching

He reckoned the bitching between X Factor judges was “all staged” too, adding: “I’m sure on other shows they all sit back and watch the VTs (video tapes) about what’s going on that day and decide in the room what to say beforehand.

“We don’t. We made a clear decision that the reactions you see are instant ones “I won’t play up (to the cameras). That’s not what music is about. Music isn’t a pantomime.”

Danny did admit there are too many wannabes in The Voice live show rounds, adding: “You’ve got 40 people to get to know.”

But he claimed he wasn’t fussed about the ratings drop as the same thing happened in overseas versions of the show.

He said: “This happens everywhere. It starts off explosive but then, when it goes to the lives, there’s a big drop. It happens. But the trend is it goes back up.

“It’s the BBC’s first time around with the show so we’re learning every week.

Ratings

“We’re still tinkering with the format but no one is going, ‘Oh no! The ratings â€" we’re all jumping ship’. We’re really proud of the show.”

“You can’t expect to get more viewers than the BGT final. It’s a titan and it’s been around for seven years.”

Danny said the biggest challenge is how his wannabes will fare afterwards.

He pointed out that The X Factor has only produced a handful of big-selling artists, such as One Direction and Leona Lewis.

He said: “Simon Cowell said he feared for his own shows because you have to turn out a star for your brand. Turning out a star worries me.

“I think our third, fourth, fifth-placed acts will all sell 100,000 or 120,000 records which in this day for a first album is astonishing.

Reputation

“With the hits my team are getting online and on YouTube, if you switch that to sales and every click was a sale, they’d be sitting on £800,000 right now.”

He added he’s putting in every hour he can to help his team â€" Max Milner, Bo Bruce, Aleks Josh and David Julien.

Danny, who has installed a BED in his dressing room so he can squeeze in power naps between rehearsals, added: “I’ve been coming in on days when I’m not supposed to, just to get one over on the others.”

He’s even earned a bit of a reputation as a diva. He added: “I throw my toys out the pram if things aren’t going well on stage.”

He dismissed Simon’s claims that The Voice is a copy of The X Factor, saying: “He doesn’t own all talent shows. There’s room for others. X Factor copied (Pop) Idol and Idol copied Popstars, so no one owns them all.”

DANNY has issued a warning to Voice guest stars Cheryl Cole and Kylie Minogue â€" miming won’t be tolerated on the show.

He will refuse to clap if he doesn’t think they are singing live.

And he hinted there was a bigger artist booked for the final. He said “You can’t come on The Voice and mime. I won’t be clapping if you do.”

He added: “For the final we have someone fantastic. Let’s just say one of the coaches made a magic phone call and moved heaven and earth for a very special star to come on.”