All about Olly

IT might be his first year in the spinning chair – but Olly Murs is pulling no punches on The Voice.

Confident (bordering on, er, overconfident) Olly says he is the judge with his finger “on the pulse”.

He proudly tells how he won lots of battles for the best contestants – where all four judges turn their chairs and try to get the singer on their side with pleading pitches.

On paper, Olly’s CV as an X Factor champion may not yet stack up to Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson, 36, legend Sir Tom Jones, 77, and Black Eyed Peas star will.i.am, 42.

But Olly insists: “You’ll be surprised how many times I’ve won the battles. I’ve been pitching well and I think the empathy I’ve got with the contestants being on that journey helps.

“I think it helps that I am from the UK, I’m an English artist. I think that’s helping my cause in the battles. Also, out of all the coaches, I’m right on the pulse of what’s happening in the industry right now, the charts, and what’s going on. So I think that’s helped me quite a bit.”

Appearing at the launch of the ITV series, Olly, 33, also offered a veiled dig at X Factor supremo and former boss Simon Cowell, 58, He adds: “I loved The Voice and it is a lot of fun, it is the best show I have worked on and that is a fact. “Simon is gonna watch the show, he ain’t gonna be happy. “We are not judging, we are coaching, we are not gonna say, ‘You’re rubbish, off you go’. “We’re more constructive because we are singers and performers.”