Dermot O’Leary has revealed that ‘X Factor’ boss Simon Cowell admitted he’d made a mistake by letting him leave the ITV talent show last year. Now back as host, Dermot confirmed that his exit last March was because he'd heard bosses were “looking at other ­presenters”.

Dermot O''LearyDermot O’Leary is back as the host of ‘X Factor’

Speaking to The Sun, Dermot said that he got a phone call from Simon in February, where the music mogul told him: “I’ve made a mistake, I’d love to get you back.” Dermot then flew to Hollywood to meet Simon where they spent three hours “chatting about the show and life in general”.

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But despite signing a reported £8million four-year deal to return to the show, Dermot says money played no part in his decision. “I’ve been like that since I was a runner on nine and a half grand a year. I’ve never taken a job purely for the money.

“With The X Factor it was, ‘What would make you come back? What would you like to do with the show? I didn’t worry about money.” Dermot admitted that he was forced to leave the show last year after hearing that bosses were “looking at other ­presenters”, with Olly Murs and Caroline Flack eventually getting the job.

“I don’t have a God-given right to that job,” he said. “But I always said, ‘If I find out they are talking to anyone else, I’m not going to play games, I’ll just go’. So I called my wife and woke her up to tell her I was leaving The X Factor — which was a shock, as you can imagine."

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“I called ITV and actually didn’t speak to Simon. I texted Simon and got a lovely text back but at the time I wanted to keep that at arm’s length.” When asked if Simon had tried to stop him from leaving Dermot said: “No. A couple of people did but he didn’t. And you know what? Sometimes you’ve got to take the bull by the horns and take the decision for yourself.”