Olly Murs’ ‘shock’ sacking from ITV’s The Voice from ‘gutted’ reaction to team claims

Former X Factor contestant Olly Murs helmed The Voice UK for six seasons before being axed by ITV bosses.

The Voice: Olly Murs speaks emotionally about the loss of his friend

Olly Murs was a loyal coach on The Voice UK for six seasons, but his time at the helm came to an abrupt end after ITV bosses revealed he’d been given the chop. The singer admitted the news came as a “bit of a shock” at the time, with fellow judge Sir Tom Jones later claiming Olly was “really bothered” by the exit.

The Dear Darling hitmaker first rose to prominence in 2009 after coming runner-up to Joe McElderry on The X Factor. Following the show, the 40-year-old went on to release seven studio albums and has appeared on the likes of Loose Women, 90210 and BBC’s Top Gear.

In 2018, it was announced Olly would be replacing Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale on The Voice UK from season seven. He joined the coaching panel alongside returning stars will.i.am, Sir Tom Jones and Jennifer Hudson.

In his second and third seasons, he was crowned the winning judge after entertainers Molly Hocking and Blessing Chitapa respectively came first in the competition. However, in 2023, he received a call from The Voice UK producers claiming his presence would no longer be required.

“I’m gutted. I got the call last week to say I won’t be back on the show, and it’s a bit of a shock, to be honest,” Olly revealed to The Sun last September. “I didn’t really expect that to come but I don’t want to sit here like other artists might, and shine and gloss this up and say, ‘It was my decision’. I don’t want to do that.”

The father-of-one continued to claim he didn’t want to lie to his fans and was against agreeing it was an “amicable” decision to exit the singing contest.

“No. Genuinely, I accept their ­decision, and they’ll find someone great, I’m sure. But am I going to miss it?

“Yeah. Did I want to leave? No. Will I still watch the show? Of course, but it’ll be sore thinking that could have been me.”

Olly alleged that his team had been told at the time that bosses were “looking at new people” to add to the coaching team while prior reports claimed the shake-up was driven by producers intent on appealing to a younger audience with new judges.

Following Olly’s axing, fellow coach Anne-Marie was also removed from the programme and the pair were replaced by McFly duo Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones and country singer LeAnn Rimes.

Months after the star’s high-profile axing, Sir Tom spoke to The Mirror and admitted Olly had been “really bothered” by the subsequent sacking.

“We’ve both been on the road, but when it happened we talked quite a bit. He didn’t want to leave, he loved doing the show,” as per Birmingham Live.

“It really bothered him, he didn’t like it. He’s married now and has a kid, so his life has changed. But it definitely bothered him.”